I can walk again!
The surgeon cleared me to be full weight bearing ten days ago. Woo! He says that to get back the strength and endurance I had before I broke my leg, it will take about 18 months (from surgery), so June 2018, here I come! I'm doing physical therapy and I can already see vast improvement in my ankle. So, I hope that 18 months is overestimating how long it will take.
I don't walk evenly; I still baby my right leg. And going down stairs---that's a hoot. My right ankle doesn't let my right leg bend far enough forward to get my left leg down the next step, so I grab the wall and try to make it go as far as it can. My ankle gets tired and swollen quickly, so even just routine cleaning and chasing boys is tiring. But, I can do it, which is a vast improvement.
I took this picture so I could see the swelling. My right ankle is swollen, and maybe you can tell that my right calf has atrophied. I'm not going to take a picture of my hamstrings, but my right hamstring has atrophied too! It is amazing how quickly our bodies adapt to a lack of use.
And here is my fancy new scar. Fun fact, you have to massage the scar so that the skin can move across the stuff underneath easily. Otherwise it gets stuck down and hurts.
The day I got cleared to go full weight bearing, I walked the boys to the park (it was raining, so we went puddle jumping), walked into my ASL class, and then went shoe shopping to celebrate. It was liberating.
Jim made a walking rope for the boys. Each boy has a loop and holds onto their handle so we can all walk together. Today we made them practice walking to the corner and back using the walking rope. Joe and Rae did pretty good. Caleb finally got the concept but exercised his two year old right to protest, so Jim carried him. So, we're hoping repetition will finally sink the message in before we fly to Atlanta for my brother's wedding.
Jim gave me earrings, and I had to take a picture.
For Valentine's, Jim bought me a hammock! Love that man.
The rope wasn't long enough to string between the trees at the park, so Jim boy-scouted a new rope with cool knots. The boys loved my hammock and they look like peas in a pod.
I love homeschooling, and it was one of the few things I felt like I could still do well with a broken leg. Rae's our resident artist, and our living room floor is often littered with his prolific creations. For me, I like how much bonding time I get with Rae, and I how I get to watch him progress. He's bright and does not like to be told how to do things ("I got this," he'll tell me), so I mostly facilitate learning for him. I model a new skill and let him go for it, and then drill him on the stuff he knows.
Here Rae wanted to spell helmet, but we didn't have the letter e, so he used his hands to sign "e".
Reading to Caleb in his couch fort.
Caleb came up to me a few weeks ago, pointed at my phone and said, "Rectangle!" I was so surprised that I asked him to say the names of other shapes.
My boys love to play with my phone's camera:
This face cracks me up.
Joe got the "Na Hoku" award for Most Improved.
He had an MRI on his brain to see if there was anything to suggest why he has so many different physical issues. The scan came back normal, which is great news, but means Joe's condition is still a cross between an elephant and a rhino: 'elephino.
Napping with Cat. Cat is a pretty central figure in Joe's life right now. Dragon got badly singed in a campfire last year, and Dog went missing, so now Cat goes everywhere with Joe.
Rae is so fun to watch because he is always coming up with new things to try, like this:
So, hooray for full weight bearing! And here's to getting strength, flexibility, and endurance back to my ankle! Bring it, 2017. I got this.
