Discouraged

With vacation looming, I'm more anxious than ever to get my ankle back to normal. Well, what I know to be normal. I know it'll never be as good as new. I'd like to pick up pace, walk down stairs and get around without pain or swelling.

I saw my doctor on Monday. He ordered three more weeks of physical therapy, prescribed ibuprofen and determined my tendons are extremely inflammed. I asked if I could resume exercise, I was shot down. "Absolutely no treadmill," I was told. The elliptical is a possibility, if there is no pain and I use no incline or resistance. He injected me with cortisone to reduce the inflammation. I was told I should feel improvement in 48-72 hours and I was told return in three weeks.

The injection was very uncomfortable, but over quickly so I didn't squirm for long. I went home and made dinner as usual. As the night wore on, my foot swelled and felt very heavy. It became painful and extremely difficult to walk. About 9 o'clock, I took a strong dose of ibruprofen, went to bed and iced the injection site to bring down the swelling. I prayed for sleep, but it was after midnight before I was able to drift off.

Waking up yesterday morning, I felt a bit better. My foot no longer felt like there was a 55-lb weight attached to it. It was about 20 pounds lighter, but still very tender, and walking was a difficult task. Walking is an overstatement, all I could do was hobble. I elevated and iced it all morning, by afternoon I was able to get some swelling down. I went to my PT appt as scheduled. What a waste! They added new exercises, but I couldn't even do majority of the old ones. All I did was 10 minutes on the bike, heel raises, ABC's and stood on my right foot for 30 second invervals, 4x. That last one was new, I was shaky and had to grab on for balance. No ultrasound was done and they could hardly work on me for massage. They did suggest I try the treadmill. I told them no per doctors orders. Also, talking with my physical therapist he sees one success for every failed cortisone shot. I feel so discouraged. I feel like a guinea pig with no end in sight. I'm hopeful the cortisone works as it should, I hate to see it cause regression. Either way, I'm not doing another one, so I certainly hope it allows me to move on. Techinically, I should notice a difference as early as tonight, if not tomorrow. I'm skeptical. Today's only improvement is less swelling and tenderness at the injection site. The tendons themselves feel no different. Phooey.