September 21, 2011

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.

4 comments:

NevadaJay said...

What a drag! How did the cortisone work out? Progress, I hope.

Kellee said...

I'm still waiting to experience the benefits of the cortisone shot. Pain from the injection has improved and is nearly gone, but achiness from my injury is the same, if not worse.

Jay said...

I had one of those shots for my hand years ago and it helped tremendously. Hope it does for your injury too.

Kellee said...

Thanks, Jay. Unfortunately, it seems to have done more harm than good for me. No quick fixes for me, but I'm hanging in there.