I'm an excellent healer!

I'm happy to announce that after 4 long, but not as long as I expected them to feel, months the ortho surgeon said, "yep, it's healed."

That's right folks.  The projected 6 month to a year recovery is not quite as bad as I thought it was going to be!  After 4 months my achilles tendon is back up and running (well, I'm not supposed to run quite yet) and now I just have to continue strengthening my leg. 

I've got to tell you, not being able to move like I wanted to was really tough.  There were the comical parts of recovery, for example:

 

 

Exhibit A:  The shower chair

 The shower chair is like being stuck in that tacky scene in Flashdance day after day after day.  I had to roll myself in an office chair to the shower then stick both feet in and somehow lift myself and stand on my one good leg b/c I couldn't put pressure on my healing foot and balance enough to stand like a normal grown-up.  Man, was I glad to get rid of that.

Then there was the funny part of recovery involving vacation.  We planned a trip to Hawaii and bought tickets literally the week before I busted myself.  Not being able to walk with out a boot makes getting into the ocean very tricky.  Behold Exhibit B:

The 3-legged crab walk.

The 3-legged crab walk was the only way for me to get in the water and out without taking Daniel out in the process.  We tried having him support me while I tried to hop down to the water.  But in sand that. does. not. work.  So I threw away my pride and was the "28 year old girl scooting on her butt down to the water on a public beach."  For all those witnessing this site, you're welcome.  (Side note:  when I crawled back up to the towel out of the water I got applause from a group adults near us.)

This was also around the time that we decided to move houses. Now ladies, if you ever want to come up with a huge task that is physically demanding and then have a terrific excuse to not do any of the physically demanding parts, then you should rupture your achilles.  I packed as many boxes as possible...but I didn't have to lift them!  We had some really great friends chip in to help with the move to a new place.  It's a pretty great house with a HUGE backyard for the dogs, a half-court basketball court, 2 bed/2bath, AND A CRAFT ROOM!!!!  They didn't advertise it as a craft room, but I commandeered that sucker the minute we walked in.  A couple photos of our place for your enjoyment:

Oops! I guess I only have a picture of my Charlie sunning himself upstairs.

So long story short, while I still have a lot of physical therapy stuff to work on to increase strength, balance, range-of-motion, I'm back up and moving. I went to Zumba a few times and came home to reflect to Daniel that dancing with one bad foot "must be what normal people feel like when they try to dance."  That sounds snotty, I know, but man, I used to be a really good dancer.  I have continued teaching tap classes throughout the ordeal, although now I'm sure I'll be better b/c it's not reassuring looking into your child's tap class and seeing both the teacher (me) and the teaching assistant both on crutches. That's a true story.

Happy summer to all and keep writing your blogs.  I love reading them!
Oh, and here's my new favorite photo of my husband and me from a recent "one of my best friends is marrying my brother-in-law"'s weddings. 

July 2nd, 2011  Rhonda and Russell's wedding