Took a step forward today toward getting back to golfing

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

I went to my ortho appointment, where they sawed off the 6-week old cast and then x-rayed my ankle. Waited for a bit til the ortho came in and he told me the healing is looking very good, that I can go to a Darth Vader boot for the next four weeks which I can take off for sleeping and showers, and he says I can go up to 50% weightbearing on the ankle. Although don't tell him this, but I've already have done a few things with a bit more weightbearing than that. Still, I'm not going to go stomping around on it yet.

Start physical therapy for the ankle tonight, and who knows, maybe I'll have the all clear to be able to try a few full swings in 4 weeks time.

It'll be nice when I get home tonight and take that first standup shower in over 6 weeks.

[DaveE]

At least things are progressing. Sounds like you'll be losing balls and swearing at the sky in no time.

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

Originally Posted by DaveE

At least things are progressing. Sounds like you'll be losing balls and swearing at the sky in no time.

I'll be really happy that first day I step up onto the first tee and take a swing. Even if I completely whiff on it. There's enough bad stuff in life anyhow I always try to be happy with the good stuff.

[JEFF4i]

Well, at least eventually you'll get back in it. I hate broken bones.

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

At least I should be walking some again in 4 weeks. So I should be getting back into shape around the time the good weather starts showing up more consistently.

It'll be interesting to see what if any effect all the upper body exercises I've been doing while hobbled by this ankle have. Right, if you got lemons, make lemonade? So I've been using a chin up bar, a dumbell and a variety of exercises to improve my upper body strength during all this.

[Bama Duffer]

Originally Posted by Ravenous Bugblatter Beast

I'll be really happy that first day I step up onto the first tee and take a swing. Even if I completely whiff on it. There's enough bad stuff in life anyhow I always try to be happy with the good stuff.

Amen, brother.

Glad to hear things are getting better. I hear the PT can be tough, but it's good.

[zaphod]

Ravenous,
I hope P.T goes well. Keep that goal in sight of the sweet drive that splits the fairway. In the mean time, I have the answer----42!!!! Now if I just could come up with the question.

I've kept busy by drinking a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster---throwing myself at the ground and missing. All this has done is give me a headache and I have a brain the size of a planet. But I guess I always have my "mostly harmless" towel

Good luck and-----

[mont86]

Hope you have a speedy recovery beast.

[Sandpiper3]

Keep gettin better. The golf gods are waiting to wreak upon us all again.

btw, isnt an ortho a type a dentist you go to for braces? At least thats what they are around here?

[zaphod]

orthodontists-----braces
orthropedic surgeon-----bone specialist M.D.

both have excellent earning power therefore have good potential for owning all the newest drivers and brush tees.

[Pa Jayhawk]

Great to hear RBB, just don't be in a big hurry to start swinging a club again. You still have about another month or so before the courses will be real enjoyable with the weather anyways.

Was it the right or left ankle? If it was the ankle to the front of you stance I would specifically ask about the twisting prior to trying any kind of swing, that just seems like a painful thought, as I'm sure you probably already thought. I used to ding up my ankles alot playing soccer, they were some of the hardest injuries to heal, and some of the easiest to re-aggravate. Fortunately no broken bones for me. Just be cautious.

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

I went to my first physical therapy (PT) session last evening, and I'm glad I did. It was amazing how much better the left ankle felt after the first round of stretching and electrical stimulation. It also gave me the time to really look at everything, have the range of motion measured, plus I ended up looking at the left calf muscle. It's horrible what 6 weeks of immobility will do to a muscle, when I checked it with my hands it just felt like jelly paste. So once I get weightbearing restrictions lifted, there's going to be some time and work to rebuild the strength in my left leg.

It's going to cost me some money in co-pays, but I think it'll be worth it. It was good to get some instruction and observation that I was stretching it out properly, and I was glad to have a set of exercises to follow for myself this morning. I'm supposed to do these stretches 3 to 5 times a day.

Also, the physical therapy is able to give me electrical stimulation, something I don't have the equipment to do on my own. It feels weird with the pads hooked up, and it was odd watching my foot twitch, but again it seemed to really help the ankle start to feel more like an ankle again.

Jayhawk, I think that's what scares me the most at this point, the thought of full weightbearing with twisting on it. It might take some time before I will feel comfortable doing that, will just have to keep following directions on how to rebuild the mobility and strength in the ankle.

[JEFF4i]

Piper has it right. You can count that you've got the Golf Gods on your side for a healthy recovery, they love laughing at us.