Some easy low traverses
(Dec 15th-21st: 14min read)
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Monday: Today was the day where my eldest daughter went to the doctor’s due to back and tummy pain … and ended up shortly thereafter in hospital for an unplanned appendectomy that afternoon (it all went fine, she came out the next day).
Due to this, and a bunch of other things I hadn’t planned, I ended up with nearly 10k steps on my iPhone -> probably easily over 11k total. Am not chasing steps, as I’ve said before – tbh almost the opposite … this actually kicked off worries on my side about elongation (again) … still looking for a way to kind of evaluate or track this at home as it is my biggest concern, bigger than re-rupturing.
Positive Moment(s): ‘Twas a sweaty, good feeling doing 30mins @ 120W cardio at the physio practice (man, am I out of shape though!) … but it was a VERY good feeling when my eldest daughter messaged after surgery: when she was still in surgery at 17:30 after going in around 14:30 for a ‘short, routine operation’, we had begun to worry somewhat; minutes after we’d set off to go visit her, her first reply came – big relief!
Milestone(s): Boot off at work – I did warn my colleague in the same room ðŽ … but she said it was fine, didn’t notice any bad smells ð. First time over 10k daily steps – unintentional and not necessarily positive … at least I’m feeling distinctly indifferent about it right now.
Tuesday: Back to two crutches (and about 50% PWB) for a while to protect my poor little right toe and surrounding joints; after so many steps yesterday also looking out for my Achilles … I mean, it doesn’t hurt, at all, but am worried that fatigue might let it fail, without warning, at some point during ‘normal motion’.
Still keeping up my Tuesday morning boulder group … I can hardly describe what kind of a positive effect this has on my well-being. Yes, it’s an effort to get over there – this morning, I took the bus … what would take me about 9-10mins with the car or 10-11mins with my bike, takes almost 25mins with the bus … and then I still have the extra 500m to walk from the bus stop to the climbing gym, so more like 35mins altogether at the mo.
In fact, this Tuesday I actually went as far as hanging on the wall ‘properly’ a few times; and no, not dangerous … this kind of stuff I can do in my sleep, it’s solid holds, enough of them, and then just cms over the soft mat, BUT a 10sec hang in this position (and others) is a really helpful ‘cue’ to my tendons, skin, muscles … quite apart from the fact that I LOVE it ð.
And yes, I know how lucky I am that my job and its flexible working hours allow me to integrate a morning climbing session into my everyday schedule, no question about this. But if I couldn’t do it during the day, I’d do it later on after work – it is simply such a source of strength and positivity, love the boulder gym people ðĪ ðĨ° …
… even if not everyone loves my choice of sandwich fillings – a certain bouldering friend had a ‘gag-attack’ as I described what was in the sandwiches, not realising I had two different ones … but garlic featured in both ð.
Positive Moment(s): Bouldering; cardio + ‘official’ intro to upper body equipment at the physio practice; there’s a really nice lady at the bakery, who paid me a compliment for my sweater which my eldest daughter knitted for me ð. Then there’s the bavarian video link sent to me by my fellow Redditor-Rupturee in the Black Forest – it had me laughing my socks off ðĪĢ! Delicious food cooked by my middle son was another highlight; seeing my fellow Redditor-Rupturee in the Netherlands taking some first steps with just one crutch already ð ðŠ ðš was also great!
Milestone(s): Climbing chalk on my hands for the first time since my injury (see pic above!).
Wednesday: The power of positive thinking … you can ‘grow’ this ‘skill’, I know … but if stuck in the quagmire of despair I also know it seems impossible to implement it; I think I’ve gotten better at that, little bit by little bit over the last decades. And still, I sometimes find it hard to practise … despite the fact that, when I read some of the stories on Reddit, I can see how easy I have it. At the very least, it should theoretically be easy for me to be grateful.
Indeed, mostly I am grateful for all the luck and love in my life … but this morning I was nevertheless close to registering myself sick and climbing back into bed after I’d made my youngest son’s sandwiches this morning – basically, I was feeling a little down-in-the-dumps (nothing compared to real depression). And in Germany, at the (very large) company I work for, taking up to 3 days without a doctor’s note is easy-peasy; I still get paid the same, and nobody will ask questions if this happens occasionally – since 2009, I’ve only taken about 15 sick days (half of those due to bloody CoVID), so nobody’s going to be after me for skiving off work! Nevertheless, that’s not me … so I pulled myself together and headed off to work.
Didn’t regret it … fresh air, movement, coffee at the bakery, colleagues at work … and it’s the thought of these many moments which keeps me going. An applicable phrase I found in my inbox: “Try not! Do. Or do not. There is no trying” … so said Master Yoda, an expert in positive thinking ð ð (I love this ‘original’ Star Wars movie / scene; this link to it was included in a “Momentology” email from Dr Mitch Abblett, where you might find a little help regarding this subject).
Positive Moment(s): Hearing my ‘Black Forest’ fellow Redditor-Rupturee is back at work after about 3 months off – he sent a video of one of his bathroom restoration / upgrade jobs, looked amazing! Being able to make the choice to skip a train and take the next one to spend a little more time with my partner, with no one at work breathing down my neck; our little doggo Fini is stayed the night at my place again! My middle son cooked again ðĪĪ. Oh yeah, and our local supermarket finally re-opened … they closed for refurbishment just days after my injury, REAL good timing ð !
Milestone(s): < had a ‘wobbly’ week this week regarding my journal, having to catch up a little here and there and really can’t think of a milestone at the moment … why the ‘daily’ part of writing a daily journal is so important >.
Thursday: After scanning the web for a way to at least half-way reliably ‘measure’ my tendon length at home (i.e. without ultrasound and MRI equipment), I decided to adapt the Achilles Tendon Resting Angle (ATRA) test a little so I can perform it on my own at home: basically, I filmed myself from the side (stood the iPhone on my desk next to the bed) lying on the bed on my front as I slowly lifted each leg (alternately) to past the 90° angle towards my bum; from the video I then took two freeze frames, one of each leg in ‘the same position’ … and this allows you to at least compare the resting angle of each foot.
These I sent, along with some more vids and text feedback, to Chris Smith in the US: he said both the calf raises as well as those pics would show it if there was elongation; he thinks the tendon length looks good, which is a relief. I now also have a way to document this factor going forward, which is great, as it was my main concern at the moment.
Doing the daily exercises, my calf/tendon feel solid; am up to 7.5kg / 16.5lbs on the seated calf raises, 10kg on the iso plantar and 8kg on my flavour of the ‘banded’ plantar. Still a long way to go before I’m getting even halfway close to my own bodyweight, but it’s all good progress!.
Another cardio unit today: saw a similar effect to last week – more stable and lower heartrate than the other two units this week; added a short first upper body unit at the physio practice – will be building this up when they re-open after Christmas.
During the local physio session I also got some advice on and was shown a couple of (principally stepping) exercises to start combating my left ‘lazy hip muscle’ – still not sure exactly what it’s called, anatomy is still not my strong point ð .
Positive Moment(s): Seeing my fellow Redditor-Rupturee in the Netherlands chilling with his dog (he’s not been able to look after it due to his injury, so it’s been staying ‘away from home’ with someone else); our little doggo came over for the day again; order-out pizza evening … do enjoy my food ð. Laying to rest the fear of elongation, at least for the moment.
Oh yeah, one sad thought: I missed my youngest son’s Christmas choir performance – it’s in a church, you have to get there really early to get a seat … the thought of this, coupled with km of walking there and back … as much as I love him and hearing him sing, no can do – just the same as missing the work Christmas party for the first time, am gutted, but am not at that point yet.
Milestone(s): First night (Wed-Thu) sleeping without the boot – felt fine, think it was a good time to start with that, giving my foot and calf plenty of boot-free time to recover from the loading of the day.
Friday: Another thing I love about Germany: 6 weeks paid holiday a year is fairly standard; that coupled with the fact that it’s very common for companies in Bavaria (the conservative Catholic ‘deep south’) to shut down for about two weeks from shortly before Heiligabend (Christmas Eve) until the 7th January (the 6th Jan is a public holiday). This means it’s no problem for me to take 3 weeks off (even though I’ve never had this luxury before – in fact it’s been common for me to work through this period, or at least for most of it).
For one thing I want to concentrate on building a rhythm of earlier bedtime coupled with consistent morning and evening mobility routines; for another, boot-weaning is looking like it’ll fall in that 3rd week … and I’d really like to be able to take those first steps without being tired, stressed due to work, under time pressure to get a full day.
Positive Moment(s): Train ride to work (frosted trees and sun over the mountains) … and yes, also the train ride back home!
Milestone(s): First week where I’ve missed two ankle mobility units ð … although one of the triggers for today’s drop-out was being appalled at the scathing – admittedly deserved and ‘on point’ – criticism I was given by an AI review of some of the stuff I’ve been writing; this caused me to pour lots of time into re-writing the on-line stuff … it’s not about ‘followers’, it’s about helping as many as I can connected to journalling for my own therapeutic purposes.
Saturday: Awoke at 5am, despite having started my Christmas holidays and no alarm being set … the daily rhythm of getting up shortly thereafter to make sandwiches for my 15yr old (who has to be out the door by about 6:10am) all has it’s price wrt daily schedule/rhythm.
All his choice, btw. … the school he visits (35km / 22miles) is where his 4 elder siblings all went to school, close to where his mum (my ex) still lives, so I can totally understand him not wanting to change school; I also support it … but, if it’s important enough to him to stay there, then it has to be important enough that he does ‘the work’ due on his side too. Which he does. And I’m super proud.
With the force measurement tool incorporated into the banded exercises, monitoring progress, repeatability and gradually increasing the load are all more objective as well as demonstrable.
Whilst the ‘banded plantarflexion’ is not, strictly speaking, using a band, the point of the exercise (loaded ROM) is maintained: think calf raise … in single leg variant for me I’d need to be at 67kg at the moment (ð), so whilst the applied force here has really increased over the last couple of weeks, I’m still way off what’s necessary for that … but step-by-step, lots of mini-milestones to reach before I get to that one!
Lower body unit today was ‘performed’ in the presence of some of my kids and my little dog, Fini … who REALLY wanted to be a part – either stealing one of the cushions I use during side plank exercises, or just chilling on the little rug I lie on as soon as I moved to another standing exercise … and then, as I gently move her out of the way, she thinks it’s time to play … and I can’t resist it either ðĪŠ.
My eldest daughter was also part of the ‘audience’ – she loves Fini to bits, but that was just one of several reasons for her visit. A less positive one was the suspected thrombosis in her left arm: swollen, painful to the touch, slightly discoloured … all without a conscious bash or anything else that might explain it. I was more than a little surprised when she was told by her local hospital to ‘keep an eye on it’ via telephone …
Positive Moment(s): “Quietschie ist da!” (German: “Heeere’s Squeaky!”) – for whatever reason, probably weather-related, my boot has started doing a kind of ‘squeak-pop’ noise as I walk … it made me feel a little like Tick-Tock the crocodile in Peter Pan (it swallowed a ticking clock, thus providing all with a warning of its presence!), as I arrived at my partner’s place … but good for a laugh, anyway ð ; coffee and croissant with my partner first thing – finally a moment without time pressure, no checking those train times; cuddling our little doggo, Fini ðĨ°!
Milestone(s): Banded inversion and eversion exercises have reached about 4kg (unaffected leg limit is around 6kg to be able to keep the movement more or less smooth).
Sunday: Looking back this week, I really think taking my time to slow down a bit was one of the best decisions.
For example, using both crutches Tue-Wed helped my right foot recover … walking today (back to zero crutches again) was just so smooth, pain-free as a result (note: I’ve still never had any Achilles pain whilst walking, it’s ‘just’ my little toe and surrounding joints).
Also, not sticking rigidly to my plan to start moving to the next boot setting on Thursday/Friday seems to have been a good move – in the evening, when I switched to the 5° setting on the VACOped boot for a first 500+ step walk around the apartment, initially with crutches, it was an easy move … I mean, the pulling is still kinda gut-churning oaccasionally, but again, am really wondering what the difficulties at 15° were all about ðĪ ðĪ·.
Positive Moment(s): Had a lovely ‘Raclette’ meal with 4 of my 5 kids, plus partners, to celebrate my eldest son’s 29th birthday.
Milestone(s): During the Sunday bouldering trip, I pulled on my (left) climbing shoe (so, my unaffected side) – feels great to be ‘hanging on the wall’ a bit, using the gym corner to do a bit of upper body work; it also didn’t make sense to do this with my EvenUp on … street shoes are not the thing one should be standing on handholds with.
Oh yeah … am not a big fan of my daily thrombosis injection (alarm set for 17:00 every day), but it was made more tolerable today by having my eldest daughter as an ‘injection buddy’ (her arm has gotten slightly worse, I’m really hoping she’s going to get it checked tomorrow).
Future-Sol’s reflections (date: xx.xx.20xx): < to come at some point in the future >
< just injured your Achilles tendon? / urgent short-term resources / resources for later on >
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