Barbara, age 54
Rehab was supposed to start two days after surgery. But I had been through menopause, so I did not have the bone density of a younger woman.
Instead, I was advised to allow more healing time before beginning more aggressive physical therapy. I would do small things like removing the brace and then hanging my heel on a coffee table to work on getting my extension back.
Physical therapy was difficult, but I was motivated. I wanted to get out of therapy as soon as possible and be back on my own two legs. I also knew that if I didn’t go it, I would never get my full range of motion. The progress was steady. After seven weeks, I returned to work, but I remember that I still had a noticeable limp.
There were a few times when I felt discouraged. There was a young man about twenty at physical therapy. He had the same surgery, but two and a half weeks after the operation, he was already walking up and down stairs without crutches, doing great. When I measured my progress against people like that, it was discouraging. I tried to stop comparing myself with others.
My attitude is, throughout life you struggle. My mother used to say, “No one gets out of this world without pain.” I don’t want to say that I expect pain and setbacks as a normal part of life, but I accept them. I know there are times when you have to fight like a son of a gun to overcome them.
Now, nearly a year after the operation, the leg is fine. My knee is very sturdy and strong. I was very diligent about physical therapy, and I still do some at home, but I have slacked off some. There’s no tenderness near the scar. My gait is very normal, though I think my right leg is still a little stronger than my left leg. I do a lot of gardening. I run now. We just put our sailboat out in the water, and I’m looking forward to sailing.
I went back to the surgeon and told him that everything seemed normal. He asked why I hadn’t done the surgery years before. I told him that I would have, but no one had ever told me about it.