September 11, 2006 - Orthopedic Trauma Center, Vanderbilt Medical Center
This was my first appointment with Dr. Kregor after returning
from my summer trip
out west. They took a full set of x-rays of the leg and ankle, and when he
saw them,
he officially declared my tibia healed. I was so pleased to hear him say
that. The leg
felt strong through the summer, but I was very careful with it. As
mentioned in the previous
image, I did get back to doing some serious hiking, but used twin hiking staffs
for stability
cushioning, and wore very good hiking boots with ankle support. I was very
cautious on
the downhill slopes, and avoided any sort of jumping.
Dr. Kregor could not see any visible problems with the ankle
that would explain why I have
not regained full mobility. It doesn't slow me down much. The
problem is that I cannot bend
the foot upwards at the ankle, and you really need that movement for full
mobility. At Dr.
Kregor's request, I went back to the physical therapists, and they prescribed
an at-home
regimen of self-inflicted torture to increase ankle movement. Four times
per day, I stand on
the ball of my right foot on the edge of a step and lower my full weight,
stretching the foot
upwards, holding that position for a few minutes, and repeating a number of
times with a
short break between each one. It quite painful, but after all I've been through,
I have a high
pain threshold. So far, I cannot see any gain, but I'll gladly keep it up
for the prescribed
six weeks and then if there is still no change we can consider other options.