2020 weekly - Week 4

19/01/2020, Sunday

Feel the need to plan the meals a bit to make sure we have enough veggies and varieties.

Lentils with grilled veggies (Sainsbury's frozen) and feta cheese
Tomato and onion butter sauce
Cauliflower (Sainsbury's frozen) cheese
Chicken mushroom cream stew

The chicken stew was made by hubby with my verbal instructions. Worked out pretty well. We were both impressed :-)

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My family is in Hokkaido for a 5-day visit. I am so envious! I was supposed to be with them but God had another thought. Well, I will definitely make it next time.

20/01/2020, Monday

Second physio session

Well, I am truly amazed to see what happened at the physio session today. Three weeks ago, I was unable to walk, in boot and two crutches. Today with boot off, my therapist asked me to walk, crutch free! Just like that! I was unsure initially as I tried a couple of times at home and it didn't go smoothly. But first he showed me a couple of intermediary steps (injured leg front and good leg back, hold it for a few seconds and bring the good leg to the injured one). And then heel down first, crutch free and off I go. I was moving, hand free. I am beyond happy!! I am truly impressed by what I can do today, astonished even. Didn't think that was possible but I walked crutch free.

Now he wants to increase the difficulty level of my exercises. Well, fair enough. Most of the exercises are about strength, balance and flexibility. With strength, balance comes naturally. There are a couple of exercises with single ankle (ouch it's really hard). I found a couple of more exercises on youtube which will improve my ankle ROM as well. My therapist said that he wants to see me stand on one foot for 2 minutes next time and definitely to walk unassisted. My next 5 weeks will be busy.

Feeling really encouraged today. Thank you body (and my therapist)!

21/01/2020, Tuesday

Getting up early to phone in for a meeting. Yesterday I worked almost 7 hours for the company. The danger of remote working is to tell yourself to disconnect.

But I should not lose sight of what truly matters, my recovery. This is my golden time for recovery and I shall make the best use of my flexible working hours.

The meeting finished just before 13:00. So I began exercises this afternoon. I am still finding my way through the exercises but here is what I found today:

The new exercises are extremely helpful for my walking. I noticed that I walked much more "normally" at the end of the exercises and I felt my ankle has been loosened up properly. So walking plus stretching seems to be a natural finish of the whole routine. The new exercises focus mostly on strength but also on balance and expanding the range of motion. A round of exercises takes about 30 minutes and my ankle did swell up at the end of it. The swelling is only temporary but it probably means my ankle working hard as directed.

So here is the sequence of the exercises to be repeated/modified for the next few days:

1. Sitting down and up from a chair (10 times x 5) x 4 repetitions
2. Standing on toes, both feet (1 minute x 5) x 4 repetitions
3. Single leg stance, (1 minute x 5) x 4 repetitions
4. Dorsiflexion stretch on a step (10 seconds x 5) x 4 repetitions
5. Walking without crutches (10 minutes) x 4 repetitions
6. Calf stretch against the wall (10 seconds x 5) x 4 repetitions
7. Seated toe or heel raise, throughout the day

Now you know what I meant I would be busy with the new exercises. It's exciting, to know that I can aim for more exercises and with greater difficulty. The only thing I can't do at the moment is the single leg on the staircase. When I feel ready, I may swap #3 with the staircase version.

I hope to improve steadily.

22/01/2020, Wednesday

Just when I thought I didn't have a good day of exercise today, a miracle happened when I was about to go to bed.

Still now my leg feel locked every time I get up and walk. I then remember the intermediary moves my therapist showed me before embarking on an actual walk. I gently rocked myself forwards and backwards with two feet standing apart 30cm, with one leg in front the other. I rocked myself as if I was about to walk out. After doing a few rounds with right leg front, I repeated by putting the left leg on the front. Then I walked a full step.

All of sudden, my right leg feels like before the accident, normal. The sensation is hard to described but very familiar and very real. The feeling of all locked joints is gone. It feels as if the knots have been all loosened up. Very strange. For 10 seconds, my leg felt natural and light. So weird and yet wonderful. Then it's bed time.

Don't know if it will last but tomorrow will do the same move again!!!

23/01/2020, Thursday

The first I checked when I woke up is to see how locked my right leg is. Wow, am I surprised! It feels a lot loosened than before. First since the rehabilitation, in fact, I feel I could just get up and walk.

Thank you, body.

I also tried what my therapist suggested during the first session, walking with the music. Well, I have to say he's right again. Instead of series of disconnected moves, music makes my walk in a smooth sequence of steps. You know you can tell a person has been injured or not by looking how smooth s/he walks. Before today, my walk consists of disjointed steps, a typical post-injury walk. Today, my newly loosened joints seem to smooth out the moves and the music brought a rhythm which helps smooth the detached steps into a beautiful sequence.

Thank you, Therapist.

Here is what I did today:
1. Sitting down and up from a chair (10 times x 5) x 4 repetitions
2. Standing on toes, both feet (1 minute x 5) x 4 repetitions
3. Single leg stance, (1 minute x 5) x 4 repetitions
3b. Standing on stairs, on toes and balls of both feet (1 minute x 2) x 4 repetitions
4. Dorsiflexion stretch on a step (1 minute x 2) x 4 repetitions
5. Walking without crutches with music (10 minutes) x 4 repetitions
6. Calf stretch against the wall (1 minute x 2) x 4 repetitions
7. Seated toe or heel raise, throughout the day

24/01/2020, Friday

Today I continued my exercise routine as yesterday but doing just 3/4 of it. Need to save energy for my first visit to the supermarket this evening.

"A God like you" is a great track for walking exercise. Love it.

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Have been working remotely for a week now. I noticed that my productivity is greatly enhanced and my snacking habit has reduced to practically zero. What does it say about my open-plan office environment?!