From one of my favorite movies:
Friday I went to my third session with my new physical therapist and cried not once, but twice! I was trying to snap out of it and this part of “A League of Their Own” kept popping into my head. “There's no crying in PT!” I told myself.
This isn't my first rodeo at PT. I went pre-surgery for several months during year 2 of the ankle saga. I then went post-surgery for 3 months. I continued to do most of the exercises from then and have continued wearing my ankle brace during workouts. Despite that, it's just not felt much better. So my surgeon suggested I could get another MRI to see if we had more damage there, or if it was okay. I also heard lots of great things about a physical therapist who also trains at my gym, so I figured before getting the MRI, I could at least talk to him about what was going on. MRIs are expensive, and at this point if there IS more damage, I don't think I'd go through another surgery right now.
The good news is that in 1 session with my new PT, I felt so much more informed about what the real issues are with my body (hip alignment and strength, core strength, foot position) and how I might be able to make some progress doing different things. Also, the next 2 days I was so sore from the simple repositioning of my body doing basic exercises. My booty was on fire! I never had that kind of soreness in the past with PT.
During Friday's session, he was manipulating the tendon as there's a lot of tightness and scar tissue, and it was excruciating. Necessary, but so horribly painful. I feel like I have a pretty high pain tolerance (though I guess everyone probably says that) but I couldn't stop the tears from coming. Phew.
Then, when doing a new exercise, I got frustrated and started crying again. Like, out of nowhere. My foot wasn't doing what I knew it was supposed to be doing, and I felt so frustrated that I couldn't do a simple thing. So I left having cried TWICE in PT in an hour. Oy.
My friends are doing amazing things with their bodies. Roni competed in a 2 day Crossfit competition this weekend, and Alan finished his first half marathon today (after finishing his first triathlon last week!). I'm trying to turn this frustration around to say that all this hard work is also amazing. I want my unrestricted mobility back, and this hard work is going to get me there.
