ok.  i know i've been deliberately remiss in updating and i'll explain why
along the way.

so, i'm almost through with pt for this leg that was broken back in august.
done with pt, november 23rd, if i'm lucky, hopefully.  and hopefully, my
last ortho appmt. will be nov. 13th.

haven't said much about the rehab on asa, cuz it seemed like it would be
pretty boring to most.  plus, i felt like i was toughing it out a bit,
mentally, for the whole while there and didn't want to give myself an excuse
to not follow through with what i felt was very necessary, nor give the
wrong impression.

i'm now at the level of using the blue level therabands for rehabbing this
ankle, at the hospital therapy clinic and at home.  am using a blue level
theraband stability trainer there (kind of a foam pad, that wobbles  your
ankle and hips to exhaustion), to improve my balance.  even purchased that
same kind of stability trainer, so i could continue working with it at home,
during the week and when my sessions finally stopped.  (i really do want
this falling routine to cease and haven't fallen once since pt began.  i'm
scared having said that, as though i've jinxed myself.)  still doing the tai
chi ice-walking, for balance and prioperception (nice word. prioperception.
i've temporarily forgotten what it means.LOL) as per my therapist's
instructions.

had a couple of combination treatments.  electro-stim diodes, i think
they're called  (they're sticky pads with wires attached to the pads and
machine), stuck to my leg and ankle, combined with ice bags around my foot
and ankle at the same time, to reduce the very stubborn swelling.  went from
cantaloupe to grapefruit to almost normal foot and ankle size in just two
treatments.  i think that worked out rather well.

partly why i haven't shared much about rehab, was that i also did water tank
therapy (with the treadmill inside the water tank) from the beginning of
physical therapy, a week past 2 months of once a week of that.   until just
this past week, that is, when i finally said, "uncle".  i broke down and
confessed to my therapist that the water treadmill was causing a great deal
of longer and longer lasting pain in my right knee (my "good knee", my
arthritic, less arthritic than the left one, driving knee --  
auto-transmission).  serious and sustained pain that just wasn't going away
between therapy sessions, made me say, "uncle".   it's still constantly
hurting, after more than a week off.

 she, my pt, was a bit upset with herself for not picking up on that
herself.  told her it wasn't her fault that i'm stubborn and determined, and
too, i know i hide a lot.   also told her that i knew i needed to tell her,
then, because i almost didn't show up for that last water tank session.
(the warm water was nice and i could do a lot, until the treadmill was
turned on.   then my struggle began, though i stuck each session out to the
end, through the pain.)   i knew i was becoming reticent, reluctant and
apprehensive about the water torture, er . . . water tank treadmill.  and
too, i was very disappointed in myself that i couldn't handle it anymore or
any better, though i gave it a decent effort, i think, for two+  months--and
she did say i made very good progress.  she also said that she and ed (my
other physical therapist) both knew that my problems were structural and not
pain aversion.  and that they both knew they needed to work with what works
for me and not against it--well, i guess i didn't know that.<smile>

all of that, though, before i said "uncle", was making me very cranky,
disowning of my body and a tad disassociative (alone at home--at least, i
think it didn't show to others.), what with its concurrent painful
sleeplessness and my mental confusion about just which hand to use my cane
in, since my right knee hurt worse than my broken left leg, oa left knee and
oa left hip combined.  and too, the codeine and my body aren't agreeable
anymore--a bit of a row transpired between them awhile back, about urine
output.  felt like my bladder was partially paralyzed, which has reversed
itself upon my stopping the codeine.

i'm simply not one who calls doctors for or about pain meds.  wish i
didn't, but i seem to have an abject aversion to calling doctors, unless
there is something very serious, like bloody or broken, or very mundane,
like regular or followup exams.  middle-ground unordinary i tend to ignore
and dismiss  i just stop taking the culprit pill and try to move on.  i'm
afraid i'm not a very good patient, probably never have been.

anyway, just cuz i don't do the water tank therapy treadmill thing very
well, mainly because the treadmill cannot be set at my irregular and
awkwardly lurching pace, doesn't mean it isn't a wonderful, helpful, and
useful therapy for others.  afterall, and this is important to me for you
guys to get, "i really do have two legs that look and behave like they
belong to two different bodies.  so, what is torture for me, would probably
be heaven for you."  i need to make that clear, because that was partly the
reason i never mentioned my difficulty with it before now on asa -- didn't
want anybody else thinking that the water therapy treadmill would be painful
for them, when i've talked to many patients in the physical therapy waiting
room who love it.

anyway, that's what's been happening on the rehab score.

kate