The Little Leg that Could

Thursday, I celebrated 6 months on crutches with yet another doctors appointment. After going through the now all too familiar procedure of check in, snap photos, and lie in examination room for undetermined amount of time, Dr. Proctor arrived. The xrays were mounted on the slide screen, and to both of our surprise, the bones looked... better. Now, don’t get too excited, there are still obvious fractures all over the place. However, the pitch black rivers and lakes carved out between bone fragments are much less pronounced than six weeks ago. The combination of a bone stimulator (finally arrived after over two months of insurance/medical office bullshit), combined with a solid dose of self prescribed physical therapy is unquestionably creating dramatic results. Lets put it this way: There was more visible growth in the past month than in all of the first five months combined.

In fact, things looked so good that Proctor ended our short appointment with the suggestion to start putting some weight on the leg. The addition of weight to the almost forgotten bones and connective tissue of my lower left leg should truly supercharge the recovery process. Of course, this also means that there is now a strong possibility that a rodding procedure (popping the screws, drilling out the entire tibia shaft and stuffing it with a titanium rod) will be unnecessary. Needless to say I’m psyched.

Initially recovery was all about saving my foot. Over the past 3 months the goal has been to stimulate growth in the leg bones. Now begins phase three of recovery - learning to walk. But in the meantime, I’ve got some celebrating to do, and there’s a special twelve pack of Oly that I’m gonna need some help with. Bob? Bridget? Elijah?