Don't Get Discouraged

A weird concidence happened yesterday; I was writing about not hearing from Jeff when they called to tell me that my appointment was at 5. When I got there, Jeff asked how I did this last week without him. I told him that I did fine and even ran a mile in which he congratulated me in my accomplishment. However, I also told him my concerns of my foot. In the last 2-3 weeks, I haven't felt like my foot has gotten any better. It was improving for sure, but now, it's just the same, stalled. I told him that I'm just so tired of wearing tennis shoes all the time and being in pain (although, I am wearing other shoes more and more and less pain throughout the day). He told me that I know it feels that way, but we have also been increasing the exercises, which is why my foot is hurting still. He reminded me that I couldn't even run a mile a couple of weeks ago and now I can. So, I felt better. I realized that yes, I'm wearing my ankle brace less and less, wearing other types of shoes, and putting more work on it, which means more pain before it gets better.

Jeff initially started with the stablizer ball thing, while my right foot (the good one) was on this foam pad 4" high. I looked at soccer and we talked soccer. Then, I saw Jeff lay down this long, foam pad (same height) on top of the tape ladder that is on the floor. My objective was to walk on it, one foot in front of the other. It was difficult at first, because it's hard to be stable on something that squishes underneath your feet (guess that is the point). Then, he put me on the wood stablizer thing that goes back in forth. He complimented me on how I'm not whipping back like I used to do and that I have more control. At this time, this midget girl came in that I have seen before. My fascination with midgets is crazy and I just tried not to stare (very hard). Jeff then took me to the ball throwing net thing, but I had to stand on this foam pad again, while throwing the ball. It was so hard and my ankle and foot were hurting. After about 10 minutes, he made me go back to the stairs to do toe raises, while hanging my foot off the edge. I also had to have 3 control stops to add an extra layer of difficulty. My calves were hurting after about 15 minutes of this raising stuff and I wished that I had stretched before I started.

I was then led to the machine to do the maze. Jeff made a comment on how "enthused" (total sarcasm) I sounded when I said that I wanted to do the maze. I just told him how hard it is and I can't figure out why I can't do this exercise. He said that the highest score was 23% and I informed him that I got 29%, which then he said that we have a new record (go me). Only this time, I didn't let the thing get me; I just didn't care. And you know what, I got a 43%, but no one was around to watch it. I should have stopped there, but I decided to see if I could do better. Boy, did I get cocky. My next round was 13% and Jeff saw that one (not the other one, of course). I then got on the ski machine and he told me to do 1 minute on, 1 minute off, but if my ankle starts to hurt, I should stop immediately. I did this for awhile and it wasn't my ankle that was hurting; it was my thighs. Whoa, my thighs were burning, because I haven't gotten this much exercise.

Jeff asked me if I wanted to run on the treadmill or just get hooked up to the machine (compression therapy) and I told him to hook me up to the machine. My ankle was hurting, hell, my legs were hurting and didn't think I could handle running. He told the lady to start me on medium pressure and then switch over to high pressure. It felt good to have this thing again; I have missed this torture device. I always feel better afterwards. When it was done, Jeff said that I'm doing good on my own and only need to meet once next week. However, I'm going out of town for work all week long. So, we are meeting the following week. And they have a gym at the hotel and I hope to do some running on the treadmill each morning. I can get up early enough to do this since the office is right across the street.

With injuries, it's important to not let it get you down. However, it's been a long time since I've been healthy.