Returning to Relevé

Apologies for the non-creative title, but that's literally all I can think right now. A picture of me right now. I'm still plugging away taking class/barre, still have pain in my jerk of a peroneal tendon, am still doing PT, and am still super unhappy about how out of shape I am. The level of my weakness is really sort of unreal. It's like I haven't taken class in six years, rather than just one. The work and progress I had made prior to the ankle drama has just vanished into thin air. It's incredibly frustrating.

(My blog title has never been more appropriate!) I've taken a grand total of three classes thus far (two the first week, once last week), and BOY HOWDY am I out of shape. We've only been doing plié, tendu, dégagé, plus a little foot work and grand battement at the end (the other student in class is brand new to ballet, so the teacher spent a bit of time explaining things). My muscles are screaming, but I secretly enjoy that--I feel like I know I've actually been doing work. All the PT stuff. I'm still getting grumpiness just under my incision and then back behind in "the zone" (its where I had all the pain before).  I talked to both the surgeon and PT about it because even though having pain would still be pretty normal for someone only four months post-op, I was fretting because its in a similar place to where I had pain originally. That being said, it does feel different--less of a pinch, not as deep--just tender. Luckily, neither are especially wo...

I'm not even sure where to begin; a lot has happened.  I suppose I should just start where I left off, back in OCTOBER. Saw AnkleDoctor. He agreed with the nurse's recommendation that I needed surgery, only he thought my problem was the FHL ( remember my good 'ole FHL ?), some instability, and likely some damage to the cartilage in my ankle joint. This was a happier prognosis than what I expected (believe it or not), because the nurse had originally talked about deepening the peroneal groove in my bone and stuff, eep! So I had surgery at the end of November 2016. They ended up doing a lot more than I expected (and I have more "holes" in my ankle than I thought I would!): One side of scars--not too bad looking these days! Checked my ankle joint for cartilage injuries and found two. To fix, they created little “potholes” and dug out the bad cartilage. Apparently the bone marrow fills back in over time (like tar), but limits my releve-type activities ...

So....the PRP didn't work. That's a bit of a lie, it worked a little bit (things are less "crunchy"), but not well enough that I'm better and able to dance. No, in fact, the doctor that gave me the PRP injection actually recommended that I go see an orthopedic surgeon that specializes in foot/ankle problems. Good times. So I've been waiting 3 months to get in to see AnkleDoctor's nurse (the "gatekeeper"), who one HAS to see prior to seeing the doctor. I saw her a week or so ago and she was basically like, "Girl, you've done everything else, I think we need to have AnkleDoctor do surgery to put your tendon in place and clean up the gunk in there." So, now I'm waiting AGAIN, this time to officially consult with the doctor. So, it looks like I'm surgery-bound. I just don't know when. Will I be able to dance in the winter show? Will I be hobbling around on crutches during Thanksgiving and Christmas? Only time will te...

Man, I have been on an adventure (if waiting for things to happen one month at a time can be called an adventure). I got an MRI in mid-May, and found out I had the following problems: Chronic tendonitis in my peroneal tendons (not surprised) with some possible subluxation (movement) of the tendons out of their proper placement (yuck). Inflammation in the front part of my ankle joint Bursitis in the bursa located behind the Achilles A small tear in my Achilles (?!) Basically, my ankle was a hot mess of inflammation from overuse. We're all shocked, I know.   I discussed the results with my PT and podiatrist, and the latter decided that she wanted me to get a surgeon's opinion (as she no longer does surgery). I ended up going back to the first podiatrist I'd seen when this first started a thousand years ago , and he decided the best thing for me to try at this point would be a PRP injection. PRP stands for platelet rich plasma. They take some of your blood, c...

I wish I could say that no news is good new but alas... I spent 4 weeks in the boot full-time (even sleeping), and another 2 weeks in it part-time (out at home, in everywhere else). As of yesterday, I am now boot free! YAY! Alas, the ankle feels EXACTLY THE SAME, so next week I'm off to get an MRI. Cross your fingers for me, everyone!

So. This is happening. After much frustration, and still feeling like the Ankle of Doom wasn't getting any better despite my best PTing efforts, I talked to the doctor and it was decided that I should try wearing The Boot in order to try and see if immobilization would calm things the heck down.  Since we have a two week dance break it seemed like a good time, but it turns out that I'm stuck in this sucker for FOUR WEEKS. Not only that, but because my body can't behave itself, I get to graduate to a tall boot next week (I'm wearing a short one in the pic above), because I'm still getting too much movement and my peroneal tendon is POPPING. Speaking of peroneal tendons popping, during the PT session prior to my doc visit, I noticed popping when I went to point my foot, and the PT said it may be peroneal instability (the doc agrees), which basically means my tendon is moving in and out of its groove (though not completely subluxing over the bone). This could ...