Well, that's settled.

So I was hoping I'd get the clean bill of health at my "last" visit to the surgeon today. I was also hoping he'd suggest I immediately begin playing soccer. I was sadly and sorely mistaken. First off, I can't go back to my running routine for what he calls "a month." I didn't bother to ask if that means until the 27th of April or just 4 weeks from today. Frankly, it doesn't matter. As usual, the x-rays look fine, the bone is healing nicely, etc. But there are still some indications of callus (sclerosis?), deposits on the inside of the bone in the area of the fracture, which seems to mean that the bone hasn't healed completely on the inside. I was annoyed that they didn't show me the x-rays this time around, but I was clever enough to look at them before I got into the office, so joke's on them. I thought they looked better than the last time, but I can definitely see where there might be some indication that things aren't completely healed yet.

Secondly, (remember the "first off"?) I'm scheduled to see the surgeon again in 6 weeks. So I don't imagine I'll get any sort of clearance to have any sort of athletic fun until then. That's early May. I guess I'll be able to get a lot of important work done in the meantime, and maybe I can pack on those elusive injury pounds that I have heard so much about....

So that's the status of my foot repair. There was no suggestion that I started back to doing things (as per my previous posts, for example) too early, only that it is better to wait another month before resuming running activities.

I just read a study yesterday that presented evidence for 15 patients who underwent my same procedure. In 6 of the cases, the patients re-fractured the same site, and all 6 of those were among the group of 9 college athletes included in the study. The study concluded that the 6 subjects who re-fractured the site had returned to activity earlier than the others (at 6 weeks instead of the "safer" 8). Of course, in this study "return to activity" means playing their sport just like before the injury. So that doesn't really change the timeline I was operating on, but it might indicate that 8 weeks before any running at all would be a better baseline in the ACC program that I have been following than the 6 weeks that they suggest.

See, I'm a medical researcher now. Brilliant. Back to my Hydatius.

Kentucky and Back Again

So classes start(ed) today. Spring Break is officially a part of (still recent) history, and we all have a full quarter of classes to keep us occupied for the next 10 weeks. Or 11, if you count exams. Which I don't. So Alicia and I went to the great state of Kentucky with some friends over the weekend. It's literally right across the border from us, but of course that wouldn't really constitute a trip, so we made our way all the way across the state - to the very border with Tennessee. Our friends have a log cabin way down there, so we just relaxed and enjoyed being in warm weather and the outdoors. These days, a "log cabin" doesn't really mean what it used to mean, so I should say that this cabin is in a relatively new development, complete with electricity, running water, and inside bathrooms. On the other hand, there's no cable tv out there yet, so it's still somewhat "primitive"....

Well, Kentucky is nice, but somehow the country makes me nervous, especially parts of the country I have never visited before. I would probably feel more comfortable if I knew I could run, should the need arise, but (outside) running is still for people with healthy and strong ankles. I also didn't get to go fishing, but that might have sweetened the deal for me as well. On the other hand, I left most of my work at home, so I couldn't do anything except relax. In conclusion, I guess I'm glad to be back in a city, even if it has to be this one. It's nice to be able to make quick trips to the middle of nowhere over the weekend, but it's also nice to sort of feel like you're back home after such a trip. That's what I say, anyway.

And as for the foot, I have been doing my exercises and walking on the treadmills and even jogging occasionally. I still have that last appointment with the surgeon tomorrow, so I'll have to add an update after that, complete with x-ray analyses (too bad they haven't gone digital over there, I could totally post my foot on the internet!).

Groovy.

Time for a Run

Seriously. It is now seven weeks since my foot had a screw added to its skeletal structure. I am hoping that the screw has done its job, because it has now been a week since I started my fast walking program on the treadmill. I have no pain to report beyond the annoyed underfoot area that I described a few days back. Today I reached a full 25 minutes of pain-free jogging, and if all goes well tomorrow, I'll be running outside on "grass" by the end of the week. That's good news for me. I am scheduled to see the surgeon a week from today, so I'm expecting a last series of x-rays at that time, to find out if I am going to be allowed to play on the intramural soccer teams that I have registered for the Spring season.

You're probably wondering what I've been doing with all my time outside the gym. Simple: I have been working on my dissertation. This week I have also been forced to acquire and begin reading five books that are going to be assigned to my students in the upcoming quarter. I have read only two of them previously, so I will be doing a lot of heavy reading over the next few days in order to make sure that I get a decent syllabus together.

I guess that's what's going on around here. Some Spring Break!

Progress

I don't really do politics, but I'm OK on human rights. So I strongly encourage all 3 readers to contact their congresspeople (you can do a search here or here ) and other politicians and leaders (I'm thinking the US President and State Department officials, in particular) in order to voice your concerns over the situations in Darfur and now Zimbabwe. If you don't know about them, it's because the US news agencies are doing a woefully inadequate job in informing the public, presumably because 8 federal attorneys were fired recently under what may or may not be suspicious circumstances. So, if you feel like your news agencies, local or national, are letting you down by not reporting on important international crises and clear human rights violations, contact them. I imagine you can do this at places like abcnews.com, nbc.com, cbs.com and foxnews.com, among dozens of other sites (I don't actually imagine that, I already did it so I KNOW you can too!). In the meantime, do a google search for Darfur or Zimbabwe and read up on what much of the international community is apparently just hoping will go away.

Now, on to less important things.

As you may have anticipated, Tuesday last marked my first full day in a left-foot shoe since the 2nd of February, when they chopped my foot open and screwed the 5th metatarsal back into one piece. I had no pain in the area that got sewn shut, or in the area that has the screw now. But it came as something of a surprise to me that I have a condition that sounds similar to something known as "plantar fasciitis." I'm diagnosing my own situation here, but it seems that the "fascia" of the left sole had become somewhat atrophied or tightened or something through 6 weeks of disuse. Consequently, now that I am beginning a walking program, these ligaments are being stretched beyond their comfort level, causing me some pain. I have to keep working on this to make sure it doesn't plague me for a long time, and as long as I do my stretches and do not have a serious case of the condition, it should eventually go away. I hope.

Meanwhile, my friends over at the ACC have outlined their rehabilitation program, and I'm doing my "fast walking program" to try to regain my flexibility and ankle and foot strength. I'm still hoping for a return to full use by early April, but I have to wait for my late March x-rays and my (hopefully) last visit with the surgeon.

So that's the news for now. Exciting stuff, no?

300? I Just Don't Know

So there's this new movie out, you've probably heard of it: 300. It's about the 300 Spartans who "single"-handedly defended Greece against the million-man army of Persia under Xerxes around 480 B.C. There's the story line. Now, the movie is ostensibly based on a graphic novel of the same name, but we can safely assume that the graphic novel is "based" on the account in Herodotus, the Greek historian. So we have a movie based on a graphic novel based on an ancient history based on some primary sources.

If I can overlook all the historical confusion the movie might cause (let's say the movie is only related to an ancient account in that we know about the "event" that the movie claims to reflect through an ancient source - there is no relationship beyond that, and no such claim is made, so far as I know), I think my main problem is that the movie attempts to recreate the graphic novel in mood and cinematography, and consequently we are left with a rather flat, cartoonish movie. The narration is perfect for those little rectangular boxes in the corner of the frames, but is bland and uninteresting as a film technique. When a few thousand Persian soldiers get hacked up, slashed open, and impaled, we hear sounds like "splat," "squirt," and "crunch" - Batman tv series, anyone? Kapow! Oh, and these sounds are all accompanied by the blood splatters that decorate the movie logo.

I'm still trying to decide if I can like this movie. I certainly didn't enjoy watching it, but maybe I'll figure out that I just didn't get it the first time around, and eventually I'll learn that I should think it's a good movie (usually, this approach just leaves me more convinced that the movie's not a very good one). I'd be interested to hear what other "real" people thought of it, but mostly I can only find these "film critics" and their gushing reviews, so that just makes me feel more like I'm better than this movie.

Fixation of the 5th Metatarsal Costs $10 Grand

That's what my foot looks like now. It used to be somewhat worse, but not much worse. See the tiny little scratch down along the edge of my sole? That's where they hacked me open and screwed the bone together. I have seen some pictures of similar procedures online, it's quite nasty inside the foot. But in some cases it looks like there's no more than a tiny little incision, just big enough to get the screw and its washer through - no idea what makes different surgeons do things differently. At any rate, the 5th metatarsal of my foot is finally almost whole, according to my calculations. The x-rays are still whatever they were last time, but I am expecting to be out of the boot within a few days, which makes me very happy. I haven't had any pain at all over the last couple weeks, and I finally started into physical therapy last week. They had me doing the basic core strengthening exercises that everyone probably does regardless of the type of injury, but there are some that might actually be helpful as I start using my ankle joint again - stretches and foot strengtheners and the like. I feel confident that I could start going around in shoes right now (in fact, I do occasionally, just around the house and for doing my exercises), but I am trying to be a good patient and be patient enough to make sure that everything heals up properly.

In other news, I have made a few phone calls, and here's the verdict: the foot surgery that I underwent is going to cost about 10 grand. My insurance should cover the bulk of that, but it looks like I'll be doing some serious groveling to try to whittle my portion down to a more manageable sum after they're done with their part. So be advised - even though nobody publishes these prices anywhere, and it's nearly impossible to get hospitals to quote you a price before the procedure, any operation, no matter how "minor" or short, is going to set you back a good bit.

Here is No Why?

So I have to wear the boot a few more days. Big deal. At least I can hobble around pretty well by now, even with the stupid thing velcro-ed on. I even got to the gym the last couple of days, and I got to drive this really cool machine - it's apparently called a "sci fit pro" machine. Needless to say, I got a really great workout on that - burned like 700 calories in 45 minutes. More importantly, I got the injured leg back in action for its second bike-style trip, and it felt really good the whole time. That's what this is all about, after all, getting the leg back in working order. That and the heart and lungs.

Here's a rule - don't try to get in shape alone, find someone to partner up with you so you can totally help each other stick to the program. There, just came up with that myself.

You'd think a guy like me, grad student in rehab, would totally be able to get a ton of time in at the gym. Problem is, I'm also supposed to be writing the dissertation, which means that every moment I spend in the gym is secretly wasted time. Fortunately, when I do work, I am quite productive. I'd prove it, but who has the time to read all of that? Heck, who has the time to read all of this?