Nate got home from New York on Friday morning. Hooray! I was so happy to have him home. He hadn't seen my boot or foot yet since he was out of town for my appointment. So, we went home and immediately "played doctor" ;) I took my boot off and was showing him my range of motion exercises. He pulled up my video from Tuesday and compared the two and gave me a passing grade. I also showed him my muscle atrophy, the source of all my crying and tears for the past week. He immediately burst out laughing and exclaimed how cute my little chicken leg was. All this crying I did, and he was laughing? Then I realized, had he been home for the initial big reveal of the foot, he would have done the same thing, and my reaction would have been more of a comical one rather than an upsetting one. He just has this uncanny ability to turn negative things into a positive for me, and remind me how things are going to get better and I don't need to worry about it. So I stopped my mopiness about my atrophy and moved on to other more important things, like getting ready for the Color Run!
We picked up my wheelchair Friday night and headed up to the Color Run in downtown Salt Lake City on Saturday morning. I was really sad I wasn't able to run it, let alone walk it, but I was really excited to be doing something "active" and in my element for the first time since that fateful day in June. I thought I'd be embarrassed by the wheelchair but it was actually kind of awesome. I for sure got a lot of attention. Although, the first part of the morning was a little rough going. We had parked in the parking garage of the SLC Library, which was right around the corner of the starting area for the race. As my luck would have it, the elevator was not working!! So, I hopped out of my wheelchair and with Nate's help I hobbled/hopped up 3 flights of stairs and we made our way to the festival. That was quite the workout! There was a Zumba instructor on the stage and all of these people were over there doing Zumba. Ah, it pained my heart. I haven't been to a Zumba class in about 2 months. I used to go every week and shake my ass with my ladies.
I met up with my Mom, and her husband Dave, and friend Cheryl, as well as my sister-in-law Jessica, and her husband Todd, and my niece Clara for Team Sparkle Motion!! Nate pushed me in my wheelchair anywhere I wanted to go, and I first I was rather disturbed by the fact that I couldn't control my destination. But that was over quickly and I succumbed to his direction. We hopped in the starting line and off we went! Everyone walked and kept pace with the wheelchair girl as Nate pushed me. It was really hard for me to judge pace though. Was it a good pace or a leisurely pace? I have no idea. Clara thought it was the most amazing thing and wanted to ride in my lap versus her stroller. I loved having a passenger in my chair (although strangers kept thinking she was my daughter) and she was so excited when we rolled through the color stations. I actually got a good quad workout keeping her balanced in my lap so there was that! The weather was beautiful, and the race was really fun. I was really thankful for all of my family and friends that supported me and made it possible for me to still participate in the race. I could not have made it this far without all of them. It did a lot for my spirits. And we got crazy decked out in color!!
(before color!)
(during color - wheelchair selfies!)
(after color!)
My foot was pretty angry and swollen after the race, since it was kind of at a downward angle in the chair, and it took us about an hour to finish. So I went home, elevated and stretched it (and thank goodness the elevator was working on the way back to the car in the parking garage), and it was good to go afterwards! I also coughed up color for quite a while after the race so next time I'll be sure to wear a bandana or some type of cover over my nose and mouth!
I also got some "boot bling" this week, a leopard print sock that I can fit on the inside lining of my boot and a few red flowers that I can attach to my boot straps. I can now have some fanciness to the gimp life! Yeah!
My big milestone next week is seeing the physical therapist on Wednesday. I feel like I'm making good progress on my range of motion, but I don't have any idea where I should be. I take my boot off 4-5 times a day to work on the stretches and I feel it getting less stiff and less painful every day. Yay! Although, when I move my toes (well attempt to move my toes) and I move my foot around, I can feel the metal grinding around in there. It doesn't hurt, but it is a really uncomfortable feeling. The tops of my toes are still pretty numb. Hopefully I will get feeling back one day. My incisions are starting to heal pretty well. I've been using an exfoliating bar I got from Lush that has porridge and oats in it to gently exfoliate the foot in the shower and I think that is really helping with my skin. It's starting to look less scary and Frankenfooty.
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