HERE HERE!! getting to sleep earlier, I agree. Plus, a new swimming schedule! there, you can drink all the chlorinated water you want!
“Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing.”-Denis Waitley-
Good point Shane, almost forgot mention that I’ll be starting swimming on Tuesday!!! Which also means…BEACH!
Amen Brother!
I dunno what’s happened over the last couple of days since I haven’t been doing anything with my ankle, but when I woke up this morning I was moving it around in circles with my hand, as I normally do in the morning to get it moving. But this morning it was clicking and grinding and popping which is completely unusual cause it’s never cracked or anything before…it was a little bit painful, BUT it felt like it was moving SOOOOOO much farther than normal. Even just moving it on my own forward and backward it was cracking a little but it felt so much more loose and there was NO pain. It was weird, but I’m definitly not complaining. It almost feels normal, like it’s not hurting or feeling broken at all!
So today I’m just going to work on the range of motion and relax, no working out or anything. Probably just lie in the sun and ice for a bit! I love Sundays!!
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm…SUNBURN
And you know what that means…ANOTHER DAY OFF!! hahaha I’m so lazy!
David Lee Pong
3 X [(30 X Hyperextensions + 30 X Pushups]
Ya…that’s right…I did 30…I’m pretty much just an uncontrollable machine, that’s all there is to it.
So yet again yesterday I didn’t do a whole lot with my ankle…I’ve done a bit today, stretching the dorsiflexion and even doing some resistance movements, nothing to strenuous though.
The plan last night was to to go bed a half hour earlier than I normally would, so I aimed to be falling asleep around 2…however a drunken phone call at 2:30 ruined that plan, so it’s back to square one tonight.
My left calf is officially so skinny now that sometimes when I see it in the shower with me, I get startled and think to myself…‘Who’s leg is that?!?’
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go”
Thought you and Herb might like this one!
Damn, that’s a great quote!
Or,
“Everytime you think i’m gone, I come back stronger”
Yeah, its about 35’
and thats kinda like a super saiyan, you know, when they lose a battle, they come back stronger after every defeat.
Its actually from some song the WWF used years ago lol, but yeah its quite DBZish
Zenonth, you’re the master of encouraging quotes! Thanks, it helps!!
SWIMMING!!!
woot woot…first day of swimming…it was unreal!!!
I felt so normal once I got in that water, I could have stayed there and played all day long, felt like a 5 year old kid…acted like one too!
Despite what Shane says, I have always recieved dirty looks at these swims, due to being the youngest person there by like 40 years and being the ONLY girl in a bikini, today however, I was the girl in the bikini on crutches…man oh man, there was some INTENSE staring going on today let me tell you! However we did pretty much rule the rehab pool. Old people were dodging us every which way, and the lifegaurds wouldn’t dare lecture us on anything as usual! Sometimes it’s convenient being the crippled one! 
So we went to the early bird swim, starts at 6:30, that’s right…I woke up before noon today!! It acctually felt great to get out of bed early, I’m going to start getting up early everyday, I can always nap if I need to right!
Anyways, spent about 5 or 10 minutes in the sauna before getting in the pool…and then the fun began. Strapped on a flotation belt and just gave 'er! Did a few laps of doggy paddeling and just getting used to kicking and stuff, surprisingly there was no pain at all. Then we hung out in the deep end for a while, like all the cool kids do. Tested how well I could swim without the floaty belt on…it was really quite frightening at first. Then we started getting dangerous…
Had a little underwater flip/roll competition (yes Shane, in case you weren’t aware, this WAS a competition…and I OWNED!!!) Would you expect any less though?
So then I got peer pressured into doing a backwards flippy roll thing…it hurt my back a bit the first time, but at the same time felt like a really good stretch. The second time there was cracking and a bit more pain. So I’m gonna leave the backwards flips until I talk to Bill. Although I’ve been warned that Bill is going to chase me around the room and beat me when he finds out I even tried that! :eek:
Went in the shallow end for a little while and walked around, very slowly, but still it felt great to be walking! The old ladies were very encouraging! 
Did a few laps of water running, could have done that for hours, it was wicked. And finished with a couple laps of doggy paddeling without the flotation belt on. :eek: I’m such a dare devil I know!
So that pretty much sums up the first swimming experience…I hope they’re all that fun!
Had a contrast shower when I got home and then worked for a few hours and had a nap before physio (1.5 hours, except I woke up halfway through so that kinda ruined my sleep cycle, it was still very refreshing though!)
Physio Appointment #7
Had the replacement therapist today while Bill is out of town. She was very nice, but also VERY GENTLE. She didn’t seem to want to try anythign new at all which was fine, and just basically asked me about everything that I’ve been doing with Bill and on my own and then we did some of that. She did a little bit of movement with my left ankle, very gentle movement, it was mostly resistance work, she would push one way, gently, and I would move my foot the other way, she told me to do this more gently though. Haha…then she showed me a few ways that I can get a bit of a stretch out of my left calf, they were more psychological tricks than anything, like using a wall for isometric contraction and then dorsiflexing to max afterwards. Then we did the EMS thing on my calf while I pulled on my foot with a strap. This time she was DEFINITLY NOT GENTLE!! The EMS wasn’t really making my foot go forward so she just kept cranking it and she had it right on the nerve in under my knee, but because it was on interval she would turn it up really high when it wasn’t firing and then when it fired my foot was just OUT OF CONTROL! We turned it down a bit and I stretched it out. I think the stronger EMS acctually helped a lot though, there was more force for me to counteract, pretty cool stuff. I think she was confused by my description of it because she brought the heating pad out afterwards and just had me heat my calf for about 10 minutes, I did a little bit more dorsiflexion stretching though.
Then I hit the bike for 10 minutes. I didn’t notice that the thing was increasing resistance on it’s own and ended up at level 15 so it was getting pretty hard, then I turned it back down and stayed at about level 9. And that was it!
PS: Avis (physiotherapist) has acctually broken her fibula and also had to have surgery, plates and pins etc. so she seems to know what it’s like. And I got a decent idea of what the scars might look like from the incisions…not that bad at all!
Chuh! we already discussed this, i know you like the attention, but my traps are so big, ppl couldnt help but check me out! remember. gosh…
Had a little underwater flip/roll competition (yes Shane, in case you weren’t aware, this WAS a competition…and I OWNED!!!) Would you expect any less though?
YEAH RIGHT~! get a life! there was no competition yo, plus i kicked your ass to the wall every time remember!
Here’s another one for you,
“Only after you fail do you realize you can suceed!”
HAHAHAAHAH, Hopefully I can join you and shane in the morning swim some time. Sounds like alot of fun. I’ll come visit soon.
Haha…Ren…before you go making bold statements like that I just want to warn you that I’m not the same person once we get in that water. Shane can testify to this…swimming with Andrea is not for the faint of heart. It’s also a VERY dangerous ordeal at times, I mean today they were training lifeguards in the FAST LANE…the splashes were reaching almost over to the rehab side of the pool…are you sure you can handle situations like that? I mean I know you’ve been in the army and have slept in the trenches and everything, but honestly I don’t think the two really compare.
You really need to consider this decision carefully.
Yeah, Andrea and I merely doggy paddle, but the seniors doggy paddle-attack! you. Some of them throw weapons and then dive under your feet like sharks. And sometimes, the seniors pop up RIGHT BEHIND YOU out of no where. plus they all go way faster then us and splash us! I mean…security!!
Just remember that collisions happen in the water too! Please…Safety First.
humm, sounds like Pirates of the vernon rec center.
I was so shaken up after the traumatizing pool experience yesterday that I couldn’t even manage to recount the events.
I’ve come to terms with it now though so here is the two day pool update.
Wednesday July 5, 2006
David Lee Pong
3 X [(30 X Hyperextensions) + (30 X Pushups)]
Warmed up in the hot tub for about 10 minutes. Did a little bit of stretching, there aren’t many things I can effectively stretch, but when I do, it’s all SO tight!
Did several laps of doggy paddeling and water running (needless to say with flotation devices securly fastened) and then in the shallow end we would slowly WALK, that’s right, WALK to the end and back. The movements felt really good for my ankle, just working all the right things and getting everything moving. Even by the end of the pool session I could see a noticable difference.
So upon returning to the shallow end for another walk, who do we see hanging out at the edge of the pool, but some young hoolagan with TATOOS all over his body. Even a Skull and Crossbones on his shoulder (just to add to Ren’s “POVRC” motife) They must have stopped checking ID at the door. We decided that the dangers just got a little out of our league so we headed to the safety of the hot tub. Soon enough the hoolagan and his friend come stolling out of the pool and what do you know…he’s on crutches as well! Clearly trying to steal my thunder! haha
After the hot tub, we put our feet in the cold pool again to cool everything back down so my ankle wouldn’t get to swollen and then headed home.
Thursday July 6, 2006
MOST DANGEROUS SWIMMING EXPERIENCE EVER!
Arrived earlier than normal today so there were very few vilians around, however those that were there were some of the most outrageous I’ve ever seen. And the lifeguards were even encouraging their insane behaviour. The pestilent DIVE LADIES were on the prowl and must have spooked the life guards into taking out the TARZAN ROPE for their own deadly enjoyment. :eek:
The lifeguard came over to the hot tub and offered for Shane to have a try at it and show the ladies how it’s really done. He bravely replied “No way, that’s WAY too dangerous!”
We were so close to getting up and leaving right then, back to the safety of our houses but they put away the rope and the DIVE LADIES dispersed to their hideaways and weren’t seen again. So we risked it and decided to test the waters.
Mostly just splashed around a lot today. Played in the shallow end while Shane stretched on the side. I bumped up the forward flip record to 10!!! Tried the core exercise that Bill told me (floaty devices on both feet and hands and float on back while lifting limbs out of the water, it was stupid and useless and wasn’t very comfortable for my ankle) However I did discover that doing handstands, especially with floaty belts feels REALLY good for my back, since all the pressure is pulling in the opposite way, so I’m going to be doing that a lot from now on!
Today I got brave and did an entire lap of doggy paddeling/breat stroke all alone and WITHOUT A SAFETY DEVICE. My heart was racing. Then we tried on some of the flippers, man were we ever ripping in those things, it was a bit painful on my ankle just cause there was so much more resistance but felt good at the same time, the speed however was far to risky and one lap was more than enough living on the edge for one day. After some more doggy paddling and splashing, hit the hot tub for about 10 minutes, then played in the shallow pool. Did a few laps around the current stream thing, tried to go against it…that didn’t work so well with only one foot. And then hit up the steam room to try and make friends with BIKINI GIRL…I’m officially no longer bikinin girl, thankfully I’ve been renamed CRUTCH GIRL until further notice.
Decided not to do any more walking in the shallow end since technically I’m not sposed to even start “feather weightbearing” until the 20th. So I’m going to leave it for at least another week and take it a bit easier than I have been. Since almost everyone I talk to tells me that I shouldn’t rush things I should probably listen.
I have a bit of pain in my left upper calf just below my knee…I’m hopeful that it’s because I’ve been working the muscles lots through swimming but I’ll ask about it at physio tommorrow. I haven’t done any apple pie or dribbling all week, but I don’t feel too bad about that because I’ve been swimming so much. I’ve also been discouraged from dribbling because I was trying to visualize using the push pull move in a real game situation…and it would just never happen. It’s the most useless move. Yet it’s the only one I can really practice! :mad:
I had a 4 hour nap today…it was sooooooooo refreshing! Now I’ll probably be up all night!
I’m lazy so this will be quick
David Lee Pong
3 X [(30 X Hyperextensions) + (30 X Pushups)]
I noticed this morning how much easier this has gotten. It was a decent struggle at the beginning of the week but now it’s no probs!
Physio Appointment #8
Second and last appointment with the replacement. Started out with some heat on my calf while she helped me move my ankle around and stretch a bit. She saw a NOTICABLE improvement just since last time (Tuesday) so that was pretty encouraging. Did a little bit resistance/PNF type stretching and then when I looked at the distance I was able to dorsiflex my left foot it was NEARLY IDENTICAL to my right foot! That was pretty exciting.
Went to the gym and did some more stretching exercises. They were more to do with “natural” ankle movement, where your foot is planted and it the leg that does the moving. Sitting a sliding bench thing kinda like a rowing machine and planting feet and go forwards and backwards and also sitting sideways and going from side to side. Then a few minutes on the wobble board.
Back into the room for some EMS on my calf, except this time I was going WITH the contraction, so rather than dorsiflexing to oppose it I was pointing my foot down to contract my calf even further. INTENSE!!! Craziest feeling ever…the ankle loved it.
Finished off with 15 minutes on the bike, really focusing on rotating the ankle with each pedal, rather than locking my foot and using leg strength. Also felt an improvement with this!