Tagged: swimming

27Aug

My Road to Recovery: Part 6 “Final Edition”

Posted in NBA, Philadelphia Sports, Swimming | Leave a comment

This is what my ankle looked like 3 days after the break.

It has been 5 months and 2 weeks since I broke my ankle.  I’m sure you can tell through my previous 5 parts on my recovery that it hasn’t been easy.  From being unable to walk, having trouble getting to the bathroom and gaining a lot of weight, it was definitely a mental toll.  The hardest part was not being able do the things I took for granted.

People just don’t realize how great we have it, especially healthy, walking, talking, having all your extremities and just having fun.  When you lose the ability to do something you’ve done your entire life it really causes mental damage.  I know mentally I was going crazy for the first few months of my recovery.

Looking at the picture, you can see that I caused some serious damage and the picture was taken 3 days after it happened.  The swelling went down quite a bit from the time the ER put my temporary cast on to the time of that picture.  The best thing about life and many cases, things heal with time as did I.

My ankle today looks much better. All the imprints are from my ankle brace that I wear and my sock.

I am happy to say that after 5 months I am walking still without a full comfort level, but I can get around.  I can run around, play basketball and workout as well.  The best part of all, I am able to do everything my kids want me to do…..no more feeling like a horrible father, which is the best part about being healthy enough.

I can say that I am still not 100% and I can also admit that I haven’t been the hardest worker when it came to rehab.  I have been a super slacker, but not exactly by choice.  My kids and their needs trump everything else and since I was healthy enough to handle business, being 100% wasn’t necessary.  Now I can focus more of my time to myself and getting myself back to where I feel comfortable (everyone says my ankle will never be the same, especially those who’ve had similar injuries).

Today my ankle looks much different from the way it did 5 months ago and I’m thankful to all of you who had such kind words and well wishes.  It is a great feeling to know that someone cares and is pulling and praying for your well-being.  The saga will continue with rehab, but I am happy to let you guys know that I AM GOOD!

You can also check out my process in Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

09Jul

My Road to Recovery: Part 5

Posted in Philadelphia Sports, Swimming, Track & Field | 1 Comment

As I mentioned in My Road to Recovery: Part 4, I grew to 213 lbs and almost had a nervous breakdown.  I still can’t run yet, but I walk much better that’s for sure.  The problem with me now is after 15 minutes of sitting, my ankle completely tightens up and I have to fight through the pain for a minute or so to get some movement back in it.  It’s very annoying, but hey I have to continue to rehab it like I once was…..can’t lie, I’ve been slacking.

I have some good news and some bad news: I am down to 206 lbs and I got there without working out, but it was from having a stomach virus and I couldn’t eat or drink anything, nor could I move without getting sick.  I feel good now, so I guess it’s all good news at this point huh?  Either way you look at it, it’s a good sign that once I am able to start working out again the weight still comes off easy for me.  It’s noticeable weight loss too, because my stomach just started looking like I was going to audition for Santa Clause this December. Phewwww……

I think this week I’ll start doing push ups and crunches and hopefully start riding a bike or something.  I think my ankle can handle a bike until I can start to put complete pressure on it to run.  Next week I plan on getting back in the gym and swimming as much as possible as well.  I also want to start doing some calf exercises so than both of my legs are identical again.  The 2 month period of no moving had my calf smaller than my shin and that just wasn’t a very good sight to see, especially from someone who have pretty nice sized calf muscles.  I’ll get it back the way I want it and there is no stopping me.

Now back to trying to become one of Philadelphia’s top sports writers/journalists…..the sports takeover is in effect, who’s going to stop me if I don’t stop myself? NOBODY!

27Apr

Road to Recovery: Part 2

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Tuesday, April 24th marked my 6 week anniversary of breaking my ankle.  The doctors gave me a 6-8 week window when I should be healed and healthy enough to walk again.  I am obviously behind schedule a bit, because I am still experiencing pain as well as swelling.  Not to mention I still cannot move my ankle to a straight position to even attempt to stand.  This is really starting to drive me crazy.  One good thing is that I can put some pressure on my foot, but only on my toes.

I feel impatience setting in on my spirit and I’m just so ready to start walking again.  I am out of my comfort zone, because I’m so used to being active either playing with my children, playing basketball, working out, or just going places.  I feel like I’m letting my kids down since the past month and a half I haven’t been able to take them to the playground, ride their bikes with them and the worst thing……no Chuck E. Cheese.  It’s just not as easy as it once was to keep up with my little bundles of energy.  I just can’t deal with the mental and emotional pain, especially since I still have physical pain (even though I was told by professionals that after 3 weeks I shouldn’t have any pain).

In Week 7, I am going to take a more proactive mode.  I don’t want to make anything worse, but I was told pool therapy is one of the best methods for recovering.  Therefore, I will get back in the gym next week and start swimming to regain some strength in my entire leg and work on getting back some sort of flexibility.  I am also going to do wind sprints in the water as well.  LOL!  I’m at the point where anything can help and it can’t get any worse.  I just can’t do it anymore.  I also refuse to hit the beach this summer with one super muscular leg and one puny one…..definitely not a good look at all.

Please keep me in your prayers guys, for I not only want to walk, but I just really want to play with my kids.  That is the hardest part of this entire situation.  Also, if anyone has any suggestions on methods of therapy to help the process, I am all ears.  Thank you……now back to the NFL Draft and NBA Playoffs.