Mark the milestones. Buy the $2 balloons. Celebrate the wins.
I started buying myself $2 balloons to mark little milestones in my recovery.
I still have months of recovery ahead of me and it is crawling along. If I wait until I can walk normally again to celebrate, I may not have the will to get there.
Also, balloons make me happy.
Years ago I received a video from a friend showing him tying balloons to the ankles of his triplets. The babies would kick their little legs, watch the balloons bounce around and LAUGH. They were completely entertained and distracted for hours.
So naturally I wondered…
Would this work on me?!
I started attaching my balloons to my ankle during PT.
Can confirm: not nearly as much laughing.
BUT surprisingly effective at distracting me from the pain and frustration of trying to lift my leg straight up with a quad that has apparently forgotten how to activate.
And this week’s balloon-worthy milestone:
THE BOOT IS GONE!!!
Partly cuz it was time, mostly cuz wearing that thing in 100-degree weather was fucking miserable.
But it’s funny how vulnerable I feel without it.
The boot provided protection. It supported my ankle. It “caught” some of my mistakes when my balance wasn’t great. And it very clearly signaled to everyone around me: something is wrong with this leg.
It also made my left side about 1/4” taller.
Now, for the first time in months, my left and right sides are back to equal height — and apparently my body had gotten VERY used to compensating for that extra 1/4”.
So now I’m all wobbly like a newborn body.
The human body is funny like that. It adapts to whatever you give it, and then has to adapt all over again when you change the conditions.
I feel pretty vulnerable without the boot, but it also feels really good to finally start moving with my weight more evenly distributed between both sides of my hips again.
New milestones mean new pains. My ankle is definitely letting me know it is struggling to return to normal, and I’m back on sleeping meds for the moment.
But other than that, I’m grateful.
No boot. Still crutches. Still not working.
Still can’t take out the garbage by myself yet.
But we moved forward.
So I bought the balloons.
Mark the milestones. Celebrate the wins.
