Pineapple Festival and PT

The 25th annual Pineapple Festival was this past weekend.  We've attended every year for the past 16 years so I wasn't about to miss it, limp or no limp. Sunday's are Kids Day ($20 gets you an armband for unlimited rides) so we always taken Meg down for several hours on this day.  Yesterday we left the house at 11:30 AM and were there for the opening. Meg got her arm band, met up with her friends, and was long gone...checking in only when she wanted money.  Randy and I window shopped the booths, watched a couple of local performances (juggling, cheerleading, etc) and then met up with friends.  For those of you who know my friends, this usually leads to cocktails and loads of laughs.  Yesterday was no exception.  So....a few cocktails. kid hunting, chats with everyone from our community who has children ('cause EVERYONE goes on armband day LOL!)  more kid hunting, a great concert by a local band of old hippies playing classic rock, even more kid wrangling, dinner at a local downtown establishment and finally a Vanilla Ice concert....and the next thing you know it's 9:00 PM and I'm still on my feet, barely, but still walking.  

Needless to say, I came home absolutely exhausted and pretty much went straight to bed, deeply wishing that I didn't have Physical Therapy this morning.  My therapist is an awesome but she works me.  Right now I'm doing an hour of bikes, elliptical, lower leg weight machines, bands, steps, etc.  Its all good but I always leave feeling like I've been hit by a truck.  Today I went IN feeling that way and left totally drained.

As for my progress, I have to continue to work on my gait as my right foot wants to in-toe.  I've consulted with three PTs now (one is a friend) who all tell me that the loss of muscle in my right thigh/hip/buttock is causing my leg to turn in.  I've been told I need to concentrate on walking correctly (it takes great focus, let me tell  you) in addition to continuing with the muscle building exercises.  I was relieved to hear them all say that I'm doing great for 5 weeks out and that it takes women 8-12 weeks before full recovery is achieved.  (the time for men is less.  Go figure?)

It was awesome to get out into the world again and "play" but I'll be taking a lot of "down time" the next few days to make up for it.  :-)