Shockwave Treatments for Latest Colorado Injury

[Barbisi]

Today will mark my fifth treatment for my latest injury sustained in a May fall down the stairs. At the time, I thought I had only badly bruised the right side of my back, but now I am certain this little trip is what caused a small piece of my talar dome in the left ankle to dislodge and free float ,causing massive swelling and considerable pain when walking on concrete and asphalt in June, resulting in the need for a cortisone injection in the ankle bone in early August after lots of PT, foot surgeon visits and an MRI.
I no longer can walk outside, and now must also monitor how long I wear my work out shoe orthotics, to not cause the sharp discomfort along the abductor hallucis to return. I can walk now on a treadmill and on an indoor track at a slower pace than I am used to.
I have been advised to avoid excessive trips up and down the stairs in my current house, or perversely, install a stair lift which would cost thousands of dollars to safely navigate these stairs. Why not just sell out and rent a nicer house with a main level bedroom in a nicer climate ? Of course invasive surgery has also been strongly recommended.
I can hardly wait until we can sell this about to crumble abode and leave Colorado forever!

[justbroke]

Barbisi the hits keep coming. I'm thinking of going back to one-level. What I thought was my forever home was a single floor (3,000 sq. ft) and I loved it. Now I'm in a house with 2 masters and I chose the master upstairs. I hope nothing happens, but I technically could just go into the first floor master.

I hope that you find a nice place/State to live.

[Barbisi]

Thanks justbroke! Normally some one in my age group copes fine with bedrooms on the second floor, but my bum ankle irritated by "advancing" age, a little arthritis in the weakened area and added body weight since 2017, just isn't cooperating. LOL
Time and time again, my chief chiropractor has said I need to be living at sea level with much more humidity then arid and super elevated Colorado allows.
This climate killed my mother and now is trying to cripple me -I kid you not!

[justbroke]

Hmmm... sounds like he is telling you to move to Florida -- not Washington State -- to me.

[flashoflight]

I'm not 50 yet and I've already decided that my forever home has to be one story. My current house is one story so it should be my forever home. I will be installing ramps and doing a handicap friendly bathroom remodel over the next 15 years.

I can not fathom the folks who are buying the new townhomes with four stories (garage, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd stories) and they might have a tiny backyard that is not big enough for a small dog to play adequately.

[shipo]

LOL, I'll be 65 next spring (and my wife will be 65 about a year from now) and we're looking to do just that, buy a townhome with a 2-car garage and large den on the ground floor, a living area on the middle floor, and at least 3 bedrooms on the top floor.

[Barbisi]

justbroke ,she actually does recommend Washington state, based on my preference for 50-70ish temps and semi-cloudy skies!
I understand you love that sticky Florida heat and humidity, but I absolutely hate temperatures above 80 and sub- tropical humidity, not to mention, scorching sunlight! LOL
shipo, your BK handle should be The Indominable Man -nothing and I mean nothing, can keep you down. It's got to be all that Navy Seal (?) training that turned you into such a powerhouse! Even if my ankle wasn't in such a poor state, I'd always agree with jb, flashoflight and others, that rambling ranches are the way to go. But, I'll grant you, townhomes are a lot cheaper route, particularly if you're going to be travelling a lot.
The cost of these treatments to keep me upright (and out of a wheelchair and not needing a cane) would be prohibitive if I had to stay here after Bk13 -$75+ per treatment at 6 or more and cortisone shots, and eventual ankle/foot surgeries (before the deductible is met) could run into the thousands, not to mention never regaining full use of it and having to hobble around forever.
You don't know what it's like to have to walk extra slow and fear concrete and asphalt, until it happens to you. For now, I am doing better, but another fall could change that. Plus, I have a permanent shoulder bursitis/ impingement that is seriously inflamed and also requires expensive shockwave treatments , thus doubling the cost. Surgery has also been recommended for this condition, so I feel escaping this harsh climate gives me a chance to possibly lessen the need for these ongoing treatments as a milder less, dry lower altitude should improve my health, and end the need for multiple surgeries, since all these issues only began or at least worsened after I moved to this too toxic environment(for me, at least.)
Others who left here have reported feeling better -why not me too?

[shipo]

Thanks Barbisi, nope, no Navy Seal, just a regular old Marine (and his rifle; USMC joke). As for fearing uneven surfaces, asphalt, concrete, roots, rocks (we have a lot of rock here in New Hampshire), ruts, and the occasional large dog, yeah, trust me, I understand. Back in 2003 when I suffered my second of three broken legs (this time a broken tibia, spiral fractured fibula, and partially torn off foot), the surgeon who screwed me back together said, "You're never going to run again and you'll walk with a limp for the rest of your life"; for six years it looked like his prognostication was going to be correct, then I discovered walking and running on uneven dirt trails, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

I broke the leg on a Thursday evening while picking my kids up from day/after school care, and the following Tuesday I was scheduled to fly to Taipei to work on the engineering design of a patent I'd recently been granted. My surgeon told me not to fly as I would die of a "pulmonary hematoma" (I'm pretty sure that's what he said), however, due to the importance of this trip, I reasoned if I just started popping aspirin, I'd be okay; I did, and I was. Funny thing though, since my previous trip to Taipei they'd had a major earthquake and not only were all of the sidewalks broken up, even the old Chiang Kai-shek airport terminal was a wreck. Several times during that two week trip I fell when one of my crutches broke through a weak spot in whatever surface I was traversing, and then there was the fall I had in my hotel room, I went down hard on my right knee (my broken leg) and fractured the patella. I knew I couldn't tell anybody about the fall, so I remained on the floor until the shock started to pass, and then went down to the bar to meet with the engineers and had a double brandy. When I got back to the States my surgeon x-rayed my leg and said, "What the hell did you do to your knee?"

[Zombie13]

shipo - Enjoy the stairs in that townhome!
flashoflight - yep, a rambling ranch on a sprawling lot would be awesome! Hm... maybe a big farm... not really. But a big space, I do like.
justbroke - yes, looking forward to a reboot in a new place. It's a lot of work, but it will be worth it.

[Barbisi]

Wow shipo that sounds horrendous! I have never had any breaks yet ,only ligament tears, soft tissue injuries and sprains, but for me me these have been very costly and temporarily disabling. Did your insurance cover most of the breakage? All that must have been expensive!
But like I said, you are a wonder trouper!!!!

[shipo]

Wow shipo that sounds horrendous! I have never had any breaks yet ,only ligament tears, soft tissue injuries and sprains, but for me me these have been very costly and temporarily disabling. Did your insurance cover most of the breakage? All that must have been expensive!
But like I said, you are a wonder trouper!!!!

I don't remember the specifics of that particular broken leg; if I recall correctly, I was under my wife's health care policy at the time and they went directly after the insurance company of the small strip mall where I fell (their maintenance of their parking lots and side walks was horrible). At first there were a lot of medical bills showing up in our mail almost daily (kind of the same thing happened this year after the dog attack), and then suddenly they all went away and nothing ever showed up on my credit report. Go figure.

As for recovery, as I've mentioned here before, I am a "glass is half-full" kind of individual; I reasoned if I can walk, then I can jog, at least a little; after doing some light jogging, all on dirt, I reasoned if I can jog, then I can run, at least a little. Physical recovery, as with financial recovery, must be viewed as a "marathon, not a sprint", it takes time, setbacks are a "when, not if" part of the deal, and each time something comes undone, you just need to let it heal, and try again. That said, sooner or later age will catch up with me and the glass won't be quite so half-full any longer.

[sophieanne]

@Barbisi..I’m sorry about the treatment you’re going through..sounds like a painful situation. I too vote for a one story home ..I miss my One story Florida home… Quite honestly the only thing I miss about Florida… Lol. I would choose Washington state weather over Florida, any day… Lol. Barbadian…I hope your treatment is helping you.

[Barbisi]

Thanks sophieanne! Yes, between the shockwave treatments (five so far, one left to go) and one really effective but extremely painful foot dry needling procedure (on the abductor hallucis), the improvement has been very encouraging . The shock wave treatments are not painful in themselves, but they are very tiring, and I think coupled with the double treatments (the right subacromial/rotator cuff/ deltoid bursitis shoulder triple wammy of dry needling ,Graston and shockwave with cupping sometimes it's all a little too much), it just wears me out and I haven't been able to exercise on treatment days. Fortunately, after Tuesday, my final double day, I will only have one more shockwave treatment left on the shoulder. The only downside is they are not permanent and I still need to work on strengthening my ankle and shoulder as much as I can while avoiding the cause of these crippling flareups (chiefly the stairs (impossible to really avoid, since they are a constant and daily annoyance!) The shoulder is more complex and requires a different approach (no sleeping on my right side, no pullups and dips at the gym, careful lifting of light weight overhead, etc.) and also losing weight over time will make both conditions more manageable in the long run.
I definitely agree with you about the stairs and the Florida weather.
There are just so many reasons to leave here (health, toxic weather, the home layout, (these three are certainly connected), the unpleasant outdoorsy lifestyle and lack of opportunities in my field (entertainment)) and there are no sensible reasons to remain here .(I have no genuine ties here (i.e. no family or friends.)
The only reason we are still here is BK13 - except for that, we could have left almost five years ago.
So 2022 is the year!

[Zombie13]

BK13 and medical issues may go hand-in-hand often. So, the issues that Barbisi is talking about, may be helpful to other folks that have similar trouble, and are considering surgery, or surgeries. The alternatives she is discussing are relevant and beneficial. I/we are not promoting treatments; rather, just sharing her personal experiences and results. We hope this information is useful for others in a similar financial/medical situation.
Have a great weekend everyone!

[Zombie13]

Hmmm... sounds like he is telling you to move to Florida -- not Washington State -- to me.

Oh I dunno man... those 'Land Of The Lost' sized flying bugs... and the gators... No Thank You my friend! You can have 'em!