What is Battle Assembly Like as an Injured Company Commander? Part 1

Its definitely a sight to see for sure. First off, lets talk about prep. You never realize that your gear is all over the place until you have to track equipment down in three separate levels of the house. It took some three hours to accumulate, wash and pack all necessary items for this weekend, even with the help of wifey. It was crazy, and I knew my weekend was off to one hell of a start. Wifey left at about 7, so I was stuck, and had to the carry the equipment to the car, by myself! I literally carried a 60lb ruck on my back to the car, hopping on one leg the whole way (Yes I weighed the bag, and my crutches were dangerous to use in the snow!)

Then there is the car ride. Again, I am driving left footed, and will test your car's frame if you get too close. Anyway, if you think about the body position of someone who is driving left footed, in order to get the left foot near the pedal, the driver must cross his/legs and slightly turn the body. This is NOT a comfortable position. I had never realized it before because I hadn't made a long drive yet, but this body position is the WORST! There was some other craziness that occurred that night that requires its own damn blog entry, just know, I arrived at the hotel at 3am and I didn't sleep much after that either.

BA morning number 1. Rise and shine, I go to shower. I realize, "I don't have a handicap room. How the F am I supposed to get in that damn tub to shower?" My solution... "Well I am on Army time, lets try a combat roll into the tub!" What ensued was an outrageous barrel roll over the tub wall that you could possibly imagine. I have been researching funny rolling videos on Youtube to give you all an idea of this madness. I havent found one yet that does my roll justice! So, after my shower experience, I pack that ruck up on my back and head to the car. Get to car to realize, I left my car keys in the room. Expletives flew, luckily, I am pretty fast on crutches so no problem. I went back and retrieved the aforementioned keys. I get to Atterbury and greet the troops. Approximately 100 troops were on ground and about 46 of them are friends with me on Facebook, so they are aware of the injury. The other 54 asked 1 million questions... IT WAS CRAZY. This prompted me to make a PA Announcement about the injury, about this blog, and about not being my FB friend! I am close to issuing a command directive in writing to my troops to become my FB friend, I promise! Abuse of power my ARSE!!!

Part 2 to come shortly!

I Got Booted

I have boycotted my blog. I refused to post until I had a real change in my Achilles situation. I mean, you all could read about my random rants about everything (Go Saints!!!), and never actually get any info about my rehab. That's because the next step in the recovery was getting fitted for my walking boot. The boot was supposed to be in last week, however, it has been delayed on several occasions. So on Friday, I finally got it. The boot essentially locks my foot in the downward pointing position (approx 15 degrees). I have unlimited ability to move the foot down more, but the foot cannot pass the 15 degree mark coming up. The are medical terms to describe this as well. Currently my Dorsi-Flexion is fixed at 15 degrees, however my Plantar-Flexion is unlimited. (I am learning cool stuff) I will not be able to walk until the boot is in the neutral position (0 degrees). I promise to add a picture of this moon boot.

In other news, I AM INDEPENDENT. I have endeavored into left footed driving. I go sick of waiting on Nikki to take me places so I got proactive and taught myself how to drive with the other foot. I am pretty good, however if you don't want me to test the abilities of your car's frame like this:



I advise you to stay off the road Mon-Fri at 8:00-9:00 am or 4:00-5:00pm. Just sayin!

I also have a handicap pass. HA! Close parking and sympathy, ALL IN ONE!

One other note. The Winter Olympics just started. Last night I watched pairs figure skating. The current leaders after the short program were Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo from China. The reason I mention this is a few years ago Hongbo tore his Achilles. Here is what he can do now:



Needless to say, I get recovery motivation from everywhere I can!

I HAVE BEEN SLACKING

I really haven't had a substantial post in 4 days. Lets get on that! First, I left the house on Friday for the first time in a week. I wish it was for a more glamorous purpose, but it was to go get an Indiana Driver's License (BOO!!!) I was happy with the service. My first social outing was a movie with the wife on Saturday. We saw "Up In The Air." Interesting movie! And then there was Monday!

My Post Operation Check-Up did not go according to plan. So first they unveiled the scar to me. Its about a 4 inch scar that resides vertically on the back of my leg. The incision is still healing and tape is still attached to it. I have dissovable suchres, so there will be no need to have stitches removed. There was no blood in the wrapping which means there were no complications post surgery. My leg has lost almost all muscle mass it once contained. In comparison to my left leg, the injured limb is about 75% of the size of the right and shrinking. I have pretty skinny legs anyway, and this makes it no better. This could also be the result of the extended exercise my left leg is getting right now.

Next, the nurse comes and tells me that the boot I have been waiting for isn't in yet. BUMMER!!! She then states that they may put me in a cast... NOOOOO! This is problematic for several reasons. I have not take a full shower since the surgery, and I really want to. The removable boot could be taken off, a cast cannot. This means no shower until the boot gets there. Plus, casts get dirty, they are less comfortable, my toes would still be exposed (is cold outside!), etc. So I tried to reason with the doctor into some other remedy. His response... keep the splint (removable) and shower. YES!!! I can get clean!

I am getting increasingly sick of sitting in this house. I am going to be practicing left foot driving so I can escape. I am going to work, NO MATTER WHAT, next week. Sick of being bored. Tired of no human interaction during the day. DONE!