Ashely Judd has given fans a health update following her “incredibly harrowing” accident in February.
The 53-year-old shared photos and video of her shattered leg and detailed her painful recovery after tripping over a fallen tree and breaking her limb in four places during a trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
"I am getting back up. I remember when I began sleeping through the night. I remember when I began to have dreams again (both kinds)," Judd began the caption on Instagram.
In the video, the actress showed off some of the painful stretches involved in the rehabilitation process and displayed the extent of the scarring following multiple surgeries on her leg.
"With the kind of injury I (and many others) have, we speak of degrees," she added. "In the video, 109 degrees was an outrageous dream, and trying to reach it was agony. I did 60 of those heel slides a day. I sobbed through them. I made it because of the loving exhortation and validation of my many friends."
Despite the ongoing discomfort, Judd also described the progress she’s made.
"Yesterday, I effortlessly reached the benchmark of 130 degrees,” the “Double Jeopardy” star continued.
"I can nearly reach my knee as you see in one picture. My feet can rest almost parallel. The knee is coming along, the four fractures healing. The peroneal nerve injury will take at least a year I concentrate hard at moving my very still foot (and appreciate my sister’s medical-grade massages which remind my brain that I do have a right foot). Come June, I will walk with a brace and a cane."
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Judd had previously disclosed how she endured a 55-hour rescue to arrive at the intensive care unit after falling over the broken tree.
The journey took her from the Congo rainforest to South Africa and finally back to the United States.
And while Judd still has a long road to full recovery, she’s already looking ahead to future travel abroad and to continue studying the endangered species of apes called bonobos.
“But look out, Patagonia, because when that nerve heals, you’ll be seeing me,” she wrote toward the end of her post. “Just as that little endangered bonobo knows that she’ll be seeing me back in the Congolese rainforest soon.”
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