Bye Felicia

I was officially cleared to start walking without crutches this week!  And I have nothing but progress to report!

No scooter.  No crutches.

Last week, I weaned down to one crutch and upped my weight to 75% on my right foot.  I was told to bring my shoe and "Superfeet" insert with me to my appointment, but not to wear them in.  I arrived, and Stephanie had me change from my boot into my shoe (with the insert) first thing.   I hadn't worn a shoe on my right foot since the accident.  It felt so strange.  I took a few steps in the shoe with the crutches.  I felt almost like a baby deer taking steps for the first time.  My foot and ankle felt so weak inside the shoe; the boot is much more supportive for my leg. She then had me start out the session with 5 minutes on the bike, and then 5 minutes on the leg press machine.  I did a set of squats and some balancing exercises on the right leg, and she felt I'd done them OK enough to be cleared to start using one crutch, and 75% weight.  Yay!  I was pretty excited, not only was this major progress, but I'd be getting a hand back.  I could carry a cup of coffee with me from the kitchen to the couch.  I could carry a plate of food by myself to the kitchen table without a crazy balancing act.  I could carry my PURSE again!!

I spent the majority of last week working on that transition, and doing all of my PT exercises in my tennis shoe.  Mostly my therapist has had me working on balance on the right leg, and I am working on this exercise where I stand in a lunge stance, and have a piece of elastic tubing hooked to the wall.  Then, I draw my A-B-C's with the tubing in the air while balancing on my right leg.  I look like such a spaz doing it, I'm sure!  I felt like I had made a lot of progress, and by the weekend I was getting around on one crutch pretty easily.

On Halloween, I dressed up as a "Bloody Beaver" and went to the Utah Utes home game vs. the Oregon State Beavers.  I decided not to take my scooter at all, and just bring my crutches.  I was pretty nervous at the thought of not having the scooter as a back-up plan, in case I was in a lot of discomfort or unsteady during the night.  But, as always, I jump to worse case scenario in my mind, and I didn't have any problems at all.  I got some comments that the crutches made me move like a zombie and it was an "excellent addition to my costume".. =/  The people in my seating area in the stadium have been witnessing my progress through these weeks, and there was actual cheering and excitement when people saw me walking with a crutch!

Yesterday, I went to another PT appointment.  When I arrived at the PT clinic, the elevator was undergoing repairs.  So the receptionist kindly pointed out the stairs to me and informed me I'd need to take them.  Are you kidding me?  Who decides to work on an elevator during business hours at a podiatry therapy clinic?!  Good thing I'd gotten far along enough in my therapy to be able to do stairs, otherwise I would have needed to reschedule.  This immediately put me in a rotten mood.  But, once I met with Stephanie, she told me I was allowed to ditch the crutches!  This was awesome news!  I'm still supposed to have them handy because inevitably I will get sore and swollen and I'll need them in order to continue walking.  After 5 minutes on the bike & leg press, I did some balancing exercises on my right leg again, and then some step-ups with my right foot on to a step, all in my tennis shoe!  Then, we put the boot back on and practiced walking in the boot with NO crutches!  I thought I'd be wobbly and unsteady, but I was so excited I was zooming around the room.  She said I could walk as much as my foot would tolerate it, but when it started to get sore I should use the crutches so that there is no pain.  I did have some heel soreness, and Stephanie said that was normal as there is typically damage to the heel pad when breaking the midfoot, and the boot doesn't have any heel cushion.  She instructed me to buy a heel cushion insert and that it should help absorb some of the stress on my heel.

One thing I have loved about this therapy and approach is that it has progressed at such a pace where I am not having any pain when attempting to walk and do these exercises.  I do feel discomfort for sure, but not pain.  And I know when I'm pushing too hard, because I start to feel pain, and then I'll dial it back down a little.  I've needed incredible patience! It feels less impossible to walk barefoot, but still painful enough that I'm not going to attempt it.   I should not be taking any steps out of the boot anyway.

I will have 2 more weeks in the boot, then we will start to wean out of it, so that I can start walking and wearing shoes on my right foot again!

I was so happy after this appointment.  As Nate and I were walking to the car, the first thing I did was I reached over and held his hand.  I hadn't been able to walk with him and hold his hand in 4 months. It felt amazing.

I've Lost My Marbles!

Ten weeks post-op!  And I had another physical therapy session!

I went to see Stephanie (my lisfranc physical therapist) again, and she was really excited for my progress!  My swelling is down a half centimeter in my right ankle, which she assures me is a really big number, as far as feet and ankles go, after seeing my reaction of sheer disappointment.  I'm only 1 cm off from leftie.  Yay!  She also measured my range of motion on my right foot, and I've improved 14 degrees.  14 is a much bigger number that I can get behind.  I've been working diligently on my ankle pumps.

Then, I got a set of new exercises to do for the next few weeks leading up to my 2nd surgery to remove the pins.  My favorite is picking up marbles with my toes (video below)!  My toes were super, super stiff at first but they gradually loosened up and I could pick up more and more marbles with my piggies.  I tested out leftie to see how she'd perform picking up the marbles and she was an old pro.  One day righty will catch up.  Also, marbles are hard to find in stores so I had to get them from Amazon!

My new list of exercises includes 2 hamstring strengtheners and a harder clam stretch.  I definitely am feeling the burn of an unused hamstring when attempting the exercises.  I trust and will obey anything my physical therapist tells me, so she thought that she was hilarious when she told me to crutch over to the treadmill, and then informed me that we will be doing some walking this session.  A look of sheer terror must have came over my face because she grabbed my arm and said, "Just kidding!"  Ha ha.. very funny Stephanie :)  Although I am looking forward to the day that we are able to get up on the treadmill and walk for the first time.  She did give me something to look forward to, however.  She said that the day I get my stitches out from my hardware removal surgery, she will see me back to back from that appointment with Dr. Van Boerum. And, we'll start putting weight on the foot that day!

I also had been having some nagging nasty pain over the top of my foot since getting my stitches out a few weeks ago.  I assumed that it was one of my screws or pins irritating the area and that it would go away once I got them removed.  But, the pain wakes me up frequently in the night, and I take my boot off and massage the area and stretch.  I also can only keep my boot on for a couple of hours during the day before the pain strikes and I need to take it off, massage and stretch.  When I told Stephanie this, she immediately knew the problem, left the room, and came back with a circular piece of foam.  She cut a hole in the center.  She had me point to the spot where the pain was the worst; it was not hard to miss as it was red, angry and puffy.  She placed the foam pad on top of my foot and centered that spot in the hole she had cut, and then had me fasten my boot as normal.  THAT FIXED EVERYTHING.  It turns out that my boot strap was just severely irritating that part of my foot and there was a tiny part of my incision that was not healing because of it.  Since she hooked me up with that extra padding, I have not had an ounce of pain! (at least not in that spot - it still hurts when I bang it around and I'm not careful with it lol) 

Also, last weekend, I was able to make it INTO the stadium for the Utes game!  It actually was much easier than I anticipated, thanks to the help of the hubby and my mom.  I tailgated for several hours beforehand, making sure to ply my body with plenty of alcohol incase it was a bad experience, but not too much, since I didn't want to have to use the bathroom during the middle of the game.  That was what I was most anxious about actually.  My friend had a great idea though, for future use maybe.  He suggested I wear Depends or some sort of adult diaper. 

We got to the stadium very early, about an hour before kick-off, so that I'd have plenty of time to get into the stadium and up to my seat, without encountering too much of a crowd.  It was a complete success.  The floor inside was nice and smooth with no cracks at all so I cruised along on Trumpy ringing my bell at people that got in my way.  I couldn't believe it actually worked and people got out of my way as I was rolling by!  Usually I do that just for the humor aspect.  Anyway, Nate helped me up the 35 rows to my bleacher seat, and much to my delight, there were people cheering me on in the stands as I hopped.  

"Way to go girl!"  "That's dedication!"  "That girl is still going to the game... awesome!"

I scooted on my butt along the bleachers to my seat, while Nate went back down and he and my mom took Trumpy to Guest Services to hang out until the game was over.  It was the 9/11 tribute game, so there were 3 paratroopers that dived onto the field before the start.  So awesome.  The only problem I had during the game, is when something exciting was happening, everyone stood up.  It completely blocked my view of the field and the jumbotron, so I had to ask what was happening every time.  But, that was the worst of it!  The Utes won over Utah State, and I DIDN'T have to go to the bathroom the whole time!  Despite of all that tequila I drank...

We waited a few minutes for the crowd to clear, and Nate left to retrieve Trumpy from Guest Services.  My mom stayed behind with me.  I didn't really want to hop down the stairs, so I used my l33t tricep dipping skills to dip myself down 35 rows of bleachers to the entrance.  I hopped on my scooter and off we went out the exit.  I had a group of guys following close behind me because I was going pretty fast, and people were scrambling out of the way for me to pass, and they used me as a crowd clearer.  At least I'm good for something!

I had a ton of fun, my team won, and there were no casualties.

Although, Trumpy was left unsupervised in a room full of other mobility assistance devices at Guest Services during the game.  Who knows what kind of trouble he got into.....

Just Do It

8 weeks post-op this week!!  

I got the cutest card from my co-workers in the mail.  Cheered me up for sure!

If I'd had a less severe Lisfranc injury, I think I'd be able to start bearing weight this week.  But that damn little navicular had to get in the way of my potential!  It is the reason I am still not walking yet.  I guess that's what happens when you shatter it into 11 different pieces.

That's OK though, I still have had a week of progress so I can't really complain.  I've been doing my range of motion PT and it's to the point now where the foot is not really stiff anymore (at least when attempting those exercises).  My therapist said when I am pointing and flexing my toes that I should try to point and curl them like a ballerina as much as I can.  

So in my mind I visualize I look like this: 

                                             

                                          When in reality I look like this:

                                                                                  

Meh.

I also successfully made my goal of going in to the salon and getting my hair done.  I had been so nervous about it because I was just afraid how I was going to navigate on my scooter.  Turns out though, it was really easy!  I'm much more pro on my scooter than I give myself credit for.  I had to get into the chair once, out for a wash, and then back into the chair.  I shouldn't have been so nervous about it because I conquered it like a boss.  My hair stylist, who is FABULOUS by the way, gave me a stool to elevate my foot, and then I just sat there for a couple of hours while she played with my hair.  I got it darker for fall, and felt like I needed a change since I myself am going through so many changes in my life.

Bam!  I love this new color!

I am starting to use my crutches a little more.  I keep them down in my basement for when I go down there to workout in the home gym, so that I don't have to butt scoot around.  I've found that I'm about 100 times better on the crutches than I was when I first injured myself.  I guess I'm just really comfortable hopping around on my left leg, and I'm sure that it's super strong now so I can do a lot more with it.  I'm not going to use them as my primary mode of mobility but there are definitely nice to have around now that I'm not so afraid of them.

Perhaps the most exciting thing this week was the opening college football game of my Utah Utes against Michigan! Spoiler: the Utes won :)

(me and one of my best girls, Aimee - who made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies JUST FOR ME!... love her)

I have season tickets, but was really worried about having to hop up to my seat on the 35th row of the stadium.  So, we decided not to attend this game, but it didn't stop me from tailgating!  I got to get 12 hours of good, clean & dirty tailgating in my system.  I saw lots of friends.  Ate lots of food.  And drank lots of booze.  The only challenge was getting in to the port-a-potty on my own, so I needed help with that, but otherwise I just sat in my lawn chair with the foot elevated on my scooter.  People brought me food and drink as I requested it.  The port-a-potty trips definitely got more challenging as the night went on, the sun set, and I consumed more and more alcohol.   I have a light on my scooter so that helped.  At one point, it was so dark, that Nate lifted my scooter up and shined the light into the port-a-potty window for me so that I could see what I was doing.  How sweet is he?

It was the most depressing thing to see all of the other patrons heading to the game!  I met a couple of other people in casts, and one guy who had a boot like me, and was being pushed by friends in a wheelchair.  So, I'm determined to go to the game next week, and actually go inside the stadium to watch the game instead of from the tailgate lot.  I also bought some cute new boot accessories to decorate with my team colors.  

(my "Ute Boot")

YEAH!!  Go Utes!

I think I'd say to anyone out there reading this, debating on whether or not to do something with your broken foot (like go to a game, or a hair salon, or visit friends, or a road trip, or what have you)...my advice is to JUST DO IT!  It's so worth it in the end.  I immediately regretted selling my tickets once I got to the tailgate and found how much I was able to move around and do things (even if I required help).  I am done putting my life on hold or settling for less just because I've got a Lisfranc injury!