The Verdict

I arrived at the doctor's office at TOSH expecting to endure a lengthy wait time.  I checked in at the front desk, and found the comfiest bench for Nate and I to hang out until it was time.  My appointment was at 3.  At 3:04, the nurse called us back.  Awesome!  No wait time at all.  I navigated on my knee scooter to Dr. Drew Van Boerum's office, hopped up on the examination table. Not too long after, he arrived.

He pulled up my x-rays on a huge computer monitor.  And started our meeting off by saying, "Well, this is a pretty bad injury you have here."  Oh, great.  He explained a good number of things about the foot anatomy, and what I'd done to mine.  

The damages:

Navicular Bone - Comminuted Fracture (This bone is about the size of a golf ball, and was fractured into 11 pieces he could see)
Cubiod - Fractured
1st, 2nd, and 3rd cunieforms - Fractured
I also had breaks and dislocations on my 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th metatarsal bones

Well done.  The only bones I did not fracture were my Talus and Calcaneus.  And my pinky toe (5th metatarsal)  Was there perhaps a medal I could get for that?

I also go the first look at my foot since the initial injury.  It was still fairly swollen, discolored and bruised, but not too bad.  Still cute toes :)

I immediately started with all the questions I'd been bouncing around in my head.

How long is my recovery?

The typical recovery for an injury like yours is 3 months non-weight bearing on your injured foot.  If you thought you'd be back to Spartan racing in September, that's not going to happen.  You are going to need a lot longer recovery than that.

3 MONTHS?!  3 months I would not be able to walk, let alone do any racing.  Goodbye Trifecta dreams!

How long until I can get back to my "normal" level of activity?

You can start partial weight bearing after 3 months. 6 months until you can return to normal activities.  

6 MONTHS?!

How long will I be out of work?

If you were in construction, it'd be 6 months.  But, since you have an office job, you can probably return a few weeks after surgery.  You'll want to stay at home and be horizontal with your foot elevated during that time.

Will I ever run again?

I would recommend getting a bike instead.  With this type of injury, you are prone to early arthritis and running will only increase your chances later in life.  There are plenty of things you can do besides running.  And walking is okay.

OMG.  Ahhh....  Must... hold.. back tears.... till he leaves.

What about surgery?

You definitely need surgery.  There's no question about that.  I'll fix you though.  You still have some swelling in your foot that needs to go down, and as long as that happens, we can do surgery on Tuesday.  I'm sending you over to get a CT scan so I can have a "map" of your foot for surgery.

Then, he left, and he'd send the nurse back in to re-wrap my foot and get me scheduled for a follow-up appointment to check on my swelling on Monday morning.  Nate also remembered to ask about a handicapped sticker for the car, which he gave us the paperwork for.

Once he was gone, the flood gates opened as I realized what my diagnosis was.  I was a very active person and a large part of my life was spent in the gym, hiking, and running races.  It was also something that my husband and I did together.  We couldn't do those things for a while now, and he would also be taking a lot on over the next few months.  I was the primary cook in the house; I made dinner every night.  I couldn't really clean or carry things, or get up and down the stairs without help.

Nate assured me that we'd get through this, and that he'd make sure that I still had a life during my recovery.

I wasn't so sure about that.