Wednesday, September 4, 2013

20 sessions of lisfranc physical therapy

Today was my first physical therapy session without my beloved  therapist.  When we first met, my therapist and I made a "pinky promise" that I would be done with therapy around the time she was due to have her baby. Unfortunately, I had to break that promise because she delivered her new baby girl yesterday morning.  I am absolutely thrilled for her and her family! (Her new daughter is absolutely adorable and has a full head of black hair!) 

My therapist taught me to walk again and I am mourning the loss of a trusted caregiver. Being with her twice a week for the last 4 months, made for a powerful bond, which I will greatly miss . 

I am lucky, though, because my new therapist is also one my surgeon recommends for lisfranc surgery recovery. In fact, I found out today that he has actually worked with a lisfranc patient before! Ironically, his wife is also pregnant and today WE made a promise that I would be done with physical therapy around the time his wife is due, which happens to coincide with my next appointment with my surgeon.  I fully intend to keep this promise which gives me until the end of October to be back at 90%.

Because today was my 20th physical therapy visit my insurance company says I am at a juncture in my recovery.  When my new therapist told me  my insurance company requires "proof" that I am not back to 80-90 % of my normal daily activities in order for them to keep paying for my therapy I felt the first waves of anxiety.  I wondered if today I not only lost my cherished therapist, but was being let go from therapy all together.  I can't even walk down my driveway yet to get the mail!!!

After talking things through with my new therapist, he agreed that I probably need 8 more therapy sessions and will keep me with twice a week for a few weeks and then decrease my sessions to once a week.  I filled out the necessary paperwork which involved a lot of questions about my ability to do everyday activities.

My new therapist took a lot of time with me today to really get to know not only where I was physically, but psychologically as well.  I told him about my bout of foot envy, fully expecting him not to really get the whole cute shoe thing.  After all, he is a guy!  But he surprised me and not only understood, but gave me a new perspective on only being able to wear sneakers.  He said to think of this sneaker period as the most comfortable period in my recovery.  After all, who wouldn't want to wear sneakers all day and have their feet comfortable all the time?  He also pointed out that this 6 months of lisfranc therapy is really just a blip when looking at my life as a whole.  So my sneaker period, is even smaller than that.  So I have decided to embrace my lisfranc sneaker recovery period and enjoy the comfort of my sneakers.



2 comments:

  1. I am still waiting on my MRI approval. How did you originally hurt your foot>

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi April
      Thanks so much for commenting on my blog. It is really an embarrassing story of my foot injury. I was wearing 3 inch heels and was in a new restaurant. I saw some of my son's friends and went over to give them all Mom hugs. When I turned around to leave, I missed the step down and fell on my mid foot. When I got up, my foot gave out again. We think I ruptured the lisfranc ligament on the first fall and the fractures happened on the second fall.

      What happened with your MRI approval????

      Delete