Pool Therapy for lisfranc surgery recovery

Today I started pool therapy for my lisfranc surgery recovery.  My physical therapist endorsed my surgeon's suggestion that I walk for 20 minutes each day in our pool in chest high water. 

 I found walking in the water is a lot less painful than trying to practice walking in a sneaker. It proved to be a wonderful way to practice learning to walk again while I repeated my mantra "heal, toe, follow through."  If you have access to a pool, I highly recommend water therapy.  (with your doctors and therapists permission of course.)

I did 2 20 minute sessions followed by the exercises my physical therapist gave me.  I am so tired physically and mentally!  And  my foot is really upset with me, so I have to call it quits for today.  I am once again sitting in my chair with my ice air cast on and my foot elevated.  But, despite the pain, I also have a sense of satisfaction that I haven't felt in a long time.

Frustrated with lisfranc recovery and pain

Oaky, I'm done with this whole lisfranc surgery/pain/healing process.  I just want it to be over!!!!  I am at 6 weeks 3 days post lisfranc surgery and am really tired of my foot aching and not being able to walk and not having my normal life back yet.  That is my rant for today.

I tried to rush the healing process yesterday and paid the price. Unfortunately the friend of mine who lent me her knee scooter fell off her bike and broke her leg.  Needless to say, she needed her knee scooter back.  I thought I was far enough along in my partial weight bearing to be able to transition away from both the shower chair and the knee scooter.  I was dead wrong!  

My head is not in tune with the current ability of my body.  We went to church and ran a couple of errands which meant I took way too many steps with the help of my crutches. By 2:00 I was back in my bed, curled up in pain with my ice air cast on.

We met some friends for dinner but had to forgo going to their house afterward because I was in so much pain.  Once again I came home and curled up with ice and pillows.

This morning my foot was almost too sore to bear any weight.  I had to admit to myself that this is not going to be over for some time yet and I needed to dig deeper for more patience.  So I found a place to rent a knee scooter and have stayed off my foot for most of the day.  Sigh

My recovering lisfranc foot composes dissonant music

Last night my foot decided to start crooning in pain like a string quartet.  What does that mean you wonder?  Well it was like this.

Since I had several pain free moments during the day yesterday, I decided I could move around enough to make dinner for my husband.  It was a heady idea that filled my soul with delight to think I have come far enough in my recovery to start to do things I enjoy like cooking.  I e-mailed my husband the grocery list and when my husband returned home I was already waiting to get started. He sat at our counter and we talked about our days while I sliced tomatoes, onions and chopped up mushrooms.  It was so nice to return, in part, to our normal domestic routine.

After dinner I was sitting on the couch when my 2 little toes decided to start  a sad melody. It was like hearing violin number 1 and 2 tuning up for a string quartet concert.  I tried to ignore the plucks of pain by concentrating on the TV show we were watching.  

Soon my incision decided to join it's mournful voice to the forlorn music much like the alto sound of the Viola.  Once again I told myself, the escalating pain is nothing to worry about and would subside soon enough.

 Like the cello’s rich solid tone, my ankle decided to howl it’s aching cry.  At this point, my big toe joined in the sorrowful music and bellowed like a double base.   

My string quartet was complete with 5 parts of my foot all hurting together creating a dissonance symphony of pain.  My husband got me down to my bed, and I elevated, iced and listened to the moronic music of my foot.

6 weeks post lisfranc surgery

I have finally made it to week 6 of my lisfranc recovery journey.  Physically and psychologically this is a gigantic mile stone in my recovery.  

Here are some pictures of  6 weeks post lisfranc surgery:

My incision if finally starting to heal. But my foot remains discolored with faint blue and red tones especially when not elevated.

  Both sides of my ankle remain swollen, but the bruising is entirely gone. The black, yellow and green tones have disappeared.

I celebrated my 6 week milestone today by having lunch with a girlfriend at one of my favorite restaurants.  It was fabulous being able to navigate the stairs in our home, use crutches to get to her car and not be afraid of either the pain or re-injury.  It is a beautiful day and we were able to sit outside at a table by the lake. I was able to prop my foot up on the chair next to me and quite astonishing, there were times I completely forgot about my foot!!! I felt almost "normal."   Pain free times have been few and far between and to experience pain free moments while celebrating this day was a true blessing!!

Transitioning from non weight bearing to partial weight bearing

                     Standing with equal weight on both feet

This has been an exciting, exhilarating  and painful week!  I have spent 5 weeks dreaming of the day when I would be able to start putting weight on my foot.  I knew it would be a painful transition, but I never thought about how much it would hurt!  My foot definitely has enjoyed it's "vacation" and does NOT want to be called into service again!

After several endeavors of trying to stand and several clumsy attempts at trying to walk I discovered several things:

1.  It is too painful to walk in sneakers yet.   My surgeon has given me permission to try and walk in my sneakers, but at this point in my journey it is just too painful.  

2.  Slowly easing into equal weight bearing causes less pain.  I have been experimenting with partial weight bearing in my boot.  I found that if I stand up putting all my weight on my left foot and slowly ease into partial weight on my right foot, (with the boot on) the pain level diminishes.   This morning I was able to stand with weight equally on both feet for a few minutes with a minimal amount of pain.  (level 2.)  This is HUGE for me.

3.  Walking slowly in my boot is possible.  I have been trying to "walk" with my boot on and found that taking it slow....really slow....I mean like tortoise slow, makes my foot have a chance to adjust to the weight and is less painful.  "Walking" in my boot causes pain at a level 4 so I am only trying this a few times a day.

4.  I never considered how many steps it takes to get from point A to point B.  Honestly, I look at my living area differently now.  Everything is judged by how many steps it will take to arrive at my desired destination.  It takes much longer to navigate around my living space than it did with my scooter, so I am still using my scooter for most of the day.

5.  My foot swells and aches when I try to do too much.  I have to listen to my foot when it says it's had enough.  Ice and elevation are still a part of my daily life.

My lisfranc surgery day

My husband and I arrived early as we had heard my surgeon is typically way ahead of schedule.  The dear friend who helped us get an appointment with my surgeon had left a gift bag for me with my nurse.  So I already felt spoiled and loved.

I was taken back to a room and changed into a heated gown and was told to lie on the bed which had heated blankets. I felt like I was at a spa!  My nurse was fabulous.  She came in and told me she would be my best friend.  I told her I was concerned about how painful the surgery was going to be and she told me not to worry since she came packing.  She asked me what my favorite cocktail was and I told her a Belvedere martini straight up, a twist a couple of olives and extra dirty.  And she said ‘coming right up!”  And not only could I have 1 martinis she would give me 2.  I said I can only drink one and she said in this room, I could have 2.

The anesthesiologist  came in the room to discuss what he was going to do.  He had me write on the foot that was going to be operated on and I drew a smiley face.  I told him my surgeon said I could watch the surgery and he laughed and said, it wasn’t like having a baby where they have mirrors on the ceilings and that if I were to watch all I would be able to see was my surgeons head. He then told me I couldn’t watch anyway since I was going to be put under general anesthesia. Suddenly my wonderful nurse who was putting  a needle in my hand for my IV ran round to the right side of the bed and asked me to hold her hand and squeeze.  As I did and I felt the worst pain (level 9) since this whole thing started.

 My anesthesiologist was finding the nerves in my foot so that he could do a nerve block.  I didn’t cry out, but I did tell him he was mean (must of been the 2 martinis talking) and he said that I would be very happy with him after the surgery was over.  Nerve blocks can last up to 24 hours and really help with immediate pain following this type of surgery.  (I am so glad I had one!!!)

After Dr. Jekel was done with me, my surgeon came in the room and drew on my foot and assured me that all was well. Since my surgeon had already done 2 operations before me (and it was only 7:00am!) I offered to buy him a cup of coffee to make sure he was alert.  (again the martinis were talking) and he laughed.  I hate to think what else I might have said that I don’t remember!!!

Next I was wheeled down to the frigid operating room.  I reluctantly left my heated bed as I was asked to transfer myself to the skinny cold operating table.  I remember looking up at the white light fixture that looked like a giant spider with 8 legs.  As my arms were being strapped down I said to no one in general, that I was claustrophobic.  I told my nurse that I felt like I had been abducted by aliens and that they were going to do experiments on me.

When I woke up from surgery I was shown this picture of the operation:

Short Outing during LisFranc surgery recovery

Since my surgeon has cleared me for short outings, my husband and I decided to attend a dear friend's surprise birthday party today.

One of the challenges of not being able to walk stairs in our multi level home is how to transport me from our lower level up to our driveway.  My husband devised a plan where I would maneuver onto his John Deere tractor by climbing on board from my knee scooter.  I then sit in the drivers seat with my legs spread, dangling my injured right foot over the side.  My husband, standing in-between my legs (with his butt in my face) operates the steering wheel, speed and direction.

 I had a girlfriend be the guinea pig on the first attempt, while her husband shouted for my husband to get his butt out of his wife's face.   We all laughed so hard, I thought it would never work, but it has been HUGE success.

 I have to say, the first few times were very scary and I was convinced we would topple over and my foot would be re-injured.  But now, I look forward to my rare outings and the ride on the tractor. I am working on getting a picture so that you can see how we manage the John Deere transportation.

So today I took my tractor ride and my husband loaded my knee scooter into the trunk.  We arrived at the restaurant and I scootered in.  Immediately I felt very conspicuous and in the way.  People kept bumping into my injured foot and I was glad to have my bedazzled cast on my foot.

The party was fun, but I was shocked how tired out I became.  Eventually I sat down with my foot resting on my knee scooter.  But after a while, even that was painful.  I knew it was time to go home, ice and elevate.

It was wonderful to get out and see how beautiful the landscape has become this spring, even if the view is only from the window in the back seat of our car.

I am surprised, though, how cozy it is to be back in my chair with my foot in an iced air cast while it is elevated on two king sized pillows.  It has been an exhausting, but fun day.

Day 11 after lisfranc surgery

I think it is the isolation that is the worst part. Before my surgery, I planned on not being very mobile and set up our lower level with a TV, DVD player, stocked our little kitchenette with water, diet coke and plenty of fruit.  I moved all my clothes into our guest room and had plenty of e-books and hard cover books available.  I made the bathroom completely handicap accessible for a person who can only put weight on one foot. Crutches, knee scooter and walker all stand at the ready to help me live as normal a life as possible.  But never once, did I contemplate how alone I would really feel.

The first week after my surgery is still a complete blur of pain meds, and an exhausting revolving door of friends and family bringing flowers, food and company.  Switching to OTC meds really helped with the exhaustion and when all the attention died down, I realized I was alone, really alone for the first time.

Being alone sounds so wonderful when the world is spinning out of control, but when you are forced into isolation, it really isn't all I thought it was going to be.  I was going to get caught up on all my reading, watch movies and maybe even start that novel I have been planning on writing.  But instead, I am sitting here watching the rain drip down in silent drops...drip...drip..drip.

I have my 2 week post op appointment on Thursday and all sorts of things flicker through my thoughts...why is my big toe numb?  Why does my foot hurt so much on some days and not at all on others?  Did I do damage to the surgical repair when I fell off the knee scooter on one of my sleepy days? Will I get the splint/cast off finally???  What will the next 6 weeks be like if I am already tired of the forced sedentary life?

The days stretch on endlessly as I try and think positive healing thoughts...