Pain level after 17 weeks recovering from lisfranc surgery

 Remember the last time your foot "fell asleep" and you tried to stand on it?  As it wakes up you feel tingling and eventually it feels like needles being poked into your flesh.  As the nerves in my foot regenerate, I have had that feeling multiple times on the top of my foot and especially in my big toe.  

But lately, the feeling has become more intense. For the last couple of days, my big toe feels like it is being stung  numerous times by small bees, not just on the top of my big toe, but underneath as well.  It is a different kind of pain than the feeling of needles in my foot.  It is a sharper intense "ZING" sort of pain which makes me suck in my breath.  It only happens when I am at rest and not when walking on my foot.

I talked to my physical therapist about this today and he said this was great news! To be able to feel sharp intense pain in a toe that has been numb for 17 weeks means my feeling is starting to come back in full force.

In addition, regaining feeling in my big toe is integral to being able to put weight properly through my entire foot.  When I can't feel if I am transferring weight through my big toe, I cannot make the proper follow through for walking. 

My therapy session today included .13 miles on the treadmill (1.5 miles per hour for 5 minutes) and 1 mile on the stationary bike.  I also did leg lifts, calf strengthening and lots of balance work on the bosu ball.  My new therapist is gentle and kind but makes me work up to my potential.  I am so glad my insurance cleared me for 8 more therapy sessions, which means my total for lisfranc surgery recovery will take 28 sessions.  (I have also had 36 HydroWorx sessions as well.)

As far as pain free walking goes, I tried walking through Macy's today without my cane and in my sneakers.  I had to walk slowly and very carefully, but I was able to do it with a minimum amount of pain!  I was stiff,  but it felt more like when you first wake up in the morning kind of stiff and not the "I have to sit down right now" kind of stiff.

 After Macy's I went to Kohls and also left my cane in the car for that errand.  There again, I walked at a snail's pace, but I did it!!!  I cannot tell you the amount of pleasure I got from walking through 2 stores without any assistance and almost pain free.

I am spending the rest of the day resting in my chair, (with ice) but I am satisfied, happy and have a sense of accomplishment that I haven't felt since before my lisfranc injury.  There is light at the end of this lisfranc recovery after all!!!!

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.