Sometimes you break yourself, part 2

After my unfortunate broken foot incident at the last Sunday class (see part 1), and navigating my first 24 hours in an unwieldy splint surrounded by layers of cotton and ace bandages (four to be exact), I managed to get an appointment with my local orthopedist.

At the ortho

When he walked in, he asked what happened and I told him, “I did a roundoff back tuck, and inverted my ankle landing on the mat.” I always giggle a little in my head because I understand how incongruous that must be to their perception of the 51-year-old woman sitting in their exam room. I asked if he wanted to see it and he declined. C’est la vie. I showed him the image of the xray with the break clearly showing and without hesitation he said it’s a very typical injury; it should heal fine in time (no surgery) and seemed generally pretty unfazed.

He took one look at the monster splint the PA had applied at urgent care and said “well THAT’S overkill; that’s coming off today” and immediately started unwrapping the layers. Now I have a lot of ace bandages for whatever I might need. He did the physical exam, testing out where things hurt and pinpointing where the break was. He noted that there was also likely a minor sprain on the side of my ankle (not surprising), but the main event was the fracture.

He told me to make a one week follow up appointment to get another X-ray to see how it’s setting. I can and should move my foot and ankle (to tolerance) and work on mobility while I’m laying around. It feels good to be able to do that. 

Then to physical therapy

After that appointment, I went down the hall to my scheduled physical therapy for my shoulder. I hobbled in and my therapist’s eyes bugged out and asked what happened. I quietly told her and she asked if I wanted to postpone. Really, I didn’t. All I wanted to do was be normal. I would figure out how to maneuver my life in the boot. As I went through each shoulder exercise, I was fighting feelings of anger, annoyance and sadness. I broke myself, badly, and now I’m going to pay for it for a long time. Every movement I do will require great thought and planning. I’d be protecting my foot with every step and I was afraid of the repercussions up the kinetic chain as I used the boot and crutches over time. I made a mess.

After I got through all of the exercises, she tested my range of motion under resistance in all angles. “No pain?” No. Then, she said the magic words, “If you want to stop coming and keep up your exercises at home, that’s fine.” Wow. I graduated from shoulder PT. I actually did it. So now, I’ll get a little break from visiting my favorite PT healer, even though I’m pretty sure I’ll see her again soon for my stupid foot.

Life in the boot

I can definitely feel the swelling impeding full range of motion, but throughout the day I was able to loosen things up a bit. I know there’s some sprains in there that will have to heal over time, but that will ease eventually. Throughout the morning, I was playing with some of my hip mobility exercises and was able to do them without creating pain in the foot. That’s a win.

In the first full day of the boot, I was able to finally put my foot on the floor and put a little weight into it. Walking is super awkward a) because it still hurts and b) because I’m afraid I’ll damage it more if I feel pain. I just have to remember that the doc told me to walk on it. By the end of the night, I had gained much more movement in my ankle and I had stopped trying to balance on one foot for everything. I was even able to take a long shower (seated in my medical chair), wash my hair, and feel a bit closer to normal.

The problem with the boot

One issue that my PT pointed out was when you walk in the boot, it’s so much higher than your regular walking shoe and it can cause all sorts of problems in your back. Later that day, a friend had shared a link to a product that I fit over my sneaker and it lifts the level of the shoe so when I walk in the boot, my hips are more level. I purchased it immediately and put it on when I got it. GAME CHANGER. Hopefully it will save my back from further injury. I spent this whole summer figuring out how to get rid of my back pain. The last thing I need is to exacerbate the problem again.

Day four: Major progress!

Wednesday morning started using the crutches, but I started to test how much my foot could actually withstand. Moving around the bedroom and bathroom, I started leaning on the furniture to get around instead of using the crutches, which actually make me feel more unstable than anything. When I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, it’s especially scary.

I took a shower in the chair again and took care of my morning business, threw on the boot and slowly walked (yes, walked) down the stairs. I held the crutches in one hand and the rail in the other. I felt stable and safe enough all the way down. Slowly but surely, I got more confidence putting weight on the foot and tried walking more normally instead of “limpy.” The doctor said to walk on it and use crutches “if necessary.” Today, they weren’t so necessary. I started the day taking them with me just in case I got tired. After the first 30 minutes of that nonsense, I put them next to the couch and that’s where they stayed all day. Every so often, I’d get up, walk around (slowly and carefully), take care of some business, then go back to the couch and ice it for 30 minutes while I did some computer work. I was actually surprised how far I could go.

The swelling is still there; I imagine it will be for a while. The bruising is turning a darker purple. I supposed that’s expected. I keep pointing and flexing my foot, which is getting a little easier. Circles are still hard, as I suspect there is some more spraining in there; I landed pretty hard on an inverted foot. But everything I’m doing seems to be moving me in the right direction. My goal is to get cleared to drive on Monday at the followup. The main criteria is to be able to do a hard emergency stop on the brake. So, I keep doing a braking motion. I’ll add Therabands tomorrow.

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Overall, I’m happy with my progress in the first three days in the boot. I still have a long recovery, but I’m not afraid of doing the necessary work to make it successful. Stay tuned for more progress!