The week before surgery

  After my consultation, I became very depressed.  Fear and anxiety set in.  More so when I noticed my foot getting more purple. The swelling needed it to go down a lot more before getting the fusion surgery.  It had been almost 2 weeks and I have not seen any progress.  The spot under my foot (the arch) had turned almost blackish and on the top of my foot, the under my toes there was a line of purple.  Worry was flooding my head. No matter what anyone said, I was scared. I was being a baby about surgery.

  I am a big girl, very overweight.. I am uncomfortable in my own skin... The thought of having all these people see me in a hospital gown ugh.... Were they going to give me enough anesthesia? What if they didn't give me enough? Was I allergic to the anesthesia? What if I woke up in the middle of it?  What if I had to pee? Were they going to cut inside this big black hole on the bottom of my foot? Was it going to hurt? What if they can't find my veins?  All these thoughts scrambling through my head. I cried a bunch of times out of pure fear.

  A few days after my consultation, I came home from work laid in bed and the thoughts started rushing in... Luckily, it was like he read my mind.. my cell phone rang, it was an unknown number so I did not pick it up... and then my home phone rang. It was Dr. Levine! He wanted to tell me that the cat scan showed the details to back up our decision for surgery.  He assured me everything was going to be ok and answered some of my crazy questions I had been thinking of.  At the end of our conversation he told me to have a drink and relax..

 During the week before surgery, I needed to wear "the boot" at all times except when I was doing exercises on my foot or showering.  The exercises consisted of moving my foot up and down and trying to rotate it. This is quite difficult when your foot is swollen but I tried my best.

  I quit smoking, and I was losing weight. I had been dieting but I think the stress of everything plus using muscles I was not used to in order to get around was helping with the weight loss.. Oh and probably the fact that I was only eating whatever I was given, being that I could not get to the refrigerator or cook for myself.  Lucky for me I had a great support system.  My mom and sister live upstairs and my boyfriend and I live downstairs.  Once I was given the boot I was able to go up and down the stairs by crawling or climbing. I had developed a system for everything.

   We thought the easiest thing for me to do during the recovery was to sleep upstairs in my mothers room.  She has two beds together that are Craftmatic adjustable. This would turn out to be a big help.  We were told the recovery would be rough, I would need a lot of care in the beginning, so we began preparing... Computer chair in the bathroom (we took of the arms and back), doors were detached and removed (the wheelchair did not fit through our doorways plus we have saddles on the floor so it was a process to get over the humps), commode, wheelchair and crutches were nearby.

Consultation with the Foot Specialist

  The Hospital For Special Surgery is one of the best hospitals in the country. We were able to make a consultation appointment with Dr. Levine (a foot and ankle specialist) 1 week later on Monday, July 26th. In the meantime, my orthopedist prescribed me a CAM walker boot for protection (which allowed me to go to work in the wheelchair but be protected).  I wore it at all times - even when I slept.  Previously I had my foot out in the open no sock, shoe, nothing because it was so swollen nothing would fit on it.  I was afraid of my foot. I analyzed it every day noticing changes of color, width etc.. I did everything I was told by the orthopedist. I was allowed to go to work as long as I kept my foot up, (to decrease swelling) and iced it.  I prayed that since I was doing everything I was told, the specialist would tell me I did not need surgery.

  Dr. Levine checked my MRI as well as the X-ray. One look at my bruised foot and he knew.... I had a Lisfranc ligament tear which disrupts the movement of my toes.  If left untreated it can case post traumatic flat foot syndrome, as well as chronic arthritis. My heart stopped when I heard that I need surgery.  This was my fear. I knew one day I would have to be in a hospital, but I hoped it would only be to give birth. Hospitals freak me out, surgery freaks me out... the anxiety was setting in. The doctor assured me the new technique called a "fusion surgery" would be easy and undoubtably successful.  Just a few years ago the old method of using pins and removing them meant going through 2 surgeries. The worst part of the fusion surgery would be the first 6-8 weeks recovery and for me, being a smoker, I had to quit smoking immediately. Smoking can increase the risk of a non union & foot not healing properly.

  We scheduled the surgery for Tuesday August 3rd at 8am. It was recommended that I go to the hospital (located across the street from the doctors office) for pre-op the day of my consultation instead of before surgery.  I had to get an x-ray of my chest, cat scan of my foot, and blood test.  Surprisingly all of these procedures in the hospital took less than 2 hours.  HSS was definitely owning up to their reputation. The pre-surgery tests and hospital staff were not as scary as I expected, but I was still very disappointed and fearful that I was going to have surgery.

Welcome to the documentation of my left foot.

Hello all!
  I hope this blog will help others understand this injury and the treatment of it, and help me keep a timeline of events during this trying time. On Monday July 12th, 2010 I missed a step going into my basement apartment (in my moms house).   I laid there on the floor, shocked. The pain was pretty bad for about 5 minutes and then went away. I decided to just wait there for my boyfriend to come home from work to help me to the couch because I knew I couldn't walk on it. It was like the commercial "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up." I was embarrassed, and hoped it was nothing, but when he came home he saw that my foot was swelling fast. My mom came down and we iced it all night. I called my job, and researched some local doctors phone numbers for the next morning.  There was no way I was going to the emergency room. I have never been to the hospital nor was I planning on it.  I was not in pain, It was late at night and I was still in shock.

  At first we thought it was just a bad sprain or a possible break. My foot was blowing up. The next morning my mother took me to an orthopedist who told me the X-Rays showed no break and I would be walking on it in a couple of days. Luckily my mother spoke up and said I should get an MRI on it to see if there is any damage. All I can say is the process of getting the MRI results was ridiculous. The MRI was done on a Wednesday and I was supposed to get the results the next day. By the weekend I was really pissed off because I had already taken a week off from work and wanted to know what the hell was going on.  I really couldn't get myself to get in the car again. Hopping and crawling had taken a toll on me.  Thankfully we were able to get a wheelchair and crutches from a nearby medical supply company.  My foot had a huge bruise on the bottom and bruising was beginning to show around the toes.

  I awoke to a phone call that Monday morning telling me real bad news. The ligament had almost a complete tear & I had a slight fracture at my 4th metatarsal, so my orthopedist referred me to a foot specialist at The Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

The top of my foot (after having a purplish reddish bruise for a few days)  turned greenish yellow.

The bottom of my foot (so swollen you can not see the arch) with bruising becoming more visible.