First Lisfranc Surgery Part 1 (Progress Days):

Hi everyone, so below I have a diary of sorts where I kept track of my progress before, and after my Lisfranc surgeries. When I was going through my recovery, I had a lot of thoughts where I just wanted to know if I was going to be "normal" when it was all done. I virtually wanted to know if anyone else had any positives after their Lisfranc experience and then how long did their recovery take. For those of you out there struggling with a Lisfranc, I can tell you that it is going to be okay. It IS A LONG road but I promise you'll make it out okay. Hopefully someone out there finds my journey and thoughts to be of help.

-The night before surgery my heart was racing so fast that I had a hard time getting to sleep. Seems pretty basic and understandable...no one likes surgery. You're not alone here.

- I drank clears 2 hours prior like instructed. I really liked the new instructions rather than the old 'nothing by mouth for 8 hours.' This is the nurse in me, but...fun fact: you want a higher blood sugar when going into surgery rather than a lower blood sugar. Plus when you think of wound healing, you want a higher blood sugar than lower = optimal for recovery.

Day of sx -20th

- I was nervous that morning. I was pretty good the day before because I was ready for the surgery to be done and it really really needed to be done. I had worked up to this point, but was in a boot and kind of walked how zombies walk...ya know with their leg trailing behind. Haha probably not that bad but it felt that way. Plus I was really starting to get some pain. Also, I really was nervous that if I didn't get this fixed then I would potentially have a messed up or painful foot for the rest of my life. My surgeon said I would have hobbled for the rest of my life if it didn't this get this injury fixed. The physician did say that after surgery, arthritis would be a for sure thing (which is sad). The surgeon also said I would be non-weight bearing (NWB) for 4-6 weeks. All I could think was....whatta bummer.....no gym or hikes for me!! 🤣 I have such a hard time sitting still. Ugh!

Day 1: I sent texts out to everyone saying thanks. Pain was a 4-7/10 and I had taken in total: 1 hydro 5mg, 1 hydro 10mg, and ketorolac 2x. (Fun nursing fact: ketorolac works WONDERS for pain. I really recommend this or asking for it. It can be hard on the kidneys but is fantastic post operative and helps with swelling too). I made sure to walk and used the walker (hehe) 7x that day; went out on the deck for some fresh air. The first night, I slept with my foot super super elevated in the recliner and with ice strapped to my foot with an ace bandage.

Day 2: That night I slept well. Woke up a few times and had to resituate but never got up like the first night. I still slept in the recliner with my leg up high on 2-3 pillows and the leg was fine all night. My back is what hurt because of the chair!! We'll see what we do going forward.

Day 3: My parents went to work today and it's 8am and I'm already a little bored. I'm not the type to just sit around. I like to move. I slept in the recliner again. It always feels pretty good after having it up alllll night long. I’m already constipated….and annoyed with myself. Lots of water, stool softeners, leg lifts and hip thrusts in the chair seemed to help. Took two pain pills as I felt a little more pain today... Donno if it was because I did more because my mom wasn't home or because it's day 3.

Day 4: Slept in the chair one more night and ended up on the couch.

Day 5: That night I thought I'd try the bed so I could lay on my side and my foot hurt bad. Not initially but after a while the blood was rushing and I could feel the splint pressing in to my foot. It hurt. So I took a pain pill and sat with my foot up for a while

Day 9: didn't take narcs but took Tylenol and Ibuprofen. And I'm constipated again. Been sleeping in the bed though; yay! Day 8&9 started to feel the screws more. Just like weird dull pain that would move to my ankle then toe.

Day 10: You know when you're half asleep and half not first thing in the morning... Well I was stretching my foot really hard and it cramped up really hard! It then proceeded to hurt and throb for quite a bit of time. Hopefully that doesn't screw anything up…. :/

2 Week Follow Up Appointment: Turns out the pain is from the screws and there wasn't much pressure from the splint so that was weirdly in my head or referred pain. The pain had only been in my arch so it makes sense from the injury and surgery. **I started my workout progress page this day Feb 2. Per surgeon: I was able to put a tiny bit of pressure on my foot with the boot as long as there was no pain and with crutches all the way. Did a lot on Feb 1st so had to rest the rest of the day.

Feb 2nd: The scooter came in the mail! And I did quite a bit around the house. Kinda cleaned up the things that I would put in a pile of do later because it was too hard on crutches. I iced quite a bit. And it's only 11. Did my workout just legs and abs and ABCs. Will do arms and back tomorrow and ABCs.

Feb 10: Today my foot actually feels pretty good. With or without pain meds I can move it and it does hurt but it does sting really bad when I push too hard when walking with the crutches and boot.

Feb 11 Same and no pain meds today. I think I could've handled it before but I went out to a movie with my mom 80 for Brady and it was cute. We went at like 4pm which was perfect because it was not busy. We also went for a “walk” before. That was an event with the cobblestone walkways but yeah I guess ya had to be there! But good for my mom and I to get a little exercise.

Feb 14: Walked twice with crutches and it felt alright. Not as good as it did days prior.

Feb 15: My mom mentioned I should try the boot again. I tried the black one and the padding felt nice before I even had the Velcro on. It felt pretty good but not overly good (the problem was that it really pushed my arch down. But my surgery was on the arch of my foot).

Feb 17: Soooo my foot hurts like it used to. It's not comfortable on either side which was a milestone for sleeping and all day it just wasn't happy. I didn't sleep well the night before but not cuz of pain. So it's really sad that this is happening now. I started putting more weight on my heel just when resting and I think it really did not like that. So I didn't do any walking today. I walked 4x yesterday and it had hurt sometimes. I didn't think it would be like this today. :( (Looking back, clearly I was doing too much. I had a torn ligament and a fractured bone!!)

Feb 22: Second follow up appointment at 3 weeks. It was with the PA. She said that:

-Too soon to walk. Too soon to put full weight on it

-Too soon to put any forceful pressure on it with hands or bands. Will do strengthening like next month!!!

-She said just do ROM and with crutches ROM

-She said you just need to let it heal

-Try to walk less but more often. Like 50% on crutches and 50% on scooter

Feb 27: So I was off on my own. More than able to do it but just happy to have my parents help me with groceries. I could not imagine having to do this on my own. That's what sucks to do the most I think cuz you need a lot and a lot of hands. I went to Helena to get some lab work done alone and I really realized just how hard it would be to be on a scooter by myself. And just in case you did not know, my foot hates the fit of the boot!!! I hope to be done with this soon and on my way back home. My mom was in the hospital so we've got to get back home to her. She had to get a JP drain. Seems like a lot for her but the CT said that it had fluid around it. Did I mention that this was not a good year?!

March 3rd: this is the first week where I feel like my foot doesn't hurt for the most part and the swelling is significantly down. It will just randomly swell and hurt. This was correlated to walking in the boot a little bit hardly any pressure. Hurts to curl toes.

March 4: This has been the longest that I haven't been to the gym in.... forever! It's starting to get at me. I'm starting to body check. There is so much stress with being fit focused and having an injury!

March 6: it's been 6 weeks and 3 days since I could start bearing weight. This has obviously sucked and I can't say that there haven't been challenges. One of the main concerns was that I was going to gain weight and have to take quite a bit of time to get this off or worse, the dreaded…what if it never comes off. Now, a lot of this is actually unrealistic if your metabolism is working correctly. I can't lie though and I will say that I did start really worrying about weight gain at this point. I thought that I had given “healing” and “rest” enough time. Little did I know that healing a bone took more time. I body checked and did the fat pinching hoping that the next time I took account of this, it was not more. I hope that whoever is reading this right now has faith in their own body and does not get mad at their own body as a result of an unexpected injury.

Also, I hope I mentioned this: I am fortunate that I was able to live with my parents while I healed. My mom loved to make salads, had home grown carrots, homegrown potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, and etc. It was great food! Plus it was great for the GI system because mine was a little slower with the immobility. My mom also is pretty big on protein. The mixture of protein and micronutrients were great for my healing! I know that if I was alone, I would not have eaten so well. It’s funny, when you live with other people, they hold you accountable. When you live alone, you can be messy or not eat a healthy enough meal and no one will look at you like….what are you doing? My mom also helped me be a little more motivated in taking more walks outside. I did my workouts in the house, but I had a harder time getting out of the house. I was really embarrassed to go out in public. I thought I would see some people that I would know and look like a fool/like “I did not have it together.” It’s so stupid because you can’t control these things. Anyways…feelings. So back to the Lisfranc story.

March 8th: Still feeling really good this week as far as pain when I move it. I have very very minimal and mainly just discomfort when I push limits a bit with mobility. I set my alarm tomorrow for 3x/day ROM and 2x walks. Didn't do a workout just because I felt like I've been a little tired leg muscle wise. Just like my knees are kinda sore.

March 23: foot feels great pretty much all day. I'm able to move it and walk x1 and it'll swell and get stiff and hurt but it's as expected. (Well now that I know, this pain was not a good sign.)

March 26: Still the same. The progress is slow honestly. I couldn't imagine if I was older, how much older this would be. I know that those in their 80s have a much slower healing time. But I've been able to put foot on a small pillow when I lay on my belly with no pain. No pain in the incision or discomfort or weird nerve pains (I had quite a bit of weird nerve pains). I have been putting lotion up to the incision site but not on the incision site. I have two scabs still but they're tiny at this point. My incision looks good. First thing in the morning my foot almost feels normal. I usually stretch and do some mobility before I even get up and before the blood moves down from standing up. I can stretch my legs hard (really contract my calf and leg muscle really hard) without my foot hurting. I've been able to do most of this for a while but it feels pretty good at this point. It just feels good to really stretch without any “restrictions” or pain.

March 27: We are 9 weeks and 3 days out and I was finally given the okay to walk from the PA. When looking at the xray, the PA said that she finally saw the double lined bone healing that you needed to see before putting weight on it. And it's that time!! The boot finally felt good to tighten down. Can progress the weight as long as it DOESN’T HURT and the swelling doesn't get out of control she said. **I feel like this is important information that I was not listening to before because I was being impatient.

March 31: Man it's been forever since I could walk so now that I'm "able to" I'm very motivated to. But also don't want to have to do any of this all over again so I'm also kind of careful. I walked further today than the past few days. The only problem/possible concern is there is a deep pain in there sometimes. Usually, it feels like it's on my heel like I haven't used it in so long. But as I go it starts to hurt more and more. Ended the day and it was that deep dull pain 2-3/10. And would pulse a little right before I went to bed.

April 3: Wo I've been walking with crutches weight bearing as tolerated (wbat). I have been able to put about 50% of my weight doing this for a few days now and progressed to maybe about 70% today. I walked longer and put more weight on it in particular today. It started hurting just at the end but kinda a bad hurt so I stopped and iced it quite a bit. No issues after that point. I think I just pushed it too long or hard. So far it hasn't ever hurt the next day after walking or swelled up.

April 6: I have been traveling for WORK (Yay!) a bit. So anytime I drive because I live in a different town of my parents my foot swells up. And I wear my boot all day during the trainings because I'm afraid someone will kick it or something. Plus, I don't quite think it's appropriate to just not wear a shoe at a professional work place. And again, the boot and my arch do NOT get along at all; especially if I wear it for a long time. The boot used to piss my foot off all of the time but now it at least takes a few hours. I do put a lil lil TINY pressure on my heel when the boot is off. Hopefully that's okay.

April 7th: I yet again surprised myself with what I could do. I went for my 1 of 2 crutch walk of the day and was able to put almost 100% if not definitely 90% of my weight down on my boot. I walked for 3 laps around my house with NO PAIN. Or discomfort at all. I had to stop to tighten my boot because I swear this is where/when the discomfort starts. I then tried a regular shoe on for the first time.....ever!! And it fit. Still swollen and a little sensitive when you're trying to shove the foot in there. But we got it really with no issue. I also took a picture for all y’all to see.

April 11: Soooo the thing I've been most afraid of just happened today! I didn't put my knee back on the scooter but instead had to step barefoot on my foot as I straddled my scooter!!!!!!!! Ooof it hurt instantly and an hour later is still hurting like a dull ache in my arch and big toe. What was I thinking 🙈. That was the icing on the top of the cake of the day. What a.....day. I always think of the song from Despicable Me. “I'm having a bad bad day.”

April 12: So I woke up and it still hurt a little. That dull ache again and I haven't even been moving it. Hopefully I didn't screw it up/break some screws. I think it's just going to be upset for a few days. what can I say..... This foot is upset!!! It's swollen like inside again and is Uber sensitive. Like back to when we hit a bump in the car and it hurts sensitive. It kinda sucks. It's scary to me that one mess up can derail me so quickly!! I need a break here life I really do, please help! I went in for an appointment and it hated the boot the entire time. And I didn't do any walking. It needs rest so much rest.

April 18: foot has been feeling good lately. Walked 3x yesterday. The first walk was really good. Went far and didn't hurt much. Second walk I had a little more pain. Third walk was much more noticeable as far as how quickly the pain showed up. I need to walk more frequently I think.

May 11: So I had my second surgery today. They gave me ketamine. And I guess there was a full 20-30 mins where I was just talking to my parents with my eyes closed. And telling the same story 7x. I guess I had plenty of moments where I said my doctor was super sweet and nice too. 🙄 Great....that's all I need going around at the hospital. For the record, I do think he's very kind and all of his patients that I have ever taken care of love him. He's got a good vibe. But I didn't need to talk about it 50 billion times lol. I hope I didn't do anything else um ..... embarrassing. So the three screws came out easy they said. And they went in through three holes. When I was done and the doctor was talking with my mom.....he said.....there is no way to make this foot ever the same again. We can't guarantee that the ligament has adhered to where it needed to again even. It could have went to another bone. YIKES! He did say that it was safe to walk on and everything was back in alignment well though. My mom asked about PT and he said if I was having trouble getting my balance back then maybe. He said it's not a no but it's not a yes/I don't think you need it. They said I'd get my screws at the follow up. So far pain has been decent. I just took 600mg ibuprofen to prevent inflammation when I got home and to take the edge off a little. We also went for a big walk outside. Me with boot and crutches. I didn't put hardly any weight on it because my foot is slightly flexed more than 90 deg and didn't want to go in the boot all the way. And hurt too so I didn't want to crunch on it.....plus he said in 2-3 days go easy then you can start walking. In a boot for 2 weeks then until that follow up. It felt like a good day all in all! My boyfriend was great and bought me flowers, my line tree was delivered, a friend of mine bought me a plant for a speedy recovery.

April 12th: pain is better today. Just took an ibu for inflammation and a little bit of pain. Can dorsiflex today whereas yesterday I couldn't. Hurts a lot when I plantarflex so we aren't doing much of that. Able to put some pressure on my heel like I've been doing. Will walk here soon.

April 13: still hurt to just walk on heel without boot on. Went on a long car trip

April 14: feels okay to put pressure on just heel without boot on. Took off ace and dressing today. All that is left is the dermabond and steristrips that will come off over time. It looks good! I have 3 more incisions though which is sad but 🤷🏻‍♀️. It is what it is at this point. Went to the store.

April 15: I walked with crutches that morning then walked the whole day. I left the scooter at home. I just jumped it hurt and I was slow but I needed to do it. I think I may have done too much though. Went fishing and the gym with Jonathan.

16th: same, but I do think it was needed. So I tried to rest today and iced twice for hours. Went to the store in Helena.

April 17th: work as HUC today and epic. Since I've been walking on it the blood flow has been significantly!!!! Better! I used to have like a cold dead foot. But it's warm like my other one! Yay no more zombie foot. Man it's been tough. Plus now I've got bruising on my foot. And it has hurt just in general, not necessarily in the arch. I feel that seldomly but my outside toe kinda up in my foot will hurt or my heel. I might be walking not straight to baby it. I've been trying not to or not to limp. Sometimes I have to though. I texted a friend who works with the doc. He said all is good.

May 18th: so all day I rotated wt bearing and nwb. And iced.

May 19: I thought today would be easy but it's not. I do get an occasional pinching feeling while walking. I'm starting to worry.

May 20th: went for a longer walk behind the house. I didn't feel like I needed to stop/decrease my distance but had to slow down as all when I would start to feel the arch. Buuuut looked back at my Garmin watch and did 8000 steps that day. We're seeing progress

May 21: today and yesterday, able to walk around without needing crutches at all!!!!! Eeeeeep! I still need to ice/have been prioritizing it because my foot will swell up. So RICE-ing. Made dinner with my mom and walked down the mailbox. Had to slow down once I got to the mailbox and walked slowly the way up. Sometimes I've got a gimp. My mom says that I take a large step with the boot but then a small step with my regular leg. Walked 5000 this day

22nd: about the same today as yesterday

23rd: walked alot today and all in boot

24th: can feel that I walked all day in the boot yesterday. I went to work as a HUC today and also went to an appointment with Hoffman and my mom drove up. It was a nice day cuz we got BBQ after. Hoffman said you can push it but you need to be careful and listen to your body. Don't do anything that would cause blunt force to balls of feet when only on your toes. But do a lot of active ROM now. And go with how it feels. YAY! Also said I can wear a good fitting shoe with support. And put sole inserts in. My feet as a whole feel tired from all day working but nothing in particular from my arch. Put my tennis shoe on, was hard to get on but felt good. I'm more worried about rolling my ankle after 6 months of no support

25th: my feet are sore but kinda to be expected considering all things....with working and how much I've been on it lately.

May 26th: went camping and walked the whole time in the boot. It wasn't bad, I still have a gimp and stuff but that was the first day of