After The Storm 2

OUCH!  View at my marina

After the Storm

Coastal CT got hit pretty hard.  Been without power now for 24 hours and just borrowed a friend's generator who still has power.  Thankfully, fridge and freezer contents still cold - due to putting ice bags in yesterday.  They say we could have no power for 10 days!   The boat is already back in the water and thankfully I am told no damage to her - will check tomorrow.  Our house has no damage, but the neighborhood is full of fallen trees and debris.  Working remote thru wireless card Internet access.

Before the storm my foot really started to swell - Wow!  Low pressure systems can really have an effect on the body!

Prepping For Hurricane Irene

As Jimmy Buffett sings - "Trying to reason with hurricane season".  Looks like the NE is in for a direct hit - Cat 1 or Cat 2.  Pulling the boat onto land and prepping the back yard.

Root Canal

One of these days I hope to catch a break!  Saturday morning I started to feel some pain in one of my teeth.  By Saturday night I was popping the Advil.  By Sunday night the pain was so intense that I tried the Vikodin left over from my first week of post-op.  By Monday am the Vikodin was not even working.  I went to my dentist ASAP and he started the root canal on one of my molars that has historically had a lot of fillings and given me trouble in the past.  I can't even bring myself to make a joke - like "I'd rather have a root canal than have a Lisfranc injury"  Now I have both!   :-)

I hope to be relatively pain free by tomorrow.  

How to get a Lisfranc - but you were afraid to ask

So we all have our own personal stories as to how we got this injury - tripping on steps, curbs, missing a step, falling off a ladder, a horse (the original), wrestling, martial arts, snowboarding, skiing, wind surfing, auto accident, industrial accident, ballet, football, surfing, walking, tripping, tripping on high heels, playing with your kids, jumping off a sailboat onto a dock, and walking off of a boat and hitting the cleat - which - you might ask - what is it - ?   Here is a pic to "re-enact" my injury...

I just happened to be passing a mooring cleat and had my friend take this pic - I want to piece together the source to the end.   I have some rather gruesome pics of what happened after this - complements of one of my friends that took the pic the night of the accident.  It took me two months to even want to view those.  And I will not post those pics - I''ll leave it to your imagination!

8 weeks Sunday...  3 more weeks NWB!     Have a nice weekend all!

G

Supplements

Part of the healing process is definitely related to diet and life-style.  My Surgeon seems pleased with my healing so far and I attribute some of this to my use of dietary supplements.  I have a very good friend who owns a Vitamin company called Designs For Health.  They market directly to Nutritionists and Physicians.  Since she is also a Nutritionist, she has recommended a supplement routine that I am on twice daily.  I don't know exact dosages - and it may differ by individual, so I will provide the general supplements I am taking.  Check with your physician before taking anything.   But I am using:

- Men's Multi daily
- Large Bayer Aspirin daily - for blood thinning
- Co-Q-10
- Zinc
- Vitamin D
- Glucosamine
- Calcium
- Vitamin C
- MSM

and then two proprietary formulas from Designs for Health - One called Arthrosoothe  and one called Inflamatone

In general - This mixture is helping to prevent, enhance or reduce - inflammation, bone growth, soft tissue healing, skin healing.

I have to say I am a believer and that I'll take any edge over not doing nothing at all on this front.

I took another tumble - Ugh!

I thin I need to slow down.  Ever since I received the knee walker I have been out and about as much as possible, I trundle up and down short flights of stairs on this, thru gravel driveways, thru rocky lawns, sidewalks, the Metro-North train to NYC, the streets of NYC, - you get the picture - and I am not what I would call a dainty guy!  After getting my cast off on Thur we stopped for lunch at a favorite waterside restaurant.  Knapps Landing overlooks the mouth of the Housatonic river which empties into the Long Island Sound.  After a nice lunch I was wheeling down the handicap ramp and the front wheels came off the walker. I caught myself - no big deal.  Called the medical supply company Friday am and they delivered me a new one no questions asked by 3pm.  Yesterday, I got to take my boat with a few friends to Milford CT for lunch.  It was nice to finally get back out on the water - with an experienced crew I had nothing to worry about. Once I navigated the dock ramp I made my way up the hill on the new knee walker.  We get to an intersection and begin to cross the street.  As we are crossing I sort of notice the handlebar is a little loose.  I hit a small crack in the road - my steering wheel goes one way, and I start to fall.  Instinctively, my left foot goes out to catch myself - For an instant, the boot hits the ground - I feel a dull pain from deep in the bone and I throw myself in the opposite direction, falling to the ground in the middle of the street.  My friends and wife are helping me up along with some other passersby.  The knee walker looks broken again!  I am very shaken up at this point.  I hobble to the curb to sit down.  Scared out of my mind that that instant of weight bearing has damaged 7 weeks of healing.  I am waiting for the on-set of pain.  My friend ran back to the boat for tools - and luckily only needed to tighten down the handlebars.  We surmise that the medical supply company did not tighten the handlebars properly.  I have a good mind to call them up and complain - but I'll let it slide.  I was nervous throughout lunch and the rest of the day - waiting for any strange pain.  To my relief - the foot seems to look and feel the same as before.  So I THINK, no damage done.

Has anybody else had a similar oops experience and put weight on their foot during NWB?  What were the effects?

My wife says she now wants to wrap me in a large bubble   LOL!

After the Cast

Look familiar fellow Lisfrancers?   6 weeks, 5 days post op.  Little swollen, a little purple, and bandaged where the K-wires were removed.  No real pain, but feel very vulnerable without any covering....

Cast Away!

I got my cast off today after 6 weeks and 4 days.  Went into X-Ray - My Doc says everything seems to be healing ok.  Afterwords, he pulled the three K-Wires out that were holding my three smaller toes together.  Really, as others have testified, it did not hurt at all. I was then fitted for a boot - which I have to wear non-weight-bearing for another 4 weeks.  This is 2 weeks less than I anticipated.  So overall, I am happy.  The boot, while bigger and bulkier, is a whole lot more comfortable than the cast, and I will be able to take off to shower, but still - no pool, and no sleeping with it off.   Just VERY happy to be progressing.  I can begin to weight bear in 4 weeks - that would put me at 10 weeks.  Seems pretty standard.

Here is a pic of my "walking" boot.  I assume, this will be the boot that I start to weight bear in come Sept.

Doggie Sprain

Well, It turns out I did not break her leg - but she did sprain it - Talk about misery loves company!  I am glad she is OK!

Not so good day

It is bad enough having this cast on for so long - worse when your injury causes somebody or something else to get injured.  I was on the boat all weekend - but Saturday alone with just our dog as the family was off doing other things for the day.  Coming out of the galley into the main living area is a small step - I tripped and fell on top of my dog.  She let out a yelp and immediately held up her front leg.  Thinking I broke her leg I called around for an emergency vet and finally talked to a doctor who advised me that I most likely pinched her leg and to give her a baby aspirin and let her rest.  She is doing ok this am but still limping.  We will take her to the vet tomorrow to make sure she is ok.  Needless to say I feel terrible about this.

Just Chillin on Just Chillin

Music

On my playlist for the weekend:

Knee Deep - Zac Brown Band Featuring my all time Favorite - Jimmy Buffett
Good To Be Me - Uncle Cracker & Kid Rock
Felt Good on my Lips - Tim McGraw
Incredible Machine - Sugarland - My second all time favorite band
Stuck Like Glue - Sugarland
Farther Find Me Now - The Coal Men - You may recognize this song from The Deadliest Catch TV Series - One of my favorite TV shows
All Roads Lead Home - Garden State - Also from Deadliest Catch
You & Tequila - Kenny Chesney - Featuring Grace Potter - An Excellent new song
Only Prettier - Miranda Lambert
Heart Like Mine - Miranda Lambert
Toes - Zac Brown Band

This list is heavily weighted "new country" but I would say the songs are mostly all feel good pop songs in nature.  I have a very eclectic taste in music - ranging from hard rock, Jazz, some classical, new country, pop, surf, and anything that makes me feel like I am near the Sea - hence some of my favorites being Jimmy Buffett, Zac Brown, Kenny Chesney.

If anybody gets a moment to download these and listen - let me know what you think

G

One week till cast removal!

OK - I am one week out for cast removal and hopefully K-wire removal, and into the boot.  I am getting soooo sick of the cast!  Feels like I am dragging an anchor around on my foot all day - or wearing heavy wool socks in the summer time.  When my foot swells I feel the wounds pressing against the cast.  Every day I dream of the technician using his 'saw' to cut it off -(the cast - not my foot :-) )   and the relief I will feel - ahhhh!    So - I am a little anxious - I know they will take an X-ray - and I am assuming foot is healing well, wounds healing well - that I get to the boot and not any bad news - like 'you need to go back into a cast'.   Not too worried about the wire removal - you all tell me that it really does not hurt.  Time does fly though - It will be six weeks since my surgery on Sunday.  Hard to imagine that my left foot has not touched the ground in 6 weeks - and that I coped this long.

You see - We ALL have the capability to endure these types of things - You need mental stamina as well as physical.  Keep positive my fellow elite Lisfranc injury club members!  (Not a club that we encourage anybody to join).