Month: March 2020

Part 1 – And Now For Something Completely Different…
Part 2 – It’s Going To Be a Long Winter
Part 3 – Holidays On One Foot
Part 4 – Post-Op Check Number 1 – So Far, So Good
Part 5 – A Very Good Day
Part 6 – Second Post-Op Check – So You Say There’s a Chance…
Part 7 – I Can Walk (Kind Of)!
Part 8 – Two Feet Are Better Than One
Part 9 – Lisfranc Recovery Roadtrip

Remember the good old days? Way back a couple of weeks ago when the biggest health-related concern I had was wondering if recovery from Lisfranc surgery on my broken left foot would keep me from being able to golf much longer?

It seems like forever ago. Things have certainly changed in a hurry for all of us. Talk about getting whiplash in terms of what’s really important.

So, this journal is going to expand its scope, at least for this post. Beyond that, who knows?

My last journal post mentioned I had made it to Florida, attended some spring training games, found a Physical Therapist to work with during the month of March and ended with a comment about how it had been a pretty good week.

Was that really only a little over two weeks ago?

Let’s summarize what’s happened since then.

The good news is that the foot is doing fine. The physical therapy I received in Ft. Myers was helpful. Walking in the pool a couple of times felt wonderful. At this point, even having ceased the PT sessions in favor of being much more conservative in terms of staying home, I can tell my foot is doing great. It’s gotten to where I can walk around pain-free, though I don’t move as quickly as I used to.

Even the stairs are something I can handle without pain. I did feel a pull in the calf muscle of my “healthy” leg while going down some stairs yesterday, though. I guess the physical therapists who kept insisting I needed to stretch the muscles in my calves every day knew what they were talking about, after all.

There’s still some swelling in the foot, so I continue to ice & elevate at times. But I haven’t even used the cane to walk for over a week. While I know it will be several more months before the foot is 100% again, I’m feeling really good about where I’m at with the recovery.

That’s about the end of the good news. After all, even the chances of keeping my April 14 check-up with my surgeon seem like a long shot right now.

The plan was to stay in Florida until sometime the first week of April. With the speed at which we went from attending baseball games to working on a jigsaw puzzle while being virtually self-quarantined in the condo, however, it became evident that staying in Florida would risk being forced to stay there by health and/or circumstances for a very long time.

One benefit of driving to Ft. Myers, rather than flying, is that you can go from “planning to stay a month” to “let’s get the hell out of here” in no more time than it takes to pack up the car.

Of course, even driving that 1,500 miles or so held some risk. How healthy would it be to stay at hotels for even one night? How healthy would it be to stop for gas… assuming gas stations would even be open?

In the end, the decision was to drive relatively straight through, leaving Ft. Myers just before noon on Friday, March 20, choosing a route that would hopefully dodge a pretty lengthy line of potential thunderstorms expected to stretch across the southeast that evening.

Outside of a brief one-hour catnap about 3 am and another couple hours of sleep at a rest stop in the pre-dawn hours Saturday morning, the plans to drive straight through, while sharing driving responsibilities, went forward without much of a hitch. Of course, every stop for gas also called for hand-washing/sanitizing and every meal was purchased at a drive-thru window, but by early afternoon on Saturday, I was taking a much-needed shower at home.

Once home, I flipped on the TV, then looked at my calendar, mentally making a note of the date 14 days into the future, April 4, which would constitute two weeks after completing the trip. If I can get to that date healthy, I’ll feel like I survived that trip without contracting the coronavirus while in Florida.

In the meantime, it’s two weeks of pretty much “shelter-in-place.” Maybe an occasional meal from a drive-thru restaurant, but for the most part, there’s really no reason for me to go outside other than to take out the garbage or go for a walk… and my “walks” are still pretty short, anyway.

The toughest part is not seeing the kids and grandkids for another extended time. After all, it felt like I had just emerged from “exile” caused by having to stay home following the foot surgery before I left for Florida and now I’m right back in isolation again.

But I survived the post-op months and I’ll survive a couple (or maybe a few) weeks longer, if it means doing my part to make sure we all get through this thing without completely overwhelming our medical facilities and killing thousands (millions?) of people (a large proportion of them likely to be medical heroes) in the process.

I’m in my 60s, with a history of asthma that makes getting through your normal variety of flu a bit of a challenge at times and some seasonal allergies, but otherwise, I’m pretty healthy, so I’m not overly concerned.

That doesn’t keep me from “wondering” every time I blow my nose or cough just a little bit. Is it just allegies… just my normal asthma cough? Or is this the start of something worse?

I’ve got a digital thermometer that I simply press to a temple to get a reading and I admit that I’m doing that at least two or three times a day, even though I haven’t felt anything close to a fever.

It’s the wondering that is toughest, for me, anyway.

I want all of you and everyone you care about to get through this thing safely and I especially want medical workers and everyone else who doesn’t have the option of self-isolation to have a fighting chance to stay healthy, as well.

So, take the precautions you can and hopefully, we’ll all get back to focusing on things like baseball in a few weeks/months.

Part 9 of my “journal” related to my Lisfranc injury to my left foot. If you’re coming late to the party and want to go back and read how I got to this point, click the links below.

Part 1 – And Now For Something Completely Different…
Part 2 – It’s Going To Be a Long Winter
Part 3 – Holidays On One Foot
Part 4 – Post-Op Check Number 1 – So Far, So Good
Part 5 – A Very Good Day
Part 6 – Second Post-Op Check – So You Say There’s a Chance…
Part 7 – I Can Walk (Kind Of)!
Part 8 – Two Feet Are Better Than One

March 7, 2020

11 weeks post-op

If you look at the updated picture of my feet somewhere on this page, you may not, at first, notice much different about it in comparison to the pictures that were included in the past couple of posts. The left foot has a visible scar (though it is fading some) and the foot remains a bit swollen.

But check out the background… it’s not the same as prior pictures. This photo was taken in the TV room at the condo in Fort Myers, Florida!

After being convinced that the Lisfranc injury and subsequent surgery was going to mean no trip to Florida this spring, it turned out to simply delay those plans. By the time February came to a close, I was enjoying the (relative) warmth of the Sunshine State.

I got 7 physical therapy sessions completed in Cedar Rapids before hitting the road for Florida. They were focused mostly on range of motion and massage, but by the time we were finished, I was off the crutches and only using the walking boot in situations that were going to involve standing/walking for extended periods. For the most part, however, I was able to get by with comfortable walking shoes that allowed me to significantly loosen the laces of the left shoe to fit the swollen left foot.

While I’ve been able to hobble around for short distances, I’ve still been using a cane any time a walk of any significant distance is involved. Being up and about for extended periods will cause some aching, but otherwise there’s very little pain involved with normal activities.

The one exception that remains is the significant twinge that occurs any time I try to put weight on the balls of the left foot.

I also found a physical therapist to pick up the PT sessions while I’m in Florida and I’ve now completed two of those sessions. They are continuing massage and range of motion work, but are adding exercises related to balance. I was a little surprised to discover that I’ve lost the ability to maintain much, if any, balance on my left foot. Still, I can tell I’ve made a lot of progress.

The therapist is encouraging me to make use of the pools at the condo complex. Walking in the pool is, apparently, one of the best exercises I can do. The water not only significantly reduces the amount of weight the foot has to support, but the water pressure also minimizes the swelling that exercise otherwise would cause.

I’ve only gotten to the pool once in the first week in Florida, but I can verify that the walking felt really good.

Why only once? Well, the temperatures in the morning have been a little cool, so that’s a good excuse. But the reality is that I’ve spent quite a bit of time going to Minnesota Twins spring training games. That’s a big reason I come down here, after all.

Walking, in general, really doesn’t cause much discomfort, especially if I’m wearing shoes or walking on carpet.

Naturally, the condo has all bambo wood flooring. I found, though, that wearing sandals alleviates any pain. So I bought a new pair of sandals with the velcro adjustable band that goes across the middle of the foot. (The adjustability is necessary because my left foot is virtually always swollen at least a little bit. Sometimes more than a little.)

The sandals led to a new discovery.

The upper side of the sole (that the foot rests on) is embossed with the Reebok logo where my heel rests. And that felt like little tiny pins sticking into my heel whenever I wore them on bare feet.

It took me a while to figure out why that was the case.

Then I remembered that, when my splint was removed a couple of weeks after surgery, my foot was essentially shedding the top layer of dead skin that included any natural calluses on the sole and heel of my foot. The result, I guess, is that the sole and (especially) heel of the injured foot has new and extremely sensitive skin.

There really is something new with this thing every week.

Oh, speaking of new things… guess what my physical therapist told me to do! If you guessed “golf,” you’re absolutely right!

Well, she didn’t EXACTLY tell me to do that, but it was close enough that I chose to hear it that way.

I mentioned I was looking forward to being able to golf again and she suggested that I start going to the driving range now and doing some chipping and other easy swings with my irons, so I get used to the shifting of weight on uneven ground, etc.

That’s what she said. But what I heard was, “You can start golfing now.”

Anyway, it took me less than 24 hours from that appointment before I was at the driving range, swinging my 9-iron and 6-iron nice and easy. And it felt great! I hit about 15 or 20 balls with each club and had no pain. That left me with about five balls left from the bucket.

I couldn’t resist. Out came the Big Bertha driver.

Five drives, with a very easy swing. Four down the middle and one sliced. Heck, that’s a LOT better ratio than I’ve had with two healthy feet the past couple of decades!

This has all just been a long way of saying this has been a pretty good week!