Lisfranc ... not Lisa Frank

I've had to say "Lisfranc" hundreds of times over the last 6 months, and I still think of Lisa Frank every time. Maybe I owned too many of those brightly-colored folders, trapper keepers, and stickers as a child of the 90s. Or, maybe I just needed to think of those psychedelic organizational products to make myself smile instead of thinking about what a Lisfranc injury is and how much mine has affected my life lately.

July 16, 2019

We were 11 days into a multi-week road trip camping and hiking out west. We'd already visited Hot Springs National Park and Lake Ouachita State Park in Arkansas, driven the longest possible route through the state of Oklahoma, remembered how New Mexico always surprises us in the best way (this time Angel Fire and Taos), climbed the dunes of Great Sand Dunes National Park (seriously, one of the hardest things I've ever done), finally driven the Million Dollar Highway from Silverton to Ouray, fallen in love with Ridgway State Park, given up on camping in the heat at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, decided Leadville (and a camping spot on Turquoise Lake) might be our new favorite place in Colorado, realized the crowds at Rocky Mountain National Park will never be our thing, and realized the smaller parks (like Devil's Backbone) in Colorado are usually even more fun (and less-crowded). We were spending a few days in Fort Collins before running a trail half marathon in Black Hawk and seeing Trampled by Turtles at Red Rocks and decided to play a game of miniature golf.

Hardest hike ever, Great Sand Dunes National Park

Ridgway State Park, Colorado

miniature golf domination

First thing I need to make clear: I was dominating at miniature golf.

Until, I was not dominating at anything. I'm still not sure how it happened. I was standing up. Then, I wasn't. Jason asked me which foot hurt, and in that moment, I couldn't even tell which one I had hurt. He asked me if I could walk. I couldn't. So, he gave me a piggy back ride out of there.

I refused to go to a clinic or the ER. I assumed I had just sprained my ankle really badly.

The next morning, when my foot (turns out it was my right foot) was still extremely swollen, we realized all of our plans for the next couple of weeks weren't going to be much fun if I couldn't walk. So, we packed the car up and started the long drive back to Nashville. And, since I'd injured my right foot, Jason was the one who had to do all of the driving. Two eight-plus-hour days later, we were back in Nashville and went straight to a walk-in clinic.

I didn't realize how bad my foot looked until Jason took this picture

in the waiting room at the walk-in clinic.

My diagnosis: a severe foot sprain.

The walk-in clinic doctor had looked at multiple x-rays. He gave me crutches, but he told me to try to use them as little as possible and try to walk on my foot as much as possible.

Two weeks later, I still could not walk without crutches. Not that I didn't try. A lot. So, I scheduled an appointment with a doctor who specializes in sports orthopedics.

The swelling and the bruising just didn't seem to go away.

I even had crazy bruising on the bottom of my foot.

August 5, 2019

The first day of the school year! I had to leave work early to make it to my appointment to hopefully figure out what was actually wrong with my foot.

The doctor looked at my initial x-rays and felt I had been misdiagnosed.

He ordered more x-rays.

Then, he explained what a Lisfranc injury is. Basically, it's a midfoot injury where the bones of the midfoot are broken or the ligaments that support the midfoot are torn. He said it was named after a French surgeon during the Napoleon Era who noticed the injury when soldiers would dismount from their horses. Not as cool as Lisa Frank. He also said it was a common injury among football players. In fact, Cam Newton suffered a Lisfranc injury a few months after my fall. Basically, I'm a trendsetter.

The doctor hooked me up with a boot, ordered an MRI, and referred me to a foot specialist.

It looks so small and insignificant.

August 7, 2019

The first thing I told the foot specialist was that I wanted to do whatever we needed to do so I could run again. She said we'd plan for surgery unless my MRI came back showing significantly less damage than she expected. She told me her people would call me, but to expect to have surgery within a week.

August 8, 2019

A little after lunch, I got a voicemail telling me that my surgery was scheduled for the next morning (what?!?). I'd never had surgery, so I was slightly terrified. My mom somehow found a flight and managed to meet us at the surgery center the next morning.

I had my MRI later that afternoon. I'm not good at sitting still, especially not for extended periods, so that wasn't fun.

August 9, 2019

We met my mom at the surgery center. The doctor said the MRI reading matched her expectations, and that she was going to put a screw in to help the tear in my ligament heal and a pin to stabilize my first metatarsal.

Here are the findings from the MRI:

"There is a complete tear of the volar band of the Lisfranc ligament. The interosseous component of the Lisfranc ligament is somewhat irregular and edematous, suggesting high-grade sprain and/or partial tear. The dorsal component is also slightly thickened suggesting mild sprain. Minimally displaced avulsion fracture of the medial second metatarsal base is noted, as well as nondisplaced fractures of the third and fourth metatarsal bases... There is nondisplaced longitudinal intra-articular fracture of the posterior tibial plafond, with marked surrounding edema. The anterior talofibular ligament is torn, and the anterioir tibiofibular ligament is irregular and T2 hyperintense suggesting sprain and/or partial tear... There is a peroneus brevis split tear of the inframalleolar peroneus brevis tendon..."

To be honest, I have no idea what most of that means. I do know that I really messed up my foot, and that I was getting some hardware to fix it.

I had surgery early in the morning and was back home by lunch. I think. I was on pain medication. Thankfully, I did not say anything ridiculous - I was actually apparently quite coherent when I woke up after surgery.

Also, the foot specialist told Jason and my mom post-surgery that I will be able to run marathons again. They were sure to tell me that as soon as I was awake!

Since surgery happened only a couple of days after my appointment with the foot specialist, I didn't get to ask some questions until right before surgery. Like how long I would need to take off work. At least a week. Missing the second week of school isn't the best start to a school year. I also had no idea what recover looked like or what the next steps were. The only info I had post-surgery was that I had an appointment for twelve days later.

This Cadillac splint was so much bulkier and heavier

than any picture could convey.

To be continued...