Lisfranc...Not Lisa Frank, continued...

WARNING: There's a picture of my foot after surgery in this post. You may or may not be repulsed by it.

August 9, 2019

Day 1 and night 1 of recovery were okay. I discovered a love of ginger ale and peanut butter crackers. My mom and Jason made sure I took my pain medication every 8 hours (although I wasn't taking the full prescribed dose...I'm allergic to a lot of pain medications and we were worried the full dosage would make me sick).

August 10-August 20, 2019

The second night was the worst (pain-wise). But, honestly, the pain was not what bothered me. It was the inability to do anything. I do not like asking for help. I like to do everything for myself, by myself. I've always known that I am incredibly luck to spend life with Jason, and this whole experience only further proved it. A lot of his job requires being a caretaker, so having to wash my hair for me and do pretty much everything else for me seemed normal to him.

I taught myself hand-lettering. I read a lot of books. Most of them were amazing. One, Heroine, probably would have been more enjoyable had it not been about a teenage girl who got in a car accident, had multiple screws surgically implanted into her hip, and got addicted to pain medication then heroine. I had a hard time empathizing with the narrator since I weaned myself off of pain medication within a week.

I tried going back to work on August 19th, but I was not ready. I think a lot of that had to do with that ridiculous Cadillac splint that felt like it weighed a million pounds.

I basically spent 10 days in bed doing nothing, and I hated it.

August 21, 2019

I finally got that Cadillac splint off and got to see my foot for the first time since surgery! I'm not a queasy person very often, but I couldn't look at my foot. I knew I had a screw and a pin, and I knew what my foot felt like when it would swell (my best description for how it felt: like little elves were hammering nails and drilling screws into my foot). I don't know what I thought it would look like, but that wasn't it. Mostly, it was the pin that bothered me. I didn't realize that it would stick out of my foot!

That green thing is the pin that is holding my first metatarsal in place!

I felt so light and free without the Cadillac splint, but now it was a time for the cast. I'd never had a cast before, so I was excited for this step. It felt so much lighter that I was SO HAPPY to have it!

They had to put this donut thing around the pin to protect it,

so my cast stuck up from my foot a bit.

I had the cast for 6 weeks. I really wish I would've known that it would be for that was the next step and that I'd spend that much time not being able to shave. Seriously, I had to go almost 8 weeks without shaving my right leg below the knee. It's disgusting, I know. One thing I wish I would've done differently: brought a razor with me to that August 21st appointment. (Also, I wish I would have gone to seen an orthopedic doctor sooner...not 2.5 weeks after my first visit to the clinic.)

The time with my cast was fairly non-eventful. I still couldn't drive. I still needed help washing my hair. I still couldn't really cook dinner on my own.

I was originally so reluctant to get a scooter, but the foot specialist really recommended it during our first appointment. I don't think at that point I had accepted how long of a process it was going to be. The scooter was great! All of the students wanted to play with. It had a basket, which, honestly made me love it so much. Turns out you can't really carry things when you're on crutches. It did not have all-terrain tires. Maybe add that to the list of things I would have done differently.

It was a spirit day. I don't dress like this every day for work.

October 2, 2019

Cast removal day! I had a countdown going until this appointment, and Jason tried to manage my expectations by reminding me that it was just an appointment and that we didn't really know that they would take the cast off.

BUT THEY DID! And, I was SO HAPPY.

Once they took the cast off, they also removed the pin. They literally just pulled that green thing, and it slid out. I squeezed a stress ball and kept my eyes shut, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

I got to return to the walking boot that I used before surgery and could start putting weight on my heel. No, I couldn't walk yet, but we were getting closer!

Also I could move my ankle finally. Lots of trying to point my

October 30, 2019

Last foot specialist appointment! (Although I didn't know it at the time.) It was all quite anti-climatic. She basically told me to start putting weight on it, to do as much as I could, and when I felt like I could I should start adding short jogging intervals. Instead of starting official physical therapy, she gave me a band and some exercises and told me that doing these would get me back running.

It seems so gigantic! And, it'll be a part of me for the rest of my life

unless it starts bothering me!

November 17, 2019

I took my first steps in regular running shoes! They were short and slow, but STEPS!

December 1, 2019

I walked a mile around the track without crutches and without my boot! It was slow.

January 3, 2020

I jogged for 30 seconds at a time. And, by jogged, I mean that I moved between 12:54/mile and 14:39/mile.

I still haven't jogged a full mile without walking, but every day I feel one step closer!