Wheelie for...Well, That Wasn't for Safety.

Wonder if that would work on my head?

I broke my heel, also both ankle but all at different times. The calf is, as someone mentioned a muscle that easily atrophies. Plus the ankle will really stiffen up if not used continuously. The ankle wasn't bad as you can be in a walking cast very soon. The heel was different, non weight bearing for months. I sat in front of the TV and flexed my ankle all day and even though they said I'd probably limp for the rest of my days I only notice when I'm tired. The calf took years to get back to the same size as the other but that's easily lived with, a limp isn't.

Keep thinking positively and keep working it.

Yup, the ankle is good and stiff right now--the doc earlier in the week said not to mess with it yet, the bones aren't quite strong enough to have the tendons pulling on them. Soooon, though....

I managed to go camping in the Eastern Sierra with the excellent and sympathetic help of my gf. We met her brother, who was taking a class in Reno and came down to join us for the weekend. I settled on Lundy Canyon campground, both because it wasn't completely reserved 6 months in advance (I hate you, Reserve America), because it was cheap (it's run by Mono County, so only 12 bucks a night), and was nestled in gorgeous, glaciated Lundy Canyon.

Our spot was tucked in the aspens.



The wind, the clouds, the trees, the intersection of mountain and desert that is the Eastern Sierra--it did my heart good.



It was tough--Everything was exhausting, even peeing and getting in and out of the tent on one leg--and I fell off the scoot once when the wheels hit a rock buried in the soft dirt, but the screws held.

Once a snobby, purist backpacker where gear was concerned, I've been slowly, guiltily collecting deluxe car-camping equipment. And these days, I'm glad I have; that deluxe foam bed, the tent so tall I can stand up in it, the perfectly-organized camp kitchen all makes it just this side of possible to go one-legged camping.

I even made bannock.



We hung out by the campfire, and T and her brother sang together while we got tipsy.





We took him out to Bodie, where the dramatic weather of an incoming thunderstorm made everything extra dramatic.



I had a hell of a time rolling through the gravel, but it was worth it.







The old mining buildings



We cruised around the June Lakes Loop, stopping to pet the mules at the pack station



Enjoy Gull Lake



And June Lake



And see the upside-down cabin in Lee Vining after a solid meal at the Whoa Nellie Deli.



There were more campfire shenanigans



And T's delicious s'mores.

We, well they, went for a swim in Lundy Lake. I did manage to hobble over and wade with my peg leg, though!

Gimp Solidarity



Wading in Lundy Lake




We weren't alone...



The canyon and the lake itself are gorgeous



Back down at Mono Lake, the air was eerily still. I'd never seen the lake so glassy smooth; usually it is covered with whitecaps. Plumes of smoke rose from the fires in the Bodie Hills, started by lightning from the thunderstorms passing through. Fortunately Bodie seems to have been saved, and as I write this the fire there is 70% contained. Hopefully the firefighters will have it knocked out soon.





Too soon (but just right for my exhausted body), we said our goodbyes, and were on our way home, through the rain, of course.

I cant tell you how grateful I was to get out in the natural world, just a little, once again. Hoping I can get more of that as I recover, since as hard as it is to pull off the logistics, it clearly grounds something down in my soul.



Back at the doc a few days later...it was time to pull out the stitches. Apparently the incision was closed with what they call the mattress stitch...



My skin, eager to heal, had grown over my stitches as usual. Having been through it before, though, this time the blood and the pain and the fumbling of the intern just made me laugh.



Gettin' there





Ahhhh, all done.



All taped up



It'll be lovely to be able to bathe the foot in the shower again, once the stitch holes heal up.

Latest X-rays...I worry about the head of that second metatarsal near the phalanges; it looks pretty deviated from the length of the bone; the third somewhat less so. Still, I hope that the bones join strongly (if with some deformation) and bear weight well. Fingers and toes crossed.

Glad to see you're out and about Rex. Mountains, mining, fire, rain - same here.

Once those healing bones get to participate in the travels they'll make it work and work for you.

Camping comfort is not a contradiction. I thought I might have seen one last night, riding over a pass at sunset. There in the saddle, taking in the alpenglow, sat a pair of campers on a four-wheeler. I kid you not, each was well over 300lbs. Momentarily I was baffled by the incongruity. How could they fit on one machine? How could it carry them to nearly 8,000'. I might should get a GoPro - you see the strangest shit from a motorcycle.

Glad to see you on the mend. My honey did a simple non-displaced fracture & lisfranc last spring on her DR350 riding in Utah. I'll forward this thread to make her feel better.

Wow, what are the odds? We should form some sort of club.
Hope her healing goes really well, too!

There should be a science of discontent. People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles. –Frank Herbert, Dune

I've been excruciatingly conscious of life slipping by while I sit here waiting. I feel every sweet day of a summer lost, the ghost of every undone ride, the call of the mountains and the pull of long hot roads over the desert; the round of work and play and the faces of friends, all missed. I’m so glad for all the folks who have poked through the veil and visited, sent cards, checked in, brought food...and so glad for T, who has come through gallantly, valiantly, over and over again.

There've been burning hours where I kept my hands off the pill bottle, breathing in pain, breathing out pain, and waiting it through. Pain has twisted through my brain, keeping vigil with me through some very long, very bleak nights.

But there’s progress, too. I’m off the painkillers, now. The nausea that hovered over my guts in a thick cloud for a month after the appendectomy is finally, mercifully gone, and I can lift things without the stabbing feeling that precedes an abdominal hernia. My foot no longer twitches and burns constantly, endlessly. There are no longer wires, capped with yellow plastic and extending through skin and flesh into the marrow of my bones, exposed to the outside world. I have enough energy to scoot around, to go to events, to work a little, to pegleg on the beach with my love. I have mad support from friends, my lover, and fam. I can drive an automatic (and I’m hoping to get one, soon). My wounds are closed, my surgeries are complete, my foot no longer has that terrible, ruined, zombie foot aspect. My balance on my right leg is insanely good. I know, now, who I am—in both the storm of immediate extremity and the long barren days that follow after. The face that looks back at me in the midst of fear, pain and vulnerability is no more a stranger. What I can endure and what I can face is stretched by my time out on the ragged edges of being.

Still, this is a Lost Summer. And I have yet to walk on two feet, and there’s the lurking fear of being lamed forever; won’t know til I spend a while in physical therapy.

I went to my second BARF Rally this year in a car, once again, with T at the wheel.

Taking in the smoky view on Sonora Pass…Hawthorne, here we come.



Mono Lake—pushed through the pea gravel all the way out to the edge of the lake. Tough on the little scooter thing, but it’s good conditioning.



Went shooting with a bunch of BARF members out near Hawthorne, and discovered that I can still shoot from the holster with the pegleg on. That felt good! They were a great bunch to shoot with, too.





T had a fine time with her Glock. She’s gooooood with that thing. I finally managed to find her a Ruger 10/22 Takedown for her birthday, too--she deserves a fun gift so richly.



Trips are HARD with one leg in action, and I know it’s an extra burden on T to do most of the driving—but hey, I was able to drive our little rental sedan for a hundred miles or so! Every piece of lost independence regained makes my heart leap for joy.

I went back to the doc after the rally, hoping I might get to start walking a little—only to find that it will be at least another 3-6 weeks. The waiting is beginning to abrade the surface of my soul, and my patience is worn ragged. I went home disappointed…but I’ll do what I need to do. I’m on this ride til the end. I want my broad horizons back, damn it.

What the foot looks like now—the stitches are replaced with shiny scar tissue.



Latest x-rays—still got some bone fillin-in to do. Go, osteoblasts, go!

Hey Rex, it's been awhile. I hope the healing is speeding along. I'm curious about your progress. Weight bearing? Foot flexing?

I'm sitting here right now in between bouts of ankle rotations, which are slooowly improving my range of ankle motion. Trying to regain a little toe flexion, too--the tendons have contracted and they don't want to move much or even touch the floor. It helps the injured foot considerably to mirror the exercise with the other foot, for some reason.

I'm off all opioids, just taking 400-1000 grams of ibuprofen per day now. But I keep going in to the surgeons, seeing him look at the x-rays and say, "hmmm, let's wait 3 more weeks." Apparently the bone filling in the 2nd metatarsal break (the area spanned by the small screw) still has healing bone in the soft-callus stage, and he doesn't want me to disturb it yet. I'm continuing to use the ultrasound bone stimulator daily.

Trying not to go flat mad now, wanting to walk so badly I can taste it. I'm told it will hurt and be a long road to recovery, and I'm bloody well ready to start! I won't be able to get an appointment to see a physical therapist 'til 10/28, and as I know it will be the key to recovery I'm impatient about that, too. I'll be applying for a low-income membership to the local YMCA, as I'd like to get into a pool and start using the foot in a non-weight-bearing way. Still looking for the right inexpensive automatic vehicle, too, though finding something on my limited budget has proven tough. I've started selling off bikes to fund the purchase.

Still a long road to hobble down, but I have marvelous support, have managed to be surprisingly active, and I WILL be back in the wilderness when I am able.

You'll turn another corner soon and will be experiencing a new flavor of the delicious pain of healing. Bone up, pun pun, on Vitamin K2 along with D3 and it's compliments. A little snake oil along with good diet and that magic bone welding wand will help kick in the placebo effect. Best medicine going. Along with a laugh or three.

Delicious pain is right!

I've been getting pretty nimble and stronger on the peg leg, even tried a steep-ish hiking trail the day...and this is me having to knuckle-walk backwards down a set of stairs after turning back at an even steeper set of stairs.



I'll be back!

I also had the treat of renting a car and heading down to the Central Coast for some time with my good friend Holly (the friend who came and stayed with me in the hospital when I was first injured). It was worth the effort of post-holing down the beach, hiking gentle hills near the Carrizo Plain, and doing some wine tasting with her and friends.



At Morro Beach with my sweetheart





I went back in to the doc yesterday, full of anticipation and worry. I'd gotten a couple of rounds of "3 more weeks," and it was driving me mad with frustration to go in full of hope and leave with another 3 weeks of peglegging it.

This time, though, there was excellent news. The residents, interns and doctors I'd come to know all crowded around the computer. "This looks great," the head surgeon enthused, pointing at the x-rays. "The bone is filled in, and you are ready to start weight bearing. Just a little every day, maybe walk a block. It's going to be hard. And no riding, or any of that other crazy stuff you do."

"Bicycling?"

"NO."

Fine, ok, walking was going to be enough of a challenge for the next 3 weeks, I guess. As the surgeon said, it really had taken a village to get me up on 2 feet again. "I don't know why some people are resilient and others just crumble, but you're one of the really resilient ones. It's been really good to work with someone so positive and determined." Well, awesome. I will Do What it Takes to heal, that's for sure.

The latest x-rays--you can really see how the bone has filled in that gap spanned by the screw in the second metatarsal. This was the big signal the doc was waiting for to allow weightbearing to begin.







Of course, I had to wait to get home and see my GF before walking; I knew she'd want to savor the moment. Also I figured she'd help me up if I keeled over and couldn't get up. We headed over to the local park, where I'd get grass stains instead of road rash if I stumbled, took a deep breath, unbuckled the pegleg...
and walked again.

It blew my mind.

6 months of agony and uncertainty later, I put my foot on the ground at last. It was painful, the foot gave all sorts of angry, startled pain signals, though it felt stable. The screws held. My joints were incredibly stiff, and my muscles helplessly weak. I staggered around for a little while, and exhausted myself--but I laughed with delight and triumph the whole time. Then my sweetheart had to take me home for a nap.





Tuckered out--I've got a long way to go before Half Dome, that's for sure.



Victory!

This! is the picture I've been waiting for! Wonderful to see you back on your feet.

read it all. way to kick the boot's ass.

Man, what pictures! Hope you're foot grows back quicker than a lizard tail. Ditto on your employer being a putz for dropping you like that; I'm sure you're headed to a better place. Looks like your GF situation is already as good as it can get.

I've just been spending the last couple of weeks checking out various riding boots online, trying to decide how much coverage to get vs. comfort once off the bike. I don't plan on doing any racing or anything. But now that I saw your injury combined with what you were wearing, I'm scratching my head and wondering what exactly to do.

Maybe Kryptonite socks are the answer...

Good job on progressing well and staying positive. I had a similar experience back in 2007. I was riding my DRZ400 doing wheelies back and forth across the parking lot at work. I wasn't wearing motocross boots, but I was wearing tall leather work boots. (wolverine 8" steel toes) After about twenty trips across the parking lot I went sidways and landed hard. The force of the moving bike and stationary pavement with my foot in between had enough friction to literally rip the foot and boot in half. The foot ripped form behind my little toe around behind my heel:eek1

At first they thought amputation was in order, but the ended up piecing teh foot back together with one 8 hour surgery. The end result looks kinda like a foot and works kinda like a foot, but it's painful to run on and I can't stand barefoot on our hardwood floors without considerable pain due to the foot being a little twisted in it's repair. The biggest nuisance though is that I wear a size 10.5 medium on my left foot and a 11 wide on my right foot. Mostly I just buy 11 wide and let the left one fit a little loose, except on my running shoes and I buy two pairs to get the right fit.

Here's a pic from a month or so after the crash:


Keep healing up, follow the Doctor's orders and stay positive!

G

Yow man, I didn't even know that was a thing that could happen! Glad they saved your foot and you made it through.

I got my walking, just given by the doc, taken away by the physical therapist. I won't dress it up, that was tough on my morale.

The county hospital I'm at is overwhelmed and the departments don't always communicate well, so getting different directions from different departments isn't that strange. I had my first appointment at physical therapy, and she scrutinized my x-rays, tested my foot and ankle for pain and range of motion, and said, "well, I don't want to contraindicate what your surgeon said, but if this were my foot, I would only be doing partial weightbearing. That bone needs time to remodel strongly without being overwhelmed by your full body weight."

She was also concerned by the level of deviation in the second and third metatarsals, and will be consulting with another orthopedic surgeon on what to do about that. I'm to do better about keeping the foot iced and elevated to avoid chronic swelling and pain issues, too.

Gah. It was hard to hear and accept, but I am now crutching with 50% weight bearing for an hour or so daily, and using the peg leg otherwise. My knee scooter has gone to a buddy who just tore his achilles tendon in a non-bike injury.

Yea, manage the swelling Rex. I've always feared therapists being too aggressive on top of my accelerated resumption of activity and work but if the inflammation and swelling don't readily reduce with ice and elevation after an activity it has to be dialed back. At least with a bit of weight bearing you're demonstrating what's expected of the bone and hopefully it steps up the recovery. Anyway, caution from a therapist is worth heeding, you're just a last few days/weeks from roller skating.