Three-year retrospective: What should you know about your broken foot?

I made this blog in 2015 when I broke my foot and was depressed about it. I worried and agonized about its progress every single day, and I stressed about every decision.

Looking through my posts, I can say I now feel differently about some things than I did at the time, and the extra three years has given me a better perspective. So, I thought it would be a good idea to do a broad post with my overall takeaways from the experience:

Stop worrying about the x-ray!

I never at any point got to see an x-ray with my bone filled in where it broke. At most, I saw some vague cloudiness that wasn’t even very dark, but never any visual evidence the bone had grown back and filled in. The x-ray looked the same weeks apart.

Instead, the moment it was clear that progress was being made came in Week 6. My (new) doctor wiggled my baby toe gently and it didn’t hurt. The metatarsal connected to my baby toe seemed to move together as a unit. He pressed and kneaded around my foot and the bone, and that didn’t hurt either. My doctor said that means soft tissue had filled in and, effectively, it meant it was healed.

When I told him I hadn’t been walking, his face told me he was surprised I waited so long. I was admittedly scared to walk, but I also felt I was following my other doctor’s orders. So, he told me to start walking in my boot without any crutches.

Keep in mind: By that point, the x-ray didn’t even show any cloudiness. To me, my foot was still “broken.” But in actuality I was pretty much healed and needed to start walking. I didn’t know it, but that was the turning point. That’s when I should’ve felt good about where things stood, but I was too focused on the bone growing back.

It won’t last forever so find a way to make the most of it

I remember being so depressed.

I couldn’t really leave my house because it was too difficult and I felt like an idiot. I lived alone and I didn’t want to ask anyone for help. There was an overwhelming feeling of helplessness that would come and go in waves.

I was especially bummed out that a trip I planned with my mom had to be canceled. There was a big championship game I wanted to attend that I couldn’t. There was just stuff I was missing out on.

But now when I think about it, a few weeks is really a blip in the grand scheme of things. It’s hard to not let it get to you – especially because you don’t know how it’s going to turn out – but in retrospect I almost feel like I overreacted.

There were some silver linings – things I discovered that have improved my life in some way or have been useful even after I could walk again:

• I tried Lyft because I needed a ride to the doctor. I had been using traditional cabs and going through a taxi dispatcher and it was a mess. The final straw was when I stood outside my doctor’s office on one foot for a half hour because the dispatcher kept insisting a cab would be there soon. I gave Lyft a try and it was so easy and fast. Lyft allowed me to get rid of my car when my lease ended and I still use it constantly.
• I joined Netflix when I broke my foot and I’ve been a subscriber ever since. There are so many great shows you can use to pass the time – I highly recommend it. I don’t binge like I did when my foot was broken, but I still use it frequently.
• I tried Hello Fresh and other similar services. They may not be cost-effective for everyone, but for me they are and I’ve been using Hello Fresh ever since. I choose which deliveries to get and I probably get around one or two per month. It’s really expanded my culinary horizons and I’ve re-created many of the recipes I’ve discovered through Hello Fresh.
• Even trying out Instacart was cool because now when I want a bunch of heavy items, like cases of water, I am comfortable using Instacart because I no longer have a car. I still love using Caviar for dinner delivery.

Sitting around might pack on some pounds

Frankly, I didn’t worry about my diet when I was recovering from my broken foot. All I fixated on was getting my bone the nutrients and vitamins it needed to heal. My diet has never been that healthy and I’ve never paid close attention to what I eat, despite being a vegetarian, so that was nothing new.

But being sedentary definitely had an effect on me.

I didn’t go out much because, wrong or right, I was embarrassed I couldn’t walk and I struggled to get around curbs and steps. It was a hassle and I didn’t want to ask anyone for help, so I basically stayed home in my sweatpants, which was fine because I work from home anyway. Well, let me tell you, when I finally could walk again and put on my jeans to go out for the first time in weeks, they felt tight.

When I went “home” for the holidays to hang out with my family, I made it a running joke how much weight I had gained. Based on my doctor weigh-ins before I broke my foot and at the end, I was able to see how much it was – I can’t remember but I would guess 10 to 15 pounds. Some jeans fit tight, some jeans I couldn’t wear at all anymore.

After the holidays, I bought a used Precor elliptical machine for my apartment and ate about 1200 calories per day. I had a post-it note stuck to my mirror in front of my scale and weighed myself daily. My weight steadily trended downward and it took a several weeks to drop back to what it was before (I don’t remember exactly), but I did it.

I did discover my plantar fasciitis when I was using the elliptical machine. It was a big hassle, it was painful and it has reared its ugly head in the three years since at times. But using Dr Scholls sole inserts did fix it relatively quickly. Whenever it’s come back, I just start using the inserts again. (I have found using the inserts when I don’t need them can induce problems too.)

It hasn’t really affected me since I got back to “normal”

I’ve done a couple posts about this already, so I won’t repeat myself. Go check out my most recent posts.

The bottom line is that other than the plantar fasciitis or lack of balance on my right foot, it mostly isn’t something that has affected me in any significant way. Sure, when I walk barefoot I do still feel a tinge of pain sometimes, but it’s so minor – if I had never broken my foot, I wouldn’t notice it.

Unless you suffer some unusual complications, like a non-union, or you have some other underlying issues, I think it’s a good bet that you’re gonna heal fine and never worry about this again.

So, I guess what I am trying to say is: Don’t worry too much. You’ll be back to normal sooner rather than later.