Groovy Gma with FND

I live in a brand-new apartment complex that has secure doors to the buildings, and all unit entries are indoors. You can use either a fob that is issued at move-in, or a code is assigned to your unit. I provide the code to Amazon, UPS, FedEx, etc. so they have access to my building to deliver packages. They’re relatively reliable.

Because of the bilateral foot drop from the stupid FND, I walk with either two canes, or a walker with a cane in reserve. On the morning of October 2, returning home with a few grocery bags and my two canes, I attempted to enter my building. I set one cane down, leaned against the glass wall adjacent to the door. I wave my fob in front of the panel that is mounted on a wall about 3′ away from the door. The door beeps and clicks, I reach for the door, and it clicks again. My pull on the door is futile. It locked already.

I’m irritated. I scan the fob again. I turn to open the door, and it clicks a millisecond before I can pull it open. Then my bipolar kicks in… remember that “bipolar angry” I mentioned in an earlier post? Yep, it was the bipolar’s fault.

I kicked the door. I didn’t just kick the door…. I KICKED THAT MF DOOR MF HARD BECAUSE STUPID MF BIPOLAR. I kicked that door so hard that it was vibrating for a few seconds after. I immediately had severe pain when bearing weight. I scanned the fob again and finally got into the building. I hobbled to the elevator, then to my apt, which is luckily, very close to the elevator.

Once in my apartment, the swelling was instantaneous. The bruising surfaced within a few hours but was only on the bottom of my foot. It eventually spread to the top of my foot. I have extensive medical background so between that and good old Google, I quickly deduced that I had a Lisfranc injury, severity unknown.

I went to urgent care. They did a plain x-ray and as usual, Lisfranc’s aren’t seen on plain films, and only sometimes on weight-bearing films, which urgent care could not do. A few days later I went to the ER with my prediction of the Lisfranc requesting the weight-bearing x-ray. As a retired healthcare provider, healthcare providers don’t like when the patient comes in with spouting a diagnosis before any imaging has been done, but the symptoms are classic, however, this isn’t an injury that happens very often. Philadelphia Eagles starting middle linebacker Nakobe Dean recently sustained a Lisfranc sprain in his left foot and will be out of the lineup indefinitely.

I reached out to the VA, incessantly, for weeks, providing pictures of my foot, the swelling and the bruising patterns. Finally, 3 weeks after my injury, my PCP agrees to order the CT of my foot. Lisfranc confirmed, surgical podiatry referral in place. I finally see the RIGHT physician 4 weeks after my injury happened.

Luckily, although I have a true fracture, it is not displaced at all, so I didn’t need surgery. I’ve been in a boot anytime I’m on my feet. I had a follow up appointment today and the doc is happy with the progress. They are scheduling imaging for another three weeks out and I’m allowed to start bearing some weight without the boot. Thank goodness this is almost over, and I’ll only have three things wrong with my right leg. Yippee!!!