Super Bowl Sunday 2019 brought new beginnings to our household. My Mom had a stroke in December 2018 and had been staying at our house so we could care for her. We took her home the Saturday before Super Bowl Sunday. We were in the process of remodeling our main floor before she came to stay, and that was put on hold. We were anxious to get back to finishing it, so first thing Sunday morning we started the process. My husband is a handy fella so we were doing all of the work. I was helping out by getting the wood trim from our garage/storage area so he wouldn’t have to make as many trips up and down the stairs.
My shoe of choice that day, like most days, were my warm, fuzzy, hard-sole, slide-on slippers. I wore these or Birkenstock sandals probably 90% of the time. Turns out that was not a good choice on this particular day.
We had a glass tabletop in our garage/storage area that was going to be recycled into some fused glass art. (I am also a glass artist.) My husband accidentally broke it and it was just leaning upright in the garage. I had gotten some trim boards and was stepping over the glass piece for the umpteenth time that morning.
This time was different; I felt a shooting pain up my shin and thought I had scraped the skin. I went to set my foot down, but I wasn’t able to put it on the floor. It was just dangling, so I immediately sat down on the cold snowy concrete.
My daughter calmly called 911, and I was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. I had cut my leg through to the bone. The tendons and muscle were no longer holding my foot in the proper position. I had emergency surgery to save my foot and reattach the tendons and muscles.
In the hospital on the 2nd day I felt something snap in my brace. The doctor said it was nothing to worry about. I was sent to physical therapy for months. The therapists tried, but were not able to help my foot function properly. I had what is called “drop foot” and thought I was destined to wear a special brace for the rest of my life.
I reached out to a new doctor to see if they could help me. She immediately did an MRI and found that my tendons were not attached. She recommended surgery and was certain she could improve my situation. Thankfully today, I can say that my foot is functional and I do not wear a brace.
-Rhonda