It was delivered to me in a small box with a demonstration on how to use it.  Once a day, at the same time or thereabouts, I was to use the equipment to assist my bones in healing more thoroughly.  The bone graft and the bone fusion had healed in my foot, but they were not as strong as the doctor would like to see them be at this point in my post op care.

This gadget straps to your foot and its an ultrasound technology.  So, just like the ultrasound you get in the doctor’s office, you put a glob of the jell they use to help with conduction between the skin and the ultrasound wave that is transmitted by the machine.  For 30 minutes I sit with the thing strapped to my foot for the process to take place.

First time I tried it, I thought, hmmm how could this possibly work?  I had nothing to lose, and plenty of down time on my hands so what the heck let’s give it a try!

Some 5 weeks into therapy I ran out of referral times to continue according to the initial referral approved by my insurance.  This in and of itself was not a huge deal, but it did put a damper on my progress as I navigated the insurance world and attempted to get my trips to the p.t. office extended.  The doctor said I would need at least 10 more sessions.  After several calls to my primary care physician, my podiatrist and finally through my physical therapist the extension was granted and I was scheduled to start again.

I was reminded that my new foot, bionic in nature, was no small thing to integrate into my life.  Both my therapist and my podiatrist discussed with me not to be discouraged because we were 3 1/2 months post surgery and it would take time for me to regain all use and function. Slowly I was becoming more mobile and with every gain I thought, ok, now I can finally move on from this rehab adventure.  Not so!

Mobility is relative.  For example from the days of the wheel chair I was running a marathon.  From the days of the knee scooter, I could now walk upright and though I limped, I thought…great!  Crutches, while giving me more mobility, had limitations.  Like, how do I carry things when I am using two crutches to move?  Or, in the alternative, when only using one, the hobbling was more lopsided and everything I carried —especially liquid—-spilled as a result!

More mobility…well while on the way, still a long way to go to get back to two shoes and no more limping!

For the first few visits, it was pretty simple.  13 minutes of pulsing signals to assist in nerve repair and ligament extension.  It didn’t hurt, just made my foot tingle.  Actually, after the session was completed my foot felt better for a while.

Then it happened.  Several visits into therapy I found my foot didn’t feel the pulses as well as it had in previous visits.  Hmmm I thought, were the leads in the wrong place?  Had they come off?   Did the machine just quit working?  The timer was set for 15 minutes and the tech left me to listen to my ipod.  About 3 minutes into the process the machine started beeping and didn’t stop.  As I looked over I noted an error message on the machine “circuit overload” appeared.  I called to the tech who came back in, reset the machine and left once again.  This time it gave me a “circuit overload charge too high” message.  As the tech came in once again she noted the message this time and said “did you feel anything this time? Did it hurt?” All I felt was a mild pulse of the machine until it stopped working.  She explained that I had shorted the machine out apparently with too much voltage going into my foot!  Hmmm was that why my foot was twitching uncontrollably?  Was that why my toes were curled partially? Was that why my foot was tingling but I couldn’t feel it when I touched the floor with it?

Physical therapy was the next step aiding in recovery after my foot surgery.  The Doctor and staff there are a team of professionals whose job it is to make joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments move again after both being repaired in surgery and being immobilized for an extended period of time post-op.  These professionals teach you how to use the parts that aren’t working and rebuild their potential making them functional again.  Considering my foot had been immobilized for 11 weeks prior to starting physical therapy and I came in on crutches with a pneumatic boot on it, I was under no illusion this was going to be easy.

My first day there was a mixture of consultation, a plan being developed and an initial session to determine how much mobility I had.  They took a look at my foot, noting the 5 incision sites, swelling and immobility and after setting the plan in motion, we got started.  How much mobility did I have?  Not much!  My foot moved about five degrees that day and my toes were stuck in a straight out position. 

Anyway, now I could see an opportunity to walk again. How exciting!  Funny thing, walking doesn’t really enter into it when you start.  There’s the whole hopping thing as you figure out how to balance your body on crutches.  Then there’s the balance thing which can include, among other things, flailing your arms to regain your balance after you lose it.  Ever watched someone when they are trying desperately to remain upright after a balance issue has come up?  The crutches have a life of their own  flying out from under your arms crashing to the floor.  You have the option of slamming into a wall, a door or falling off a stoop of stairs in an effort to save  your dignity and any remaining modesty you might have if you lose your balance. 

So for the first week I practiced getting more stable on the crutches.  The first few times I went out with them I was so shaky and unstable I had little confidence in operating the silly things. Once you get over the armpit ache and the upper arm muscle aches, you learn how to swing yourself more fluidly on crutches (again the swinging from trees thought comes to mind).   Quickly I adapted and moved forward creating options to make my mobility better and better, or at least I thought anyway.  I learned rapidly that some short cuts were not meant for crutches.  For example, getting a crutch stuck under a door is not a good thing.  The first time this happened, I found out that if it’s stuck under the door, you are not going anywhere but out of control and/or down.