Camping Trip
My family typically goes on a camping and fishing trip each year, scheduled when my brother Dave visits the US from his home overseas. For the last several years, we have had a great time in Pittsburgh Landing. Pittsburgh Landing is between Riggins and Whitebird, in Hells Canyon. It is a very deep canyon, surrounded by rugged terrain and lots of wildlife. Most of the areas have not been touched significantly by man. During this week-long venture, my family and friends have a great time boating, fishing, hiking, and generally having a good time. We bring my dad's jet boat up and boat the great white water of the Snake River daily.
Bad Breaks
On Tuesday, June 29th, 2004, we were having a great time. Tuesday was our first full day of being there, having arrived late Monday evening. After a good day's fishing, my brother and friends walked down to the river bank, approximately 1/4 mile away from our campground. We were catching some nice trout and bass, and covering the bank well. The terrain was purley light-colored, large, round river rocks, and the river was fairly shallow. I had been fishing for approximately an hour, when it was time to change lures. I borrowed a rig from my friend, a nice Rapala that looked like a small trout. After several catches with this lure, I knew it was working great.
Now, you must understand that lures are a prized possesion in Pittsburgh Landing. If you find one that is working very well and catching a lot of fish, you can't just go to the sporting goods shop and pick up 5 more — it is several hours drive to the nearest store. So, not losing your lure is a good idea. I had already lost two the night before, and was not going to lose another.
However, after several more casts, this lure became snagged on the retrieve. There I stood, seeing my lure snagged on a rock 15 feet in front of me. The water was only about a foot deep where the lure was. The rocks were covered with algae, but it looked like a fairly easy recovery to me. I set my pole down, and walked out to the lure, hanging on to the fishing line as I stepped on the rocks. I finally had walked carefully all the way out to the lure, and bent down to unhook it from the rock that had it had so wrongly become attached to. As I bent down, my right foot slipped on the rock, and I nearly fell in the water. Luckily, I caught myself before I got wet. My foot, however, had rolled off the rock it was standing on, and had hit the rock next to it with a pretty good force.
I didn't think much of it, and picked my lure out of the water and started to walk back to shore. After a few steps I noticed my foot was hurting quite a bit when I had weight on it, and though maybe I had sprained something.
Walking back to camp I finally got back to shore, and announced to people that my foot hurt and I was going back to camp. I packed up my fishing pole, tackle box, and chair, and started to walk over the rocks to our campground. By this time, the pain was very apparent with my right foot. It hurt quite a bit with every step. But, pain be damned, I had to get back to camp regardless of how much it hurt. So, I finally hobbled back.
By the time I got back, it was probably 8:00 PM, and dinner was almost ready. I of course told my dad, who was preparing dinner, what had happened, and sat down for a bit by the camp fire. The others who were fishing with me slowly began to come back to camp to eat our hearty meal of potatoes and freshly-caught trout and bass. My dad was encouraging me to go to the doctor in Riggins, a several hour drive. At this point I was not sure if my foot was broken or not, but it definately hurt and was swollen. Deciding that it was a bit late to go to the doctor, I decided to just keep ice on it and make a decision in the morning.
When I woke up in the morning, I was fairly certain something was broken in my foot. I had broken bones before, and knew that tender feeling could not be good. So, my friend, Jerrod, did me a favor and drove me into the nearest town with a hospital, Grangeville. Of course, we also had a shopping list of supplies to get (ice, etc.), as well as my dad's puppy who had gotten some grass stuck deep in his ear.
Grangeville
We found the hospital in Grangeville, and I hobbled into the Emergency Room entrance and started filling out paperwork. Afterwards, a doctor came to see me and then we took some x-rays of my foot. After some more waiting, the doctor came back with the films and explained that I did have a fracture in my fifth metatarsal. She said my foot was too swollen to cast right now, and instead she made a plaster cast that fit around my foot and was secured by an Ace bandage. I also got some crutches... which although they are akward and clusmy, were much better than an old piece of driftwood I had been using to hobble around on.
We went to the pharmacy, got some Tylenol-3, got the groceries, and went to the vet to have my dad's dog's ears looked at. After several hours in town, we started heading back to camp. I called Jenn on the way out of town and told her what had happened (she was still in Boise and was comming camping in a day or two).
Back at camp
Since I had come camping, expecting to stay for a full week, I now had a decision to make - whether to head home after only 2.5 days of camping, or to stay there and tough it out. After all, this was the highlight to my summer --something I had looked forward to for weeks, and had taken a whole week off from work to go. I quickly decided that I could sit around at my home in the city, or I could sit around in Hells Canyon, Idaho, with a fishing pole in one hand and a beer in the other. The decision was easy. Everyone was really accomodating, helping me carry fishing stuff, plates, cups, etc. All I had to do was walk to and from the boat each day, and fish. Sure, I couldn't get off the boat much to fish from the bank, but fishing from anywhere beats not fishing at all.
So, we finished out the week and I think everyone had a pretty good time, self included. Jenn and I drove back to Boise (a 5 hour drive), which was my first time driving with my ankle immobilized. On the way home our dog, Farley, became deathly ill. This is another story all to itself that I will have to document some time.
Home sweet home
We got back to Boise and resumed our normal lives, with working etc. After the first day or two back at work, I called around town and tried to find an orthopaedic doctor to see about my foot. I finally found one that would see me, and that was in my health insurance network. So, I set an appointment.
First visit
My first doctor visit was about 2 weeks after the injury had occured. I was still on crutches, and in a plaster splint secured by Ace bandages. The visit was about what I expected; we took some x-rays, the doctor told me my foot was broken, and we put it in a cast. But my doctor had told me that this was a very "tough break" to heal, and that it had a high rate of non-union caused by the lack of bloodflow in this specific area of my foot. After he put the black cast on, and we setup an appointment for two weeks later.
Second visit
Second visit was much like the first. This was now 4 weeks after the injury. He cut the cast off, took 3 x-rays, and said there had been no significant bone growth. My hopes quickly wre shot down. You can only understand this after being on crutches for weeks. Not only can you not walk, you can't use your hands while walking either. So everything you carry and take for granted is not possible. The doctor put another cast on (red, this time) and said come back in 3.5 weeks.
Third visit
Third visit was similar to all the others, now about 8 weeks after the injury. By this time I knew the routine, how to position my leg for each x-ray, etc. We first took some x-rays with the cast on, and I waited for the results. The results were inconclusive, so they decided to cut my cast off and take some more x-rays. We did this, and my doctor said the interior side of my bone was healing, and the exterior side was lagging behind. This is typical of a Jones Fracture. They have a high rate of non-union, and an even higher rate of delayed-union, which is what happened to me. The doctor put another cast on (red, again), and said come back in two weeks.
Fourth visit
Fourth visit happened today. It has now been about 10 weeks after the injury. We cut the cast off, took some x-rays, and then my doctor came in. He said he thinks the bone is healing, but that it is hard to tell because the healing evident on the x-rays lags behind the clinical healing by quite some time. He says I should wear a stiff-soled shoe, which they of course sold me, and come back in three weeks. The doctor said to gradually start putting some weight on my foot. He instructed to call them if it starts hurting. So now after about $1000 in medical bills I am able to hobble around again. I went to the store and bought a cane and some pumice stone. I quickly went home, and sanded all the dead skin off my foot into an impressive pile. Then I went to the bath tub and washed my foot and leg which felt great. Amazing how good soap can feel after being deprived of it for 10 weeks.
So now I am walking with the aid of a cane. I am not putting a whole lot of weight on my foot, and my ankle is quite stiff. I go in for another visit in three weeks to see how things are progressing. Updates will follow.
Recovery
Well, it is now September 16, 2004 - officially 79 days since the fracture. Things are going pretty good now. I walked with a cane for about a week and a half after my cast was removed. I have now been walking without a cane for about 4 days and can see improvement every day. It no longer hurts when wearing a shoe - it did until just a few days ago, because of the various curves in the sole, I could only walk on a special flat-sole shoe. I am now getting around pretty good, and almost have my normal gait back. I still walk with a bit of a limp, mainly due to the stiffness that still remains in my foot. For instance, it hurts to grab my toes and bend them upward very much. Because of this I can not "push off" of the ground with my broken foot during a normal walking stride, so I keep my foot pretty much flat on the ground for now. Each day it gets a little more limber and easier to walk around, though... and the joy of walking on my own two feet without any assistance is reward enough. I go back to the doctor in about a week - by that time I will have been out of the cast for 3 weeks. I am hoping for some good news — that the X-rays will show the fracture healing completely. I doubt the fracture will be completely healed, but I would like to see some bone calus forming on the outside of the metatarsal. My foot feels pretty solid, but I am wary of putting too much stress on it, so I am always careful where I am stepping, and am not twisting or doing any uneccesary impact like running or jumping on it. I can now climb stairs leading with either foot, which took a while to build my leg muscles up to achieve this.
Back to normal
Went to the doctor in the beginning of November. One more set of x-rays showed the bone was fully healed. We could still see where the bone was fractured, but the three films clearly showed all the fracture had been filled in by new bone growth. The ortho surgeon said I was good to go an did not need to come back anymore, which was great news. My right leg is still slightly weaker than my left, but I am more or less back to normal activities. I would say it started feeling normal again about September 27. So it took about 90 days for a full recovery. I don't have much of a chance of refracture since the bone healed it self so well. 90 days may not seem like much, but it is a long time not being able to do all the things one enjoys. It was hard for me to be without my leg, and I have a new empathy for those permanantly bound to a wheel chair or crutches.
I think next time I go wading out on the rocks I will be a bit more careful. I am fairly certain the whole thing could have been avoided had I been wearing shoes that provided some support or cushion on the sides of my foot. Tevas are great for walking around on land, but in water they don't give enough protection in case one slips. So 90 days and $1000 in medical bills later, an important lesson to make safety a high priority. An ounce of prevention..