I had a traumatic accident on 2/1/10 while I was skiing. If you know me, you might remember I've always enjoyed jumping my bikes, skateboards, skis, or what ever I can catch air on. So it's not like I was doing something I've never done. I even hit this same jump a number of times last year, and caught huge air from it.

This time I didn't have enough speed to clear the jump, so I landed on the flat instead of the slope. I have some pictures, but it's hard to get the full scope of the jump.

The force from the speed and height of my decent was just too much force on my left heel. I knew I broke something in my left foot as soon as I hit the ground.

On 2/9/10 I had Orthopedic Surgery performed by Dr. Michael Barnett of the Write State University Orthopedic & Sports Medical. The surgery was a success in that Dr. Barnett was able to remove the damaged cartilage and fused my bones together. I have found a picture of the same surgery where the plate can be seen after it has been installed. The picture is a bit graphic so beware...

These are my new pictures taken on 2/23/10

The big thing to look at IMO, is in the second picture. You can see the very large screw going through the Calcanius (heel) bone, and it also goes through the Talus Bone, located above the heel bone.

Where these two meet is called the Subtalar Joint. This joint allows for the left and right motion of the foot. If you look close you can see a fine line between them. The Dr. removed the cartilage from between them, and put the screw through both of them. Now it's call a Subtalar Joint Fusion. According to the Dr. and lots of articles I've read, this fusion has prevented a lot of future pain.   

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3/9/10 - It has been 1 month now since the surgery. I'm having much less pain now compared to the first 3 weeks after surgery. I've had the current cast on for two weeks now, and my foot and leg are starting to itch pretty bad. I'm looking forward to cleaning my leg & foot. In one week from today my current cast will be removed, and I will be getting the "boot", which is a removable splint.

"Thank you everyone who has been thinking about and praying for me!"

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3/26/10 - I went to the Dr. almost two weeks ago. They cut the plaster cast off, but didn't take new X-Rays. I'm going back in just over a week to get the X-Rays. Those will show how much my bones have healed. It has taken almost 2 weeks for my skin to recover from being in the cast. I think every hair had become in-grown. I'm moving around much more now. Almost all of the Breakthrough pain is gone now. But regular old throbbing and aching pain is still there.

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5/4/10 - It has now been 12 weeks since surgery. I saw the Dr. today, & he told me to start walking on it! This is great news except I can't do it yet. He also told me to stop wearing the boot and to start wearing regular shoes. Now I'm putting weight on it, moving in circles, stretching, & flexing it in all directions until it hurts quite a bit. I'm really looking forward to taking my first step.

I have been suffering from withdraw after taking so many pain killers. I have been having a very hard time sleeping. I no longer needed the pain killers after about 8 weeks, so I stopped taking them for about 4 days. I couldn't sleep, and I was having "shortness of breath" really bad at night. It felt like I was getting a shot of adrenalin in all my body at 3:am. NOT COOL. So I started the pills up again, and weaned off for about 2 weeks before quitting them all together. I probably stopped a bit too soon, but I just wanted to be off of them. I guess as of this writing I'm still hooked. Because at night I can't fall asleep until 5:am. Yesterday the Dr. told me to try Benadryl. I took two last night & was able to get more sleep. So I'm looking forward to getting some very needed REM!!!

I haven't smoked since my surgery! 12 weeks

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6/21/10 - Tomorrow will be 19 weeks since my surgery. I'm healing faster and faster each day. As of today I'm still using my cane, but I'm trying to just carry it & walk instead. My knee has been hurting since I went to the cane, so walking is best. I can go up the stairs one foot after another, but still have to go one at a time going down the steps. It hurts a lot right when I wake up, until I stretch and walk on it some.  I'm still taking between 0 & 4 extra-strength Tylenol each day to keep the pain at bay, so I can work it hard and get strong.

I'm sleeping much better now. It has only been a couple weeks, but I needed the rest very much. Now feel much better & I'm much happier. 

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2/21/11 - Hey there I wanted to give a short update on my status. I'm now past the 1 year mark since I broke my heel. I haven't smoked and have no plans to start. I'm done for life now. I understand I'm 1 puff away from being a full time smoker.

On to the heel. It still hurts. I can't believe it, but it does. Some days much more than others. Where it hurts is where my Achilles attaches to my Calcaneus (heel) bone. It burns like fire when I walk. On other days and in most of the mornings it does not hurt to walk. Although I can feel that I'm just a few heavy steps away from causing pain.

At this point I'm hoping that at the 2 year mark I will be pain free.

As for the fused bones it doesn't seem to affect me too much at this point.

My last thing is the actual Calcaneus bone where the big screw is inserted. The screw head is out side of the heel bone, so it's not countersunk. At this point when I bump or even barely touch this area it is really sensitive. So far I've been bumping this part on the wheels of my chair, and on the lounge chair foot rest.

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6/16/11 - It's been just over one year and four months since I sustained the type 4 calcaneus fracture. I went to a few PT sessions, and they told me how to exercise my foot to make it stronger.

What started happening was I did less and less stretching and walking. Then I tried to make up for some lost time by standing with my toes on the edge of the steps, then I would lower my body and lift it again using only my feet (calf raises). BAD IDEA! I could feel the tendon tearing from the heel bone little, but thought that was just what it was going to feel like. Oops. No it was tearing the very week tendons.

Also found things like pushing the lawn mower up the small hill. VERY BAD IDEA!

Each time I was hurting it. After a while I was in so much pain I almost had to use my walking cane. I was limping. The trick was PT. I felt way better after just the first day. So now pretty much each night before bed I do a series of exercises to stretch and strengthen my foot.

As for pain now I still have some. It's again different that most of the other pain. I think it's still getting better. Mostly it hurts in the morning when I first get out of bed. The pain goes away usually within about a minute or so.