Nonunion 4 Months | Relearning to Walk and Walking Aids

Hello and Happy Holidays.

I meant to post this video a couple weeks ago but the holidays got the best of me which is always a good thing.

I started walking on October 30th. My doctor ordered me off the knee scooter! Mostly because I love how fast I can go on it, I'm such a little kid these days. The video touches on how I was doing about a month after walking. I started using the motto "Just Move" shortly after making this video. I strongly urge you to do that once you are given the go ahead on walking. It's not fun at first but if you are healing it is the best thing you can do. Walking on your injured foot actually stimulates bone growth. Which, if you are like me, you would really like that to happen!

Just like the video title says have cautious optimism. Don't expect to be where you were before surgery anytime soon. After being off your foot for an extended period of time your body will be used to sitting and probably not sitting very well. What I mean is that from many years of experience with having casts/wrappings/walking boots on my foot, I have found that I tend to sit in the "most comfortable" way possible. If you have any injury you understand what I mean by this. This surgery I found that I leaned to the left a lot. I'm not sure if this is something that can be avoided but I do plan to test it during my next surgery.

It's good to be aware of how you are sitting. If at all possible, try to sit up straight. Having to correct more than what is already being damaged is not easy. I had someone ask me about how I dealt with hip/knee pain along with walking in the boot. I hadn't noticed previous surgeries that I struggled with those. This time though I really did notice the knee and hip pain. I've started going to a massage therapist as often as cost allows. I know not everyone can do this. I certainly wouldn't have been able to during my first surgeries. A couple things I have learned though is that getting a walking cane and a product called Evenup are solutions I have found to help without the massages.

You may not realize the benefits of a walking cane. I know I didn't know anything about it other than "old people" used it, but don't let that stop you from getting one. After having a cane for a month I can testify that it is extremely useful for lower body injuries. It has helped me focus and slow down while walking along with helping my balance and mobility and evening out the strain on my joints and muscles. I can't really say why doctors haven't suggested the use of a cane before to me but if you have not been suggested to use one I am here to say that you should. I have been able to feel my joints loosening up and my muscles being used correctly. It's not an easy change but it is one I am grateful for each day. Here is a short article about walking sticks/canes "Benefits of Using a Walking Stick."

Now to inform you about the product called the Evenup. First things first here is the official website where you can read all about it http://www.evenupcorp.com/ . Second, I will be making a video reviewing my walking cane and the evenup I received so subscribe to my Youtube Channel for when that gets uploaded. There isn't a whole lot else to share with you about it. It's pretty straight forward. When you wear a walking boot it is higher than most shoes. It is also still a noticeable amount higher than most sneakers (all sneakers I've had). All I have to say about both of these products is how much does your health and body mean to you? The simple truth is if you don't use these products you run a high risk of learning to walk wrong and continuing to hurt your body when you do so, even after you are all healed and out of the walking boot.

I'm here to share my woes and joys with you. When it comes to physical trials they tend to be filled with many woes. I hope you see that these products I share with you are ones that have bettered my life in ways I have a hard time finding words for. If you do buy these products let me know what you noticed by getting them! It may seem like a lot of money but trust me in the long run it will be something you couldn't put a price on.

Until Next Time,

TheFootGal

Nonunion Week 13 | Medical Cannabis (weed)

Hello viewers.

I have some news to share with you and I wanted to have really experienced the difference and affects of Medical Cannabis (weed) before I announced that it was my drug of choice. well I am now almost two weeks out of surgery and I Can say it now :

MEDICAL CANNABIS IS MY DRUG OF CHOICE FOR PAIN RELIEF

Yep I just said that. Me, Kristy, who about a year ago (10 months) was MORMON. I have done weed on higher levels then some "pot heads." Yep, I just said that too. Wow, surprising even myself. I'm proud of it though, because this is the way of the future and it should be. I want to start off by posting this video I just watched:

That's right people grapefruit can kill you. Because of the drugs that are "supposed" to help us. I know that I've mentioned this on many occasions because it was such a disappointment to have to deal with when I was already in so much pain. But I was eating grapefruit, during my second surgery, because I really care about my health now. Well, I was eating grapefruit for breakfast every morning and mixed with the amounts of Lortab (norco) I was on, it made me physically ill. I vomited horribly on multiple occasions. I have a extremely STRONG stomach. So vomiting is not a normal thing for me. Let alone projectile vomiting.

Why may you ask does this have to do with Medical Cannabis well guess what? I don't have to worry about DYING from my breakfast. I can get as High and as HAPPY as I want. Thanks to medical cannabis not only that I've experienced some extreme differences.

 Keep in mind I do not smoke weed. I have been Vaping weed, (much softer on your body and gets rid of other bad things), and Digesting it. My preferred method when used for pain is Edibles. Why? because it causes you to have a longer lasting and more body high. This can be a intense high if you haven't gotten high before. I highly (haha, wink, wink) suggest you either smoke/vape it for the first few times to get used to the way being high is.

So you may be wondering now. HOW? how can it be good for pain Kristy. It's a plant. That's crazy. You are crazy. Weed is bad. Bad Kristy Bad bad bad Kristy. Well You can think what you want honestly I could give two shits about that. Because I am never going back to norco, never.

So to paint a picture for you. Kristy two years ago before surgery. Full of life and full of the future. She wanted to do anything and be everything. Then she had to get surgery. She lost her dreams and hopes and aspirations. She couldn't see how her future could work anymore without the proper function of her feet. She felt worthless. During those first surgeries she took pain killers. Lots of them because she thought it was the only way to survive the time she was forced to be on the couch and the only way to relieve the pain.



Second surgery rolls around six months after the first. She's ready to jump on board and get this out of the way. Life is too short to have to "WASTE" her time with foot surgeries. YUCK. Then the pain killers came back into her life. It all got darker when she took them, she fell so easily back into old patterns that she had spent the last 3 months getting rid of. But it was just sooo easy. Then she realized the pain had gone a little but she didn't care. Her pain still existed. Deep down in her heart. She was still broken and the pain killers let her ignore that. Then Kristy realized that she could go off the pain killers for things she really desired to do. Like, Read the hunger games. Then she slowly just got rid of them. (later on I realized I was detoxing but at the time I had no idea I was addicted).

FAST FORWARD A YEAR to now and some really difficult news later. 

She was a much different person. She thought she had escaped the world she had been forced to live in for two years. She was trying new things and improving her life in EVERY way. She knew she had a lot to catch up on. Two years is a long time for not living a life you want to live.

Then it happened. The doctor told me the hard news. The true news. The honest news. "You have to do it again, I am so sorry."

deep deep deep down I went. Back into that sadness. WHY... again? but I thought.. really? again?.. Okay again we go. BUT... NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. I can't do the pills I can't. How will I do this without the pills. I can't do them they hurt me. They KILL me. Yes they KILL me.

Then I phoned my brother and he gave me this bit of advice "Kristy at least you don't have to take lortab this time." WHAT? I DON"T? HOW? "you live in california you can just use weed." Wait... I can? but weed is bad? that is bad? that makes me bad right? no.

Some SPICY  Dark Canna-Chocolate Dip on a banana 

That is how my journey started. After surgery I took the pain killers they gave me in the hospital and then the second day I also took it. Because I was afraid to use the cannabis because it was "bad." I did have everything I need to use weed, though. I had  used it to see what it was like a few times to see how the pain went away with what pain I had before surgery. Which, if you decide to do this please learn what it is like to  FEEL your body before you have extreme pain. Weed makes you extremely aware of your body. It takes a while to get used to. Especially if you live with chronic pain as I do. You have to re learn what the pain is and how it's happening. The weed helps that though and will train you to move your body in a way that HELPS the pain go away.

Some Cannabutter Cinnamon Bread yum yum.

So before this gets crazy insanely long. I want to tell you. When I was on pain killers for that one day.. it made me do and say things that I couldn't control. horrible awful, rotten, rude, things. Because you have to fight against the constant urge to fall asleep. This constant urge to NOT shut your brain off. so the main difference and easiest way I know how to put it is:

Pain Killers : They cause your brain to turn off. Because they TURN OFF the part of your brain that tells you that you are feeling pain.

Medical Cannabis : Makes you feel the pain but makes you understand it and makes you aware of how it needs to be taken care of then makes you not care about it (AT ALL). It makes you not CARE because you will just be doing exactly what your body needs. which is rest. and rest you will. However, my brain went into HYPER drive. I could think and read, learn, live, love, feel, and anything else you do when your brain does not get SHUT OFF by pain killers.

I will write more about this. I have a lot to say. The last thing on here though I want to say is that it was the easiest thing to NOT take. I've been off of any kind of medicine for basically two days now! I have the CHOICE to take it when I need it. I didn't have a choice with the pain killers. I have the CHOICE to go off it if I don't need it. With pain killers my body still WANTED IT. because on pain killers you don't experience the pain. So when you turn your brain on again you experience the new pain ALL over again. so awful.. but with weed I just experience everything I see and feel the pain go away.

With that. I do hope some of you take the time to realize the dangers of pain killers. Even the simple ones like eating grapefruit with it. Even though they are "legal" in most places. It KILLED me.


The Foot Gal