A Booboo by Any Other Name...

As you know, but now reports can confirm, I have some things going on with my foot - namely a small break resulting from a rather severe (grade 3) sprain. That means my torn tendon and ligament actually caused a hairline fracture of my bone. Who knew that soft tissue rules??

Today I started physio therapy. My therapist, on hearing my story, seeing my test results and listening to my story was amazed at the state of my foot, ankle and leg. Don't mean to brag (or maybe I do, whatevs) but she said that "whatever I have done for the last 2 weeks" (i.e. yoga and yoga and elevation and ice and yoga and compression and 3000 mg of vit c and yoga) has resulted in tremendous healing over a very short period. Something tells me she's never broken part of her foot or she wouldn't say that 12 days is a "short period".

Perhaps I should hide this element of my personality (is that possible?) but I LOVE to excel. Give me a test and will problem solve till the bell rings. No mind if I haven't the vaguest idea of what's going on. Somehow, that doesn't seem to bother me.

I'm a strange sort of competitive - as I compete only with myself (and rich people I haven't managed to outpace :-)). I go into an enjoyable, almost meditative state when I decide I need to figure something out. And then I do whatever I can to achieve the goal.

Really I'm so thrilled that my yoga practice has worked to benefit my healing. Of course, I trust yoga - I've been espousing it for injuries I've never experienced lo these many years. But to experiment, so-far successfully on myself is a great gift.

My therapist has prescribed some exercises that I will do. Then I will repeat those actions in increasingly-weight bearing yoga poses, as my healing warrants. I was thrilled to learn that it is highly unlikely that I will intensify this injury with conscious movement, supported by rest and frequent elevation. I am so happy that my intuition was on the mark. Inflammation is my guide in the healing process, as well as discomfort. If I can act without too much (i.e. "bad") pain and that movement doesn't increase swelling, then I can proceed.

I suggested coming in 5 times a week but, alas, Ms. Physio said it would do nothing to expedite the process (there we are with those "ped" words again). Apparently, 2 sessions a week for the next 6 weeks (approximately), for ultrasound, review and manipulative therapy, will suffice.

Of course, when I asked how long it would be till I'll be sort of mobile again / quite mobile again / totally back to normal again, I got all kinds of answers I don't agree with. I won't put those yucky numbers into your minds.

I am grateful for this opportunity to learn about my body. I am hopeful for a swift, and complete, recovery. Let's leave it at that, shall we?

Pants Encounter

Let's talk trousers, yes?

For starters, have you seen the new book Making Trousers, by David Page Coffin? I just received it, via online shopping, and I can't wait to check it out. It has a great, modern layout I can really get with - v. pictoral. I have high hopes and I'll let you know what I think when I'm finished with it.

Furthermore, today - after my 90 minutes of foot-happy yoga - I felt well enough to try a sewing expedition (notice how that word has the derivative of foot - i.e. ped - in it?!?). I sewed up the (Scott-assisted) muslin of the V1166 pants. I wore my air cast for foot stability, stopped, removed it from the cast, and stretched it often. To give you a sense of how easy these things go together, I sewed the muslin in 90 minutes - and that included numerous therapeutic breaks. Remember, lovelies, the only other pants I've sewn are prefaced by the word "lounge".

As part of my experiment, I sewed the size 14 without any deviations, save a length alteration. It has 3 pieces and the waistband is interfaced. I chopped 2 inches off the length - usually I need to chop 3 inches at least - but with these pants I think 1 - 1.5 inches is enough. I guess what I'm saying is, they're short. My muslin has utterly no give. I used 5/8 inch seam allowances. The pants fit perfectly - though there was not enough length to hem.

Of course, no one has "perfect pants" shape. If you're lucky you might have have Vogue Patterns or Burda or Kwik Sew "perfect pants" shape. Or wide leg "perfect pants" shape. I know I got lucky. I also know that I'm going to need to modify for the brown wool fashion fabric because it has much more give than my muslin. That should be, as always, interesting.

For example, I fear the trousers might be almost too-wide in the upper leg - especially in the wool. What I will say is, this pattern doesn't provide a ton of coverage for a full-derriere. However, if you need room in the thighs, it's great! With very little experience to draw on, I'm beginning to think my rise is short i.e the space between my navel (or waist) and the deepest point of my crotch. I suspect these pants would be much more chic with a cuff. Perhaps the Making Trousers book will tell me how to do this?

A propos of this, reecently Myrna wrote a fascinating post about crotch shape (I know, it's an odd topic, but germane!). See, till you start making pants, you really have no idea of how unique your own shape might be. Of course, I am the poster-girl for this lesson as it pertains to jackets and woven tops (re: the boobs). Can't tell you how much I'd appreciate not having to learn it as regards trousers. :-)

Nonetheless, I'm ready!

So tell me, how do you find pants-fitting? Is it easier than tops-fitting? Harder? Share your experience, please. I need all the info I can get.

Rise Up

While I may be laid up (now I see why they call it that), in my dreams I'm sewing. The projects I had on the go, ready to begin just before the injury, are sitting in the sewga room like time capsules, calling to me as I do my yoga each day. Gotta say, the universe has really helped me to reconnect with my practice :-) Ain't no distracting me right now.

In case you wonder if I've lost my inextinguishable obsession - no way! I conspire to develop new systems to help me get back to the sewing as I heal, even if for short bursts. I've convinced Scott to help me cut out the fabric for my patterns. I tried to convince him to trace my patterns, but no dice. So I will have to cut the pattern to the sizes I envision and hope they're on the mark.

I have a new sewing chair, a loaner from Scott's office, which has wheels so I can shuffle around. Now I need to create a viable support for the healing foot (maybe my air cast will be enough, maybe I'll need to create a ramp to elevate my foot)?

When I've got it sorted, here are the things I'm working on next - the pants for V1166:


They're Very Easy, apparently, which is what I'm looking for in my first pants project. I have made yoga pants, but I don't think they're the same beast - at least from a fitting perspective.

Now we're going to see if my lower body is easier to fit than my upper body. And also how long it takes to determine the fit on pants when one's ability to stand isn't stellar.

The other thing I'm mentally working on is the next version of V8413, the dress I made originally in scary-cheap poly double knit (one of my few online fabric forays). I have some burnt orange double knit in my stash, specifically to remake this, and have just been waiting for an opp to get started. Who knows, I might even make a different version this time. Anyone have any suggestions about which version they think would be cutest on me??


Since I got the news about my foot yesterday I've been feeling very strange. I don't know if I'm in denial, or if I'm the arbiter of the extent of this injury as it has occurred within my own body, but I do not believe that this is going to keep me down for long.

I called the physio clinic immediately - according to many, the best in the city and the one my doctor recommended to me. (Sidebar: Ever had your doctor call clinicians to get you an emergency appointment for tests, request verbal diagnosis same-day and then call you an hour after the appt. on a day she doesn't work to give you the results and the name of a physio location (and therapist) which she directs you to a) call immediately and b) then respond to her to advise when your first appt. is so she can send the results over asap???)

I spoke at some length with the friendly physio clinic receptionist whom, I advised, that I am extremely engaged and motivated to work through this injury as quickly and competently as is humanly possible. I told her I would come in daily, I would do whatever exercises are required times 2 - with all the precision required, whereupon she (I detect, vaguely amusedly) responded that one needs to rest between sessions. Whatever. If I were an Olympic athlete she'd take me at my word. She doesn't know that I have the steely will of a skilled professional when it comes to healing. Perhaps y'all know this about me by now, I am utterly single-minded in my pursuit of things. Especially resolution. Especially in matters of my own health and well-being.

No mind, they'll be taking me seriously on Monday at my first appointment. Everybody does, eventually.

Yoga in the Time of Foot Sprain

I'm hesitant to publish this post, because I don't want to be seen as giving specific or "one shoe fits all" advice and also, frankly, while ya'll are reading it, I'll be at the hospital verifying the current status of my injury (managed lo these last 9 days, primarily, with yoga).

Having said that, I can't say how much I'd appreciate a thoughtful post by a long-time practitioner of yoga, designed to address foot injury, if I were (say) surfing the net while suffering with a bad sprain.

Mega Disclaimer: This post is not intended for new practitioners of yoga, those without a strong home practice or those who do not own props / have a good practical understanding of the Iyengar method. All yogas are good yogas, but with injury, it's my opinion that you are high on drugs to practice without the use of props and the anatomical and structural awareness that the Iyengar method mandates.

It is not intended for couch cupcakes (so much nicer than potatoes, no?). Foot injuries are as complex and varied as the foot itself. This practice is designed to address some serious tissue damage as it presents on my outer foot specifically (no one else's), top of the metatarsals / moving towards the toes. It factors in an outer ankle injury I sustained at the same time, which isn't a core complaint. It presumes a fairly strong and flexible body, pre-injury.

Core Goals: To diminish swelling, strengthen the foot and ankle, restore mobility, maintain and develop upper body fitness (in light of an inability to put weight on the legs and a need to use arms more in facilitating movement), maintain symmetry in a body compensating for lack of mobility on one side, control anxiety and depression (which can occur after an injury that limits mobility, particularly at the darkest time of the year).

Duration: I don't set a specific length of practice but I've discovered that, each time, I practice for about 75 minutes - and I do mix up the poses. I have done this daily since the day after the injury occurred. I feel it's key to practice daily because it's my main form of movement. In general, I spend 10 minutes in each supported pose and do the more active ones over a series of repetitions...

Format Below: Name of Pose (with link, if available): Yogic Action, Family of Pose, Notes as relevant

1. Savasana 2 over bolster / Savasana 2 over blocks: Chest Opener, Supported Backbend. Helps to relieve arm tension (crutches hurt armpits!), neck tension, anxiety, promotes circulation in upper body
2. Viparita Karani: Chest opener, Partial Inversion, Supported Backbend, same as above but also reduces swelling in legs and feet, improves heart function, tones adrenal glands, reduces anxiety
3. Legs up the wall, no bolster: Leg Stretch, Partial Inversion, Reduces swelling in legs and feet, promotes relaxation. Do variations such as widening legs apart, bringing feet to wall, crossing legs (if possible), baddha konasana legs (if possible)
4. Ardha Matsyendrasana (keeping the lower leg straight, on the injured side so there's no pressure on the ankle or foot): Balancer, Twist, Maintains mobility and tone in torso, stretches the muscles, tones the kidneys and adrenal glands. Twists work on those neurotransmitters that make you stressy or hungry. Give you a sense of your core mobility.
5. Navasana: Balancer, Seated, Ain't no better pose for core strength (except for,maybe, a push up). You can balance the back of your head against a wall if it makes you feel more secure about maintaining balance i.e. not falling forward. Do not fall forward on that foot! You can also bend your knees if the stretch is too intense for either leg or for the injured foot.
6. Dandasana: Chest opener, Foot stretch, Seated. A wonderful pose for bringing minute action into the foot. Use wall for back support if necessary. You can also use the wall for your feet, depending on the nature of your injury.
7. Inverted Dandasana (Legs lifted (not against a wall), arms overhead): Chest opener, hamstring lengthener, abdominal stengthener, Prone/Partial Inversion: You may need to put something like a thin plank under your tailbone if your hamstrings/groins are tight and your abs are not strong enough. Cycle this into a few (non-yoga) ab poses - bicycle legs while doing crunches, legs up while doing crunches.
8. Gomukhasana, arms only: Chest opener, arm stretch, Seated.
9. Chataranga Dandasana, on knees: Who am I kidding, this is the only version I ever do! Prone, Core strengthener.
10. Sarvangasana / Halasana / Karnapidasana Inversion, Chest opener (if you don't know these poses very well, don't even consider trying them now...) You need enough abdominal strength, flexibility and balance, to get into and out of a full inversion without touching your toes to any surface (except a wall, and only do halasana if your injury is up to it). Not gonna show you karnapidasana - if you don't know it, walk on by (ha!)
    
11. Upavistha Konasana: Groin opener, Forward Bend, Reduces anxiety. Use a prop under your hips if your hamstrings and groins are too tight or bring your head to a chair instead of to a block or your knees. If you raise your hips, you need to be certain that you aren't overstretching your foot ligaments (that can happen). Massage your foot towards your knee, as firmly as you can manage without intense pain. Reduces inflammation.
12. Paschimottanasana: Groin opener, Forward Bend, Reduces anxiety. See above.
13. Savasana: Resorative

Update: The foot is fractured (albeit not badly). The more concerning fact is that the soft tissue damage appears to be extensive. Physio begins on Monday. Give me positive foot vibes, please. xo

Quick Update

So peeps, trying hard to type this lying on my back with legs up the wall. Got back from doc's today - news isn't exactly what I was hoping for. In brief: She thinks the first xray may have missed a fracture (I disagree, but then I have a vested interest in disagreeing. I choose to believe that my foot was strong and healthy, bone-wise, when this accident occurred and that that has prevented a break). She said it was the worst sprain she's ever seen (if in fact, it is a sprain) and she's sending me back to the hospital for more tests. On a rush basis. Tomorrow morning. I also had to get the air cast but not so that I can use it. No, I'm only allowed to lie with my leg elevated higher than my chest doing weird massage things to it and alternating ice and heat.

I'm trying very hard to focus on the positives - of which there are many - but I can't believe I may be immobile for much longer. I'm not allowed to go back to work (though I am working full days from home) till at least the 13th. This foot hurts quite a bit. It's almost Xmas. I'm lonely for face-to-face interaction. I'm worried about gaining weight - though I'm trying to be quite careful about how much I eat. I'm worried about atrophy of other muscles and asymmetry.

I know many people live through far more injury with much more grace. I realize that, in my moment of inattention, I could just has likely have hit my head or broken my knee. Or my arm - which would totally have precluded work and blogging and so many other things.

At any rate, that's all the news that's fit to print today.

Spitting Image

OMG - I look just like this! :-):

Photo courtesy of Whorange

Flip Side

I was all about to write a litany of complaints vis a vis the foot (starting to consider whether I've torn ligaments, since I'm still bed bound at the end of day 6 and I'm occasionally losing my mind about it), when it occurred to me that I've really got to change my attitude.

Today I was talking with my friend Sandra, admonishing her for not being adequately grateful for her mobility, when it occurred to me that I was sitting there bitching at her instead of being grateful for my healthy arms (which are using the computer to work from home), my strong constitution, my every breath - you get the idea.

So here's a list of opportunities (and gratitude) about living with a healing (really hideous, painful, dare I say severe) foot sprain:

• It appears that I've been going at rocket pace for months now (ok, years, but you get the point). I'm starting to wonder if any other kind of injury could have required me, so succinctly, to sit in one spot and rest.
• I don't have the flu, which is truly the worst illness ever.
• My office (specifically my manager) has been insanely accommodating, facilitating my remote work arrangement as I heal. I am truly grateful that, instead of making me feel guilty for this injury, they are encouraging me to take care and giving me opportunities to work despite my immobility.
• This happened the evening of (i.e. right after) the final big work project I've been alluding to for months.
• Online shopping lets you buy food from the UK and clothes for your kid - all in 10 minutes. With sales, if you're smart.
• I am an competent practitioner of Iyengar yoga - my only method of exercise (nay, movement) right now. It's also foot therapy. I've got a post coming up on this in the next couple of days.
• I only had to wait 3 hours in the emergency room and I got excellent care and it was free. (Thank you socialized medicine.)
• I'm not going as crazy as I thought I would. A woman I work with managed to (in a freak accident) fall off a ravine in July and she broke her foot and ankle. She went through major surgery, followed by 3 months of bed rest, and just returned to work 2 weeks ago - in an air cast. When I heard about this I sympathized tremendously. I grieved for her. Man, I thought of her with all of my positive vibes because I couldn't imagine a world in which I might be immobilized for 3 days, much less 3 months. There's a sweet sort of irony about this, no?
• I'm not outrageously hungry. Of course, I'm not doing much moving, but I never knew how much movement and hunger correlate.
• I can't get to the food easily. I don't need to explain this one, right?
• My husband has to do all the fetching and carrying - can't say how much I appreciate not doing any cooking or cleaning up.
• I have wine and the internet!!
• As Cal says (though she had a little help from the Buddha): It is not what we carry with us, but what we let go of that defines who we are.

Here's to being here now, peeps. xo

PS: For y'all who've recently dropped by to see my sewing posts, please don't lose interest. I do lots of them (too many, according to some!). Just having challenges sewing and photographing due to the injury. I'll be back to a cross section of sewing posts soon.

Update: I must have been in a wine-haze happy place when I wrote this. Today, my zen perspective is all shot to hell. For starters, I just dropped the phone (model circa 1990 and it weighs a pound) on my face and now I suspect I'm going to have a mega black eye as my eye is all weepy and puffy. WTF?!?!?!? (Did I mention I've now officially run out of arnica?) This is to say nothing of a second degree burn I gave myself about 2 weeks ago, pressing some fabric, which is still ugly and scar-ry on my forearm. Scott just advised that he wants me to sign an affidavit indicating that he blameless re: my numerous injuries, and I can see why. Oh, why are all of these things so ugly, even as they are painful?

Update 2: I can't believe I'm posting this, but I feel the need to show y'all the state of my foot seven days after the injury:

This photo is from Scott's cell phone and I can't figure out how to make it bigger... Like you want to see it bigger...