Listening to my Body - All the way to the ER!

You've heard me mention the importance of listening to your body before, but in this post, I wanted to share a more extreme example. One that could have caused permanent damage had I not listened to the signals my body was giving me.

As many of you know, I had surgery on my foot back in August of 2022. Four weeks into my recovery, my podiatrist decided to give me a new style cast. This cast was supposed to be breathable, easier to wear, and overall provide more comfort for patients. I understood the appeal, and we decided to try it.

A few days into wearing the cast, I fell (pretty hard) on my heel and the cast cracked. From that point on, the swelling in my foot/lower leg increased and the cast began to hurt. As you can see, the cast had a zipper (that I wasn't supposed to open), leaving my leg/foot with no room to swell.

Finally, one morning I had enough. I called the on call nurse through my insurance program and told her that I was afraid I had a blood clot. I had extreme pain in the back of my calf that had persisted for 2 days. My leg was swollen, heart rate was increased, and overall I just felt terrible.

As expected, she immediately told me to go to the Emergency Room.

I had my mom drive me to the ER (thank you mom!) and we waited. The ER doctors ripped off the cast as fast as they could and as soon as they did we saw the issue. The cast had been cutting into my skin, causing blisters, and in some areas even drawing small amounts of blood. The picture on the left above was taken over an hour after the cast had been removed, and you can STILL see the indentions left by the cast!

To be safe, the ER still did an ultrasound - everything was okay. Simply put, the cast I had on was cutting off my circulation. Continuing to wear the cast for much longer could have caused lasting or more severe circulatory damage.

The lesson?

Advocate for yourself, and use any/all tools you have available to do so. As a society (and especially as women), we are often told to "go with the flow" or to "give it time" because we are "over exaggerating". But the truth is, no one knows your body the way you do. You know what feels normal and what is cause for concern. You may not yet know that you do, because you're not used to listening to the signals your body is giving you; but your body speaks.

All you have to do is listen.

Disclaimer: This post is not meant to provide medical advice. It is simply an explanation of my experience and how listening to my body prevented what could have been a more serious issue.