HSD Team Latitude

It’s now been 5months since that sharp little piece of porcelain speared my foot and sawed through everything in it’s path. I have been walking without my crutches now for about 4 weeks and it’s been just unreal. I have also been doing some cycling and swimming and that has been even better. I have never enjoyed going to slowly, but just to be outside and active again is really great. The ER doctor and the surgeon who I have been consulting with in Australia both told me initially that my chances of running again were ‘unlikely’, due to the complete severance of two of  (arguably) the most important structures in the feet for running – plantar fascia and flexor hallicus longus (big toe tendon). I have been cycling without any problems now like I mentioned for about 3 weeks, but running has still been out of the question. Very luckily for me, the surgeons have done a great job and their sewing skills have managed to hold my foot together long enough for it to apparently heal correctly – so far. To say I’m stoked is an understatement. To have the possibility of no more running planted in my head was really hard to think about. Now, I’m certainly not trying to carry on about my hard luck story, because really it’s not a big deal. It wasn’t some crazy disease or injury that had me fighting for life, and when you look around in the world, there’s always someone worse off then you. I just have lots of enquiries to how I’ve been going, so I just thought I’d write about how I was feeling and my personal experience.

Anyway, after 5 months and many uncertainties, I was given the green light by the surgeon to go out and try a jog to see how I was progressing. I thought about running home from North Sydney (20kms) but the very small part of my brain that controls common sense over-ruled me. I was so nervous to even try running, so I left it a couple days and continued with my strengthening and functional exercises I have been doing. On Sunday though I decided to have a crack, and managed a 10min ‘jog’. Depending on how you define jogging, that could be debatable. I don’t really care though, the simple progression of my recovery has both surprised me and highly motivated me to keep at it. I am now into week 4 of uni and ever closer to finishing. I don’t like being in Sydney, but it’s great to be using my brain productively and I can see the light at the end of my degree which is keeping me going. So basically, life isn’t as bad as I thought while I was sitting on the couch everyday.

Lastly, I have been generously invited back up to Port Douglas for the annual Long Course Triathlon, thanks to Guy Besley and the Cairns Crocs Triathlon club. I obviously won’t be racing, but I’m taking my bike and I’ll try and complete the swim and cycle legs, and just see what happens. I will however, be going out deep sea fishing on one of the local charter boats – some of the best fishing in Australia up in far North QLD. This race has claimed many victims, myself included – it is seriously hot and windy, but very relaxed and a great weekend. I was speaking to Guy as I was writing this, and he informed me that there was a 30%  DNF rate last year. I would seriously recommend heading up for a hit out at the Half Iron distance race if you’re preparing for Kona or Vegas World Champs. If you’re interested, check out the website here!

I hope everyone is beginning to come out of their winter hibernation and get training again, the weather of late has been amazing, so get amongst it.

Hope to see some of you in Port Douglas and out enjoying the sunshine sometime soon.

Mitch.

Pretty stoked to be writing this post to confirm I have officially ditched my crutches, after 13 weeks of FUN. I am now walking around (very slowly and unsteadily) with a limp that would rival even the fiercest pirate!  (A fat pirate – I’m 8kgs heavier then the day I tried to cut my foot off). I actually like pirates, so this is not such a bad thing for me, however considering that there is no pirate category at most triathlons, it is not so great for performing at an elite level again. If all else fails, I will steal Josh Crowes boat and a few barrels of rum and try my luck on the 7-seas.
Anyway, I’ve got a lot of work to do, starting with strengthening up my foot and regaining some functional movement. At present, I only have around 30% function of my left foot and toes, as compared to my right foot. Hopefully this will increase a little with rehab and time, however it’s never going to be the same. I have also done quite a bit of nerve damage which has taken away a lot of feeling in different parts of my foot, but hopefully that won’t affect things too much.
So for now, I’ll keep on trying to firstly walk properly and see how I progress from there. I will write again when something else interesting happens.
Thanks to all my awesome mates who have called me now and then, or come round and picked me up to get me out of the house – the small things make such a huge difference.

Later.

I haven’t actually felt like writing anything for the past 7 weeks since I tried to cut my foot off on some razor sharp porcelain in Southern Texas. This is for a few reasons…

- I hate writing about myself, and there is nothing interesting for me to write about.

- My brain has turned to mushy peas and I’m struggling to string 2 words together.

- I can’t think of any other reasons due to point number 2.

I have however had lots of kind messages of support and inquires about my health, which are very much appreciated and so for that reason I would just like to let anyone concerned that I have been playing lots of xbox (Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, if anyone is wondering) at home in Port Macquarie with my foot elevated and trying to let my foot heal as well as possible.

Since I last wrote, I have returned to Australia to consult with a orthopaedic surgeon of the foot and ankle and see what needs to be done for me to make a complete recovery and return to competition. The progress has been very slow, however my last visit to Doctor Wines in Sydney yesterday was positive, with the general outcome being that the wound is healing nicely, with no long term structural damage to ligaments and tendons in my foot. I will still be on crutches for another 3 weeks, although I have been given the OK to swim and begin to do some partial weightbearing, such as walking in the pool at chest height. The doc also said yesterday that I could potentially start running in 2-3months, which is exciting and something to work towards.

I have also decided to finish my uni degree in Sydney, so I’ll be studying during semester 2 starting in 4 weeks time. Injuries such as this have reinforced that when things go bad in a sporting career, it is essential to have other options.

Lastly, thanks as always to my loyal sponsors and supporters – it is great to know you’ve still got my back and motivates me to get back to business as soon as I can. To everyone who has wished me well or helped me out lately – it is very much appreciated, even if I haven’t showed it so much.

Have a good weekend my people

Hello

First thing, I hope this all makes sense because I’m under the influence of some heavy painkillers and they’re doing a very good job.

So just a quick note to let everyone know that firstly I’m OK, but I was in a very unfortunate accident on Sunday, which has temporarily put a stop to most things. After the 1500m swim at the Kemah Triathlon (south of Houston, Texas – on the Gulf of Mexico) on Sunday I was about 20m from the swim exit ramp when I stepped on something in the dirty brown water (I couldn’t see anything). It felt nasty, but I continued to the shore are when I got out of the water and looked at my foot it was clear that what I saw was not good – before the bleeding started I got a complete view of the anatomy of my foot including thin white tendons, bones and lots of red stuff. I was very uncomfortable after seeing this, but I was treated really well and a pressure bandage was applied. It was then another 8rs until I made it to the hospital and I sat in the ER until a doctor finally saw me at 8pm. Firstly he inspected it and the look on his face did not fill me with confidence – I think he’s words were “Oh $h!t, that doesn’t look good.” He informed me that I had severed some major tendons (basically the arch of the foot) and the plantar fascia. So he began to sew the tendons back together internally, and then finished off by sewing the incision back together externally, and I reached a new record of stitches as the surgeon told me he lost count at 40 stitches. It was not very enjoyable, and I had lost quite a bit of blood because it had now been 15hrs since I cut myself. I subsequently have learned that it was broken porcelain that I stepped on, which explains why there was so much damage.

I have been strictly informed about what I must do to make sure that this heals 100%, because of the tendon damage it’s imperative that it heals properly otherwise there can be problems with the way I run or walk in the future.  So it looks like this is going to take a while, but it is what it is, so I’ve just gotta deal with it and hopefully I’ll be fine. It can always be worse…

Thanks again to everyone who is still in my corner, the constant support I receive from SO many people inspires me to get back to it as soon as I can.

After these drugs wear off I’m going to have to make a few decisions about how and where I’m going to recover and start my rehab, but I’ll be sure to let you know my plans.

Cheers,

Mitch

This is my foot, with 14 stitches. There is another 25+ internal stitches (doctor lost count)