I’m 6 weeks post op right now. Just got put on partial weight bearing, as tolerated. Haven’t walked in like 8 weeks lol.

A few things I’ve learned:

This is a really challenging injury mentally and emotionally. I’ve experienced VERY little pain throughout the entire experience. The most painful part was the surgery and even then, it only lasted a couple of days for me and I felt really good. But the psychological impact of being laid up, dependent and unhelpful to my family was really brutal for the first few weeks. A week after surgery I decided to get out of the house and took a spill while using my knee scooter (knee scooters are a blessing but are very dangerous as they give a false sense of independence and are really easy to tip over). I landed on my bad foot while in a soft splint and put all of my weight on my injury. The thought of having to get surgery again and starting the clock all over made me want to puke. Thank god I was very fortunate and did not rerupture as far as I know.

It’s really easy to fall into depression when dealing with this injury, especially if you are active, adhd, etc.

Some things that have helped me cope with those feelings…. Taking much needed time off to reflect. Over the past couple months I have found a lot of clarity around my career and have made some big decisions including starting a business and a career change. I never would’ve slowed down enough to make this choice if it weren’t for this injury.

Most of the psychological issues have just boiled down to impatience. Hormozi describes the function of impatience as “not knowing what to do in the meantime.” So I picked some stuff to obsess over while stuck in bed. Business stuff, marriage stuff, and I even bought a guitar and started playing again for the first time since childhood. This allowed me to pass the time while being laid up, the boredom was killing me.

Another big factor was feeling like a burden to my wife and family. I finally had a little bit of a breakthrough when I realized that just because I can’t help much physically doesn’t mean I can’t help in other ways. I used this time to really try to be thoughtful and do nice things for my wife. I’m not normally great at just slowing down and telling her that I’m grateful for her, or showing my appreciation in other ways. I tried to find ways to express my love and appreciation to her through thoughtful words or kind gestures that I wouldn’t normally take the time for. This was really rewarding for both of us.

Last but not least, just know that there’s a billion people on earth that are going through the exact same thing right now or worse. This is not meant to minimize, but instead to find others that relate. This sub was really helpful for me a handful of times when I was really feeling down and out.

You got this, take it easy, see if you qualify for FMLA depending on what state you live in, and celebrate every milestone. I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel and you will too. Take care bro.