Celebrating The "Women Of HOPE" - Journey # 6

~~Becca's Story~~

March 12, 2007, I will never forget that day as long as I live!!


I dropped my 4-year-old son off at childcare early in the morning, as I had to go to work. It was a home day care so she was flexible with hours. I told her that her parkway (edge of her yard at the end of her cul-de-sac) was icy and she needed to get it sanded before other kids arrived.
I left and was walking to my car carefully, but not carefully enough. I slipped and fell. Boy did I. I yelled and yelled, but no answer. It was a mess. I had to drive 1 mile to work with my left foot so I could get help because yelling did no good where I fell.


I thought I had a severe sprain since I had done that before. I went to get out of my car, and realized it wasn't just sprained. I sat for about 10 minutes until my co-worker arrived and helped me call my boss to take me to the Emergency Room. After a few hours there, they sent me to my surgeon, a great man who said we were going to fix this!


I had surgery the same day. During the surgery, I went into shock. They thought I was gonna die right on the table. Well, I didn't and when I woke up, my doc told me that he had to put a 5 inch plate with 5 screws that go from the outside of my leg towards the inside and there are also 2 more screws that go from front to back. My fibular head has 2 screws that go from the inside of my ankle up towards my leg. My bones split so I have a piece of Kevlar wrapped around the 2 bones kinda like a rubber band holding the bones in the correct position.



I was non-weight bearing for 10 weeks with an air cast boot. I was finally allowed to walk a little on it in the cast boot for another 5 weeks. I had the boot taken off the end of May 2007. By August, my foot started to have these weird spasms. My physical therapist thought I had RSD, so she sent me back to my surgeon. He sent me to a doctor who does nerve tests. She said I didn't have RSD just a little dystonia, it would go away with time. I went back to PT and fought hard for months to get back to "normal". I was discharged the end of March 2008.


In July of 2008, I went back to the Dr. who said I didn't have RSD because I was having more problems. She then decided I did in fact have RSD. She gave me some meds and sent me on my way. I had been chatting with a member at the YMCA where I worked who has RSD real bad. She gave me the name of a Dr. that she sees, but he wasn't taking new patients. I looked on the internet at a few hospitals near me and found a great Dr. who specializes in pain and has a clinical interest in RSD.


I had 2 nerve blocks, the first lasted 1 day, well almost… the 2nd put me in so much pain that he did a lidocaine IV instead of doing the 3rd nerve block. I played ping pong in his office seeing different docs. I changed neurologists and now Feb 2009, I am struggling to live. I have tried a number of meds, some worked a little, most don't. It's hard because I am on state insurance. They don't like to pay for a lot of meds, so I have to fight to get most of them. Some they still won't pay for. They won't pay for a lot of treatments either. I can't have physical therapy even though all the research says PT is the most beneficial treatment for RSD. I had a shoulder problem in high school and prior to that surgery, my doc (now retired) tried every med available to kill the pain. The only thing that worked was Percocet. I can't have Percocet even though that is one of the every few pain drugs that work for me. I can't take the generic of this med due to an allergy, but Maine doesn't care.


Right now (Feb 2009) I am taking Lyrica, Mirapex (it knocks out a weird side effect I get with Lyrica) and Zoloft (I have Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder)


I have had to fight for everything since I broke my leg. I can't sue the woman whose house I fell at, because in the great state of Maine, slip and fall cases are difficult at best to win. She had no homeowners insurance (it had lapsed when her husband went out of work) so I couldn't even file a claim with her insurance. Mainecare (Medicaid) pays my medical bills…well some of them.


My RSD has officially spread to my left leg so both legs are affected from my hips down. It is getting harder and harder to walk, but I am not letting RSD get me. I have HOPE that someday there will be a cure.

Thank you for listening to my story.


~~Becca~~