15 weeks post ORIF qualified to States!

floor straddle jump shamrock invite — Part of the jump pass in her floor routine.

I am so pleased to be able to say that Mia Rose qualified for level 9 States in both floor and vault yesterday just 15 weeks after her lisfranc fracture/dislocation and ORIF surgery! Just being able to compete so soon was a huge accomplishment. At the start of the week we weren’t sure that she would be able to compete floor or vault as she had not yet flipped a vault or done a floor routine with tumbling and jumps in it since November 9th, so the fact that they were the events she qualified on is even more remarkable. Bars and beam were the first two events and unfortunately falls prevented her from qualifying on those, but regardless I am amazed by her drive and perseverance which paid off in the end.

VIDEOS: Floor and Vault

one_and_half floor shamrock invite — in the midst of a 1.5 twisting layout.

I am immensely proud of and happy for my girl! She never stopped believing that she could come back from this injury in record time and she put in all of the incredibly hard work necessary to make that happen. She was in the gym training every single thing she could even while 100% non-weight bearing and never let the inevitable sadness and frustration that comes with this long recovery process deter her from her goals and what she needed to do to get there. She is wearing an ankle brace to help support her ankle as a precaution as she comes back from being immobilized for so long. Happily she has no pain in the area of the lisfranc repair, but all muscles in the foot and ankle that were immobilized in a cast and boot for 3.5 months get sore and she still has small limp when walking. Her surgeon and PT told her that some pain is unavoidable when returning to sports and that as

beam shamrock invite — Some beautiful moments on beam despite a fall

long as it doesn’t get above a 4/10 and doesn’t last more than 2 hours after she stops working out that she is fine to work through it. She generally ices after each practice as a matter of course and the pain is gone within 30 minutes or less…so all is well and each day she has a little less. We both look forward to the day when pain is no longer “normal and expected” but it is wonderful that it is not bad and not slowing her down.

bars shamrock invite — Bars was the first event of the day which was stressful and didn’t go as expected but she still had some lovely spots in the routine.

It seems that periods of feeling really down and helpless are inevitable when traveling the long road to recovery from this injury…but having a specific goal in mind and writing down what she needed to do to get there really helped Mia Rose. Intentionally recognizing and appreciating even the tiny signs of progress seemed to help quite a bit especially as time wore on…progress is frustratingly slow with this injury compared to so many more common injuries so it can be hard to believe that you are really improving unless you intentionally notice and appreciate the little things. She still has a way to go before she is back to 100% but now it is easy to see how far she has come and there are big things to celebrate on a regular basis.

She heads back to the gym tomorrow to keep working in the hopes of improving her routines enough over the next 2 weeks to do well at States and qualify for Regionals.

Cleared for return to gymnastics!

20170221_092916 — Standing on high-toe just 13.5 weeks post ORIF. The left foot is the one that was operated on.

Mia Rose had her post-op wound check with her surgeon Monday. It was 13.5 weeks post-ORIF surgery and 11 days after the hardware removal surgery. The incisions look good and with all the poking and twisting that he did to her foot, the only thing that was sore was the new incisions. Based on that and what he saw on x-ray during the hardware removal surgery, she was cleared to start barefoot gymnastics again. That was very happy news! She was told to gradually increase what she does over the course of the next 1-2 weeks with pain as her guide. The doctor told her to expect it to hurt a lot initially, but she is fortunate to have almost no pain and what little she does have is improving with the increased impact activity.

The last competition of the regular season (and her only chance to try to qualify for States this year) is in 2 weeks and she is absolutely determined to try to be ready to compete all-around by then if she possibly can. At the moment both bars and beam are almost competition ready and vault and floor are coming along. She was so happy to have the all clear to really start getting back to doing what she loves-she even seems to be taking the directive to work her way back gradually to heart. I am so proud of her grit, determination and hard work no matter what happens regarding competition!

She doesn’t need to see the surgeon again for two months. She will continue PT through the end of this month and then hopefully that will be far less frequent as well. Getting to the point where we do not have to go to multiple appointments every week will make our lives and her schoolwork so much easier than the past 3.5 months have been!

First full day without hardware

Mia Rose is feeling very good considering she had surgery just yesterday. For anyone who is wondering what the lisfranc hardware removal surgery recovery is like…it is *much* easier than the lisfranc ORIF surgery! Extra strength tylenol and elevation have been all she needs to manage it. The incisions are sore but not terrible. The front of her ankle is also sore…we’re guessing from the position they had her foot in while they were removing the hardware. But she is able to use her foot without increased pain which is great.

20170210_145425 — Using the ARP Wave system

She’s been using the ARP Wave machine lots since the surgery to help accelerate her recovery. Right now it is set for recovery. Next week she will move back into the rehab protocols to help rebuild lost muscle and improve neuromuscular patterns in order to help prevent future injuries. We are really hoping that adding this to the rest of her rehab will make a difference in both the long and short term.