My name is Lisa and I am 45 years old and having been living with foot drop since December 26th, 2020.
I went to bed on Christmas night after a lovely day of celebrations with family and woke up boxing day to my right foot not working. It felt heavy, numb and there were these weird electrical feelings in my leg and foot. When I tried to walk, it was like I wasn't in charge of my leg or foot anymore. My left leg was fine, but my right knee would lift up trying to give my foot enough clearance from the floor.
Oddly, I wasn't worried at first because I thought I must have just slept in an awkward position the night before. Maybe this was me in shock or denial, I am not sure. When my foot was still the same two days later, I called my family Doctor. He advised me to hang up the phone and go to emergency immediately. I was triaged at the emergency centre and was the last patient seen that night.
The Doctor who saw me said he himself had experienced foot drop years before due to a sports related injury. He said it is sometime caused by hitting the peroneal nerve resulting in temporary damage. His lasted 7 days. The doctor did not seem concerned about my foot because I didn't have radiating pain or hadn't lost control of my bladder or bowels. I could also easily touch my toes and bend backwards without any pain. When I mentioned that I didn't remember hitting my leg or have any signs of doing so (bruising/bump) he scheduled me for a CT scan the next morning, just to confirm everything was fine.
The CT scan showed a herniation, but again the Doctor that went over my results didn't seem concerned as I wasn't showing any other symptoms related to this herniation. He decided to consult with the neurology department at another local hospital who requested that I be sent over immediately for an MRI.
This imaging showed the full scale of the herniation and that it was covering my L5 nerve root. I was given a round of aggressive steroids to try and alleviate any swelling or pressure off the nerve root and when that didn't work, I had a discectomy a few weeks later.
Not long after my surgery I had an EMG and nerve study that showed that my chances of recovery were very unlikely. It appeared that the damage to my nerves had been happening throughout the years and my body had found ways to compensate until it finally couldn't. This was a hard blow to take. I will never forget this feeling of just complete numbness throughout my entire body. What would my life look like now? How would people treat me?
Healing is not linear and looks different for everybody. My physical healing hasn't resulted in my recovery from foot drop. My foot drop brings with it numbness, tingling and burning feelings that go below my knee to my toes. I also get weird sensation like crawling under my skin and the feeling of lightning bolts shooting out of my big toe. I have had to adjust to not only how my body feels and functions with foot drop, but also how it looks. Despite my best efforts at rehab (which I will always continue) my muscles connected to the affected nerves just wasted away.
I now wear an AFO and am able to lift weights, go hiking, biking and participate in bootcamps again. All these activities are modified and look different for me then they used to, but they help maintain my mental health equally as much as my physical health. I will not shy away from trying new activities or from finding new ways to do the things I did before.
Foot drop has presented me with many obstacles, but having the support of family, friends and the right mix of practitioners allows me to stay mentally and physically strong enough to face these obstacles. This allows me to live a full and fulfilling life.
What I wish others to take from my story and the stories of my fellow foot droppers is that we have all ended up her by various causes-but we are still here. We still hold value, we are still laughing, loving and living our lives.