18 month update

It’s been 18 months since my last major surgery & 8 months since the minor toe fix. I thought it would be a good time to update with some new pictures so you can see how the scars have healed and faded.

I’m very pleased with the outcome overall. My feet feel a lot better than they ever have and shoes actually fit correctly now. I seem to have no issues with walking for extended periods of time now…I even completed “Race for the Cure” yesterday (walking, not running of course) with no problems. I don’t have any issues with pain in my heels anymore. That was the part that took the longest to heal. The only issue I’ve found is with walking down multiple flights of stairs. I occasionally walk the concrete fire stairs at work for exercise and I can only go down 6 flights at a time before beginning to experience some pain in my arches. If that’s the only downside, I can handle it. The positives far outweigh the negatives.

The scars have faded considerably and I can easily wear sandals which I could never do prior to my surgeries due to the deformities in my feet. It’s so nice to be able to wear sandals in the summertime again!

  

  

Pins are out!

Went in to get my pins out today. I’m always just a bit nervous about getting pins taken out but it was even easier than before. These pins were only the length of the toe, so they were much shorter than previous pins I’ve had. The fact that they were shorter and they didn’t go through any joints made them much easier to remove. They slipped out with nearly no force at all. I was going to video the removal on my phone but it happened so fast I didn’t have time.

 

They didn’t bleed right away since the pins didn’t go through any joints but the doc said they would bleed within just a few seconds so he put band-aids on real quick. He was right; the band-aids filled up with blood pretty fast. But they stopped bleeding within just a few minutes. There was no pain at all….which is always a plus! :)

I’m not supposed to take the band-aids off till tomorrow. So after I take them off and get my toes washed up (for the first time in 5 weeks…YUCK!), I’ll take pics of how the toes look now. I am soooo ready to wear two shoes again!

By the way, for anyone who might have the need to keep just their toes dry…I did find an easier way to protect my toes in the shower rather than using a huge cast cover. I just pulled a latex glove over my foot (like they use in the hospital). The glove came almost to my heel and the fingers just dangled loose at the end of my foot. It looked pretty hilarious but it kept my toes dry in the shower while still allowing me the ability to shave my entire leg all at once. Necessity is the mother of invention! HA HA

Stitches out!

The doctor’s office called and asked me to move my appointment up to today so I got my stitches out a little bit early. I couldn’t wait to get the stitches out so they didn’t get any complaints from me! The gal that took the stitches out this time was awesome! I barely felt anything at all. She was so fast I almost didn’t have time to catch it on video.

Here’s a couple of pics of my toes with and without the stitches.

I got my wish about the gauze. Once the stitches were out the nurse said all I needed was bandaids over the pins. I would’ve preferred to skip the bandaids too but she said that they prefer to keep the pins covered. Evidently they’ve had people get them caught on things and rip them half way out. That doesn’t sound like fun so I guess I’ll deal with the bandaids. Also, since the pins are covered I should be able to wear loose socks. That’ll be nice.

I also asked the doctor about the surgical shoe. It had really become a problem. The hard plastic sole was so slick that I had almost wiped out at work a few times. He had one of the nurses bring in a different style for me and it was much, much better. It has a rubber sole which is very much like the bottom of a tennis shoe. The other nice thing is that it doesn’t make noise when I walk. The original shoe made a loud clacking sound each time it hit the floor and since I had a tennis shoe on the other foot, there was only one clack which made it sound like I was walking around with one shoe on. I got a lot of odd looks in public. The new shoe also has a strap over the ankle which keeps it from flipping up and down on your heel while you walk. Overall it’s just a much better and more comfortable shoe. The nurse said they have stopped stocking the other shoe because no one else liked it either. The only downside to the new shoe is that the smallest woman’s size they make is medium. That’s a little big for me with my size 6 1/2 feet. The nurse was able to shorten the straps but of course there’s no way to make it shorter. I’ll just have to deal. 

My next appointment is scheduled for October 15th. That’s when the pins will come out. Until that time I have to make sure I keep the pins clean and dry so I don’t end up with a bone infection. It’ll be nice when the pins are out so I can take a shower without having a giant plastic cover over my leg.

So far it’s pretty much been a walk in the park.

I knew this surgery would be easier than the last two but I’ve really been surprised at just how easy it’s been so far. I was able to stop my pain meds after only 4 days. I do occasionally have a little burning so I’ll have to take a few ibuprofen tablets but that’s no big deal. The pins don’t bother me at all but the incisions burn just a bit when I’ve walked around too much. I’m actually more bothered by the surgical shoe than the incisions or pins. It’s not very comfortable. The velcro straps go right across the top of the foot but not quite as high up on the foot as they should. So to keep the shoe from flipping up and down my heel as I walk, I have to pull the straps pretty tight. The problem with that is that the plastic loops that the straps feed through land right on the plates in the top of my foot so the rubbing bothers me. Also, the bottom of the shoe is hard plastic rather than rubber. So when you step onto linoleum or tile it’s like ice skating. The other day I nearly wiped out in the breakroom at work. You would think that they would put a non-slip sole on the bottom of a surgical shoe…doesn’t make sense.

The first time I took a shower after the surgery I got my bandage wet…of course I was cautioned not to get it wet. I used the same cast cover that I used when I had the casts but unfortunately it slipped or something because water got inside and pretty much got the entire bandage wet. I called the doctor’s office and the on-call guy said to unwrap as much as I could and carefully blow dry it. So I threw the ace bandage in the dryer and used the hair dryer to dry the gauze. It worked out fine. This is what it looked like once I finished rewrapping it.

Unfortunately, the blood soaked gauze got pretty uncomfortable fairly quickly. As I walked, the stiff gauze rubbed between my toes…it felt like sandpaper. I called the doctor’s office to see if I could get the gauze bandage changed but I wasn’t able to get through, I just kept getting transferred around the office so I eventually lost patience and decided to rewrap the whole thing myself. It wasn’t that hard once I figured out how to get the bandage off…it was all stuck together due to the dried blood. I decided to ditch the ace bandage because I couldn’t see any reason why I needed a bandage that went all the way up to the top of my ankle when I just have a few toe incisions. Here’s a couple pics of the foot unwrapped and rewrapped. I think the incisions look pretty good for only being a week old. You can still see the needle marks and some bruising from the nerve blocks. I put a couple pieces of medical tape on the pins after I rewrapped the foot because I kept getting the pins caught on the blanket at night.

I ended up creating a toeless sock because without the ace bandage my foot was a bit chilly but I didn’t want to go back to all that extra bulk. It was pretty simple. I just took one of the pairs of terrycloth slipper socks that the hospital gave me during my previous surgeries and clipped off the toe seam then hemmed the raw edge. It’s very comfortable. Maybe I should market these. LOL

I go back to the doctor on Friday to have my stitches removed. I’m hoping that I won’t need any gauze bandages once the stitches are out. The gauze is a little bulky and doesn’t always want to stay where it should (even before I changed it). I’ll be happy to be done with it.

Surgery went very well.

My surgery went very well this morning. It was relatively quick and I had no reactions to the medications, etc which is always great! Since it was a relatively quick surgery the anesthesiologist wanted to just put me out but I really wanted spinal anesthesia so that I wouldn’t have any worries with waking up or nausea, he eventually agreed to do the spinal. I’m so glad. I was wide awake during the surgery (I could hear all the drilling, etc but it didn’t bother me) and the only issue I had was severe shivering. But I wasn’t really that cold, likely it was caused by the spinal…that can happen some times. I was able to chit-chat with the anesthesiologist and listen to the doctors and nurses chatting about their weekend plans.

I was feeling so good that I was able to drink water and eat animal cookies in the recovery room. Once they got me back to the normal room, I was ready to get up and try walking within an hour. The anesthesiologist walked by just as I was getting up and said “she’s up already?”.

So far, I have no trouble walking on the foot, it feels just fine with the exception of some pain in the 1st toe. The surgeon gave me a nerve block in both toes but the one in the 1st toe only took partially for some reason. So I had to ask for a pain pill before I left. But the pain hasn’t been that bad since the nerve block fully worked in the 2nd toe and partially worked in the 1st toe. I expect to be a bit more uncomfortable tomorrow after both nerve blocks have worn off fully.

At my last appointment the surgeon said he wished he had thought to take before and after pictures since my feet were so bad before the first surgery. So when I arrived this morning I brought him two before and after pictures. He seemed very pleased. He was showing them to the nurses and the anesthesiologist, showing off his handiwork. LOL He really did do an awesome job, the before and after pics don’t even look like they are from the same person.

If you’re wondering what the plastic tubing and plastic sheet is over me in the pics below…it’s called a “Bair Hugger”. Warm air comes through the big white plastic tube and fills the pockets in the plastic sheet. Keeps you very warm during surgery and recovery.

I hope this post makes sense…I’m a little hopped up on Vicodin right now. LOL

Mallet toe complication.

Well, it’s nearly been a year since my first foot surgery and I’ve been doing quite well. My balance is better and my walking gait is much smoother. But I’ve had some issues with pain in two toes on my right foot. The two toes in question began bending down not long after the pins came out. It’s the end joints that are causing the problem now not the joints that were fused with surgery. Thankfully only two toes are involved. I tried to be patient, hoping that things might get better with time but instead they got worse with the two toes hurting more and more as time went on. I finally went back to the doctor the other day and he said those two toes have become “mallet” toes.

So….I have to do one more surgery on the end joint of those two toes to fuse the bones. My surgery is scheduled for September 10th. It’s an 1130am surgery so I should be starving by the time they take me in…LOL.

The worst part of the whole thing is that it’s my right foot, which means that I won’t be able to drive for 5 weeks until the pins come out. So once again I’ll be dependant on others to drive me to work and whatnot. It’s supposed to be a fairly simple surgery and I’m not supposed to have to miss more than a couple days of work. If it wasn’t for the driving ban it would be a walk in the park.

Here’s a few different views of the toes, you can see the problem pretty easily.

Hopefully this will be the last problem with my feet. But I’m realistic enough to realize it may not be. My feet aren’t normal and that’s something that I just have to live with. At least this will solve the pain issue and right now that’s all I’m concerned about.

I’ll post again after the surgery.

I’ve been released!!

I saw the doctor on Wednesday and he said I was released for both feet! No more doctor appointments, no more physical therapy sessions! Yee Haw!! He said that it’s not unusual for me to still have some pain when I’m on my feet for long periods but it should get better with time. As he likes to say “that’s a lot of surgery”.

I’ve noticed a huge difference in my left foot lately. The heel (which has been my primary source of pain since I started walking again) doesn’t really hurt at all anymore when I walk. So I’m hoping that in a few more months I’ll have the same luck with my right heel. Right now I can only be on my feet for about 2 hours before the pain in my right heel gets too intense for me to keep walking.

Overall I think my feet look pretty good, especially considering how they looked the first time the casts came off. The Mederma Scar Gel seems to work pretty well, too. I noticed a big difference after only a few weeks of use. Even the therapist noticed a difference. It really seems to flatten and fade the scars in a very short time. You can see in the photos that the scar on top of my left foot looks better than the one on the right foot. That’s because I’ve only been using the gel on the right foot for 3 weeks. I’ve already finished the 8 week course on the left foot.

My arches look VERY different in the before and after photos. They don’t even look like the same feet! I still have a little swelling in the right foot but as soon as that’s gone I can’t wait to buy new shoes. There are so many more options available to me in the shoe department now…it might seem like a little thing to some people but it’s pretty exciting if you’ve never been able to buy fashionable shoes before.

                     Left BEFORE                                                            Left AFTER

                    Right BEFORE                                                          Right AFTER

I starting going to the gym again this week. It only took 10 minutes on the treadmill for me to work up a sweat! I could really tell it had been awhile since I’d been, but it felt great. And the best part…I wasn’t embarrassed for anyone to see my feet when I was changing in the locker room. I’ve always been terribly embarrassed for anyone to see my feet, even with socks on, because you could tell that my feet were deformed. Now my feet look just like everyone else's!

Overall, I am very pleased with the results of the surgeries and I’m glad that I did it. I can’t say that everyone would feel the same, but for me, it was worth all the pain and the effort to have better balance, better fitting shoes and normal looking feet.

Driving is SWEET!!

I’ve been driving for over a week now. It’s awesome! It’s so nice to be able to just get up and go anytime I want without having to talk someone else into taking me.

I’m walking a lot better than I did last time around. People at work are always commenting on how well I’m walking even though I haven’t had the boot off very long. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I wasn’t afraid to walk on my foot this time. Last time I was so afraid I was going to hurt myself that I was very cautious walking. I’m still having issues with being able to bend my ankle all the way but I’m sure that will come with time.

Physical Therapy is getting very challenging. One of the therapists joked that their motto was “walk in, limp out”…I told him that was pretty close to the truth! LOL But I’m noticing a difference already so I’m trying to be patient.

My balance is a little worse right now because neither of my ankles are back to their original strength yet but I expect that to come with time. The therapist has me doing some balance exercises along with the strengthening exercises. I do fine as long as I’m walking but as soon as I stop and try to stand still with nothing to touch for balance I have a little problem. So I end up kinda moving my feet around rather than standing in one spot. So people probably think I have ants in my pants or have been drinking! LOL

I learned last week that it can always be worse. My dad had complete knee replacement surgery. The poor guy looks like he’s in so much pain and he had to get up and walk on the new knee the same day of the surgery!! I can’t even imagine having to walk on my foot the same day of my surgery…unbelievable!!

Physical Therapy begins…again.

I saw the Doctor on Friday. They took x-rays and said everything still looked fine after walking on my foot for a week so the Doc gave me the okay to begin Physical Therapy on my right foot (to wean me off the walking boot/cast and strengthen my foot and ankle). I start PT tomorrow. I know from the last time that they will have me take off the boot to do the exercises in the gym…therefore I think it’s probably okay for me to take off the boot and start walking around the house (carefully). I started doing that last night and I’ve already graduated from having to hold onto Rex’s shoulder to being able to walk by myself…although I’m being very careful to avoid bending my ankle while I walk because I know from experience that bending the ankle is the most painful part in the beginning.

So, of course now I’m thinking that if I can walk around the house without my boot on, why can’t I take my boot off in the Hummer and drive and then just put it back on again before I get out?? I’m thinking this might work as long as my foot is strong enough to push down on the accelerator. So I’ve started working with the exercise band to strengthen the muscles that allow me to push down with my foot. I think I’ll give the exercises a week and then try driving. I’m really psyched about driving again!! And no, braking will not be a problem because I’ve always been a two-footed driver (I brake with my left foot). I know you technically aren’t supposed to drive that way but it was always more comfortable for me so it became a habit. That habit may pay off now! :)

There’s a lot to be said for independence. I can’t wait to say “See ya suckers! I’m outta here!” and then jump in my Hummer and drive away. Okay, that’s a little dramatic, but I’ve been dreaming of driving for quite a while. LOL

Walking boot

The walking boot and cane are such lovely fashion accessories…not. However, if someone says “Wanna go pick up some lunch at Bennigans?”…you don’t have to ask me twice! LOL

I do my best to avoid wobbling like a weebles toy when I walk but it’s really hard because the sole on the walking boot is so much thicker than the sole on a shoe. I’ve only been walking for two days but both my hips are sore already. I’m wobbling a little more this time around because I can’t use the cane properly. You’re supposed to use the cane on the opposite side of the injury however I broke my left wrist very badly in a car accident 11 years ago and I have arthritis in it now so I can’t use the cane in my left hand. Oh well…just a few more weeks and I’ll be back in a normal shoe! Yeee Hawww!!

Walking! Back to work!

I’m back to walking and I started back to work on Thursday. It’s nice to get out of the house but of course my foot is pretty sore. I think it’s a little easier this time because I already know that my foot is going to hurt pretty bad for about 2 weeks, after that I’ll be fine. I think it’s a little easier when you know how things are going to go ahead of time. I just have to get through these first two weeks.

I never paid too much attention to which stores have electric carts and which ones don’t until I had these foot surgeries. Now I know all the stores that have them. They are great for grocery shopping, or other light shopping. I can’t stay on my feet long enough to shop at the mall so if I need something it had better be available at Walmart, Target, Hyvee, etc. LOL

Even though it’s difficult to get around because I can’t walk too far…it’s still much better than the knee scooter. There’s definitely something to be said for being able to stand on your own two feet! It just makes me feel happy!!!

Pins are out!

I went to the doctor last Friday. I got my cast off and had my pins removed. Everything went pretty smoothly. The first two pins came out with some difficulty (as expected) but the last one slid right out with almost no force. I was kinda expecting that because I had noticed over the weeks that this pin kept turning inward until it was almost poking into the top of the next toe. At one point I had to try to turn the pin to keep it from poking my other toe and I was surprised that it turned very easily. Too bad they all don’t come out so easily!

   

My skin was in much worse shape this time around. I actually had large chunks of skin falling off when the cast came off. I’m assuming that is because it’s winter and the air is so dry. I was expecting my skin to be in bad shape so I had brought along a bandana to wrap around my leg to protect the new walking boot from being covered in skin. That was another lesson learned with the first foot. LOL

 

 

I began having quite a bit of throbbing pain in my arch by evening time. I couldn’t understand why it was hurting so bad. After the throbbing just kept getting worse and worse, I decided to take off the boot and take a look. Turns out that the cast guy wrapped the gauze very tightly when he put the gauze on to hold the bandage over the pin holes. I don’t know why he would have done that since the foot swells so badly after foot surgery. I took off the tight gauze and replaced it with a very loosely wrapped ace bandage and the pain went away. Problem solved.

I return to work tomorrow and I’m also supposed to be able to start walking tomorrow. But I’d like to make sure I can walk okay before I try to leave for work so I plan to try walking around a little this afternoon to get my “sea legs” back. LOL  Unfortunately I can’t drive for several more weeks until the boot is removed so I have to rely on the generosity of the one of my co-workers who has agreed to drive me to and from work until I’m able to drive again. Thank God for good friends!!

So right now I’m just looking forward to a time 4-5 weeks from now when I’ll be back into a normal shoe and driving again. There’s definitely something to be said for being independent! Having to rely so heavily on others is an exercise in patience…something I usually don’t have a surplus of. LOL

Extreme boredom!

You really can only watch so much TV without feeling like you’re going to lose your mind. Although I have gotten to leave the house 3 times to go out to dinner since my foot surgery (and left a few times for Doctor appts & hospital visits), I’ve pretty much been trapped in the house since December 18th. It’s amazing how much you take walking and driving for granted. You don’t realize how nice it is to be able to walk out to the garage and jump in your vehicle to run to the store until you can’t do it anymore. Even after I go back to work next week I won’t be able to drive…I can’t drive until I’m able to wear a normal shoe because you aren’t allowed to drive with a cast/boot on your right foot. So at this point I’m really looking forward to getting back into a normal shoe.
I am scheduled to have my pins removed from my toes this Friday and then I’ll get to start walking on the cast boot on the same day I go back to work next week (Jan 28th). After that, it should be about another month before I can wear a normal shoe so we’re looking at about 5-6 weeks longer before I can drive.
I guess it’s nice to have something to look forward to, huh? LOL

At this point I’m just excited for any little bit of human contact I can get. Last week my mom made a surprise trip up to see me (she lives 80 miles away). She spent the day with me and brought me two of her special homemade chocolate pies! That was a pretty big highlight for me. Otherwise, I just sit here with my phone next to me…jumping on it anytime it happens to ring! LOL. It’s also an exciting time of day when my husband gets home from work. I’m sure he’ll be happy when I’m able to take over the cooking again. The poor guy has to work all day and then come home and make dinner.
I think we’ll all be happy when this is all over and our life is back to normal again. :)

Gallbladder is gone.

I had laparoscopic surgery yesterday to have my gallbladder removed. It only took them about 30mins to perform the surgery and I just have 4 tiny bandages on my stomach. Although my stomach is still very bloated due to the gas they pump into your stomach; I can’t even see my ribs. I’m a little uncomfortable but nothing like the foot surgery. Overall it really wasn’t that bad. The great thing is that I’ll be able to eat without the fear of excruciating pain now. Gallstones are like a ticking time bomb, you never know when they’ll go off and cause problems. So now I can go back to the business of getting my foot better so that I can get back to work, the gym, etc.

Stitches are out…new cast is on.

I had my Dr. appt today. They took off the old cast and removed the stitches and STAPLES! Surprise again!!! This time the surprise was that I had staples in my heel. I asked why and the Dr. said there was a stapler handy, so he used it. I thought that was a pretty comical answer. I will say that the staples were much easier to remove. There was just a small pinching feeling when they were removed, much more pleasant than having the stitches removed. Although the guy who removed my stitches this time was much more gentle than the guy last time, he also did not put the iodine on the wounds so I didn’t have that intense burning feeling. All in all, things went much better this time. Rex took video of the stitches/staples removal but unfortunately the guy’s hands were in the way most of the time so you really can’t see much. Too bad…but we did get some pics of the stitches & staples before they were removed.

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They gave me print outs of my x-rays again; you can actually see the staples in some of the x-rays. Otherwise, all the hardware seems to be the same and located in the same place.

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My new cast is blue and much, much more comfortable than the one that was put on following the surgery. It’s not as thick or as long so it’s much lighter. The white things on my toes are steri-strips which hold the skin together so that the scars don’t widen following the stitches removal.

I have to go back January 22nd to have the pins removed and the cast taken off. At that point I’m supposed to get to wear the walking boot, although I won’t be able to actually walk on it until January 28th.

GALLSTONES

Last Saturday I had a severe attack of nausea and pain in my stomach & chest that lasted for hours and ended up in the emergency room. Our first thought was that perhaps it was something I ate, then when the pain got worse we thought that maybe I’d developed a clot from the foot surgery…turns out that I have gallstones. The ER doc was pretty sure that I will need to have my gallbladder removed. I have an appointment with a surgeon tomorrow. What terrible timing my gallbladder has! It could’ve at least waited until I was able to walk! The only good thing is that I’m already off work, so if they do the surgery soon, I shouldn’t have to miss any additional work. I asked my husband if he wanted to trade me in…he said no but he might take me back and ask for a discount since I’m defective! LOL

Cabin fever setting in.

Well, it’s been 12 days since the surgery and 11 days since I’ve been outside. I’m beginning to get a little bit of cabin fever. During my recovery last time, I was able to get outside within a week and make a few short trips to eat out and attend Mass. But the weather just isn’t cooperating this time…we’ve received several inches of snow since Christmas Day and there’s ice underneath the snow so it’s just not safe. I do have a doctor’s appt on Jan. 4th to get my stitches out so I’ll have to get out then. But my husband says he thinks he can clear the snow and ice enough to get me out before then if we can just get one good day of sunshine…we’ll have to see how that goes.

I’m definitely able to move around a little easier this time because I already know the best way to scoot around on the bed and drive around on the knee scooter. However, I’m having more trouble with pain and discomfort in the upright position for some reason. I can only sit up in the bed or in a chair for a short period of time (an hour or so) before I begin getting uncomfortable. Therefore I spend quite a bit of time laying in the bed on my side. So I guess I wouldn’t be able to stay out too long even if I could get out of the house! LOL I’m not sure why it’s more comfortable to have my foot laying on it’s side rather than upright on the heel because the pain isn’t coming from the heel, it comes mostly from the toes. Another unsolved mystery, I guess.

I’m sure we all love the anti-embolism stockings that the doctors make us wear…NOT! They are so old lady looking, not to mention…SLICK! This is why they also give you those terrible slipper socks to wear so you won’t fall down. There’s not much that can be done about the stockings because we want to avoid blood clots and strokes but there is definitely something we can do about those horrible slipper socks. I received two pairs of a different type of slipper for Christmas and they are awesome! They’re almost a cross between a slipper and a slipper sock. They are stretchy and soft (one size fits most) with a non-slip bottom and come in a variety of fun colors. They’re called “Fuzzy Footies” and are available online as well as in some Hallmark stores (which is where mine were purchased) and some hospital gift shops. They are definitely worth checking out if you want to avoid the ugly slipper socks the hospital provides to you, while still having the safety of a non-slip sole.