Foot surgery

[Shrinweck]

Not sure if anyone remembers, but there was a thread almost two years ago where I mentioned receiving a medical brace for my right foot and the ins and outs of the surgery I would one day get to improve (read: not fix) my feet from what's described as complications of club foot correction surgery. Long story short the guy was inside of my foot for about five hours and rearranged things with what ended up being a dozen screws and three metal plates. On the recommendation of a doctor near Virginia Tech, my parents and I investigated a doctor here in Atlanta where luckily my parents live. The doctor actually ended up being what could arguably be the best doctor for what I needed in the world, but decisively at the very least a leading authority. Even he expected 2-3 surgeries to completely improve my right foot, saying what every doctor has told me for the past several years that it's impossible to tell until the surgeon is inside. The good news is that he did it all in one.

The pain is pretty insane and I was regularly being administered morphine for the 28 or so hours I was hospitalized and recovering after the surgery. Now that I'm home I'm having good days and bad days with the pain and it seems to be a trend of more good days but a single bad day kind of takes the piss out of any momentum. I've got this cast on for what appears to be another 5.5 weeks (next appointment Oct 6th) and god knows how many months of physical therapy after that (around four? I dunno, no more than that though unless something goes wrong).

My foot doesn't even really feel like my foot any more. I get semi-painful spasms sometimes where my foot moves on its own (one of the lovely, lovely side effects of nerves making new connections) and it feels like I have much more range of motion than I did before. My second toe (the.. index toe?) is now longer than my first toe. Which is weird. When I was first moving around I was constantly bashing (okay, I was weak, it was more like poking) into things with it, so even that will take some getting used to.

Disappointed that my one week check up after the surgery last week didn't result in more pain meds but I have enough for a couple more weeks of painful nights. I wanted to watch more shitty summer comedies and actually enjoy them :(

[Shellie]

Wow the surgery sounds insanely intense! I hope you start to feel better soon!!

[Flip]

Heres hoping for a fast recovery for you! I think we all take for granted our health sometimes, and especially the lesser problematic areas. I know a guy who is always in pain because he always has ingrown toenails and it shocked me so much because ive never in my life ever had to think about toenails, besides them getting long to cut. Hopefully this last surgery will be the fix-all and you never have to wake up worrying if it will be a good foot day ever again.

[Shrinweck]

Forgot to mention how happy his residents would be if I go in in the next 5-10 months so they can see the next surgery on my left foot, too, before their individual residency program is over with my surgeon. I have an interesting and rare case and since medical practices have improved fewer and fewer will be created in the future. Also medical doctors are psychopaths. That didn't bother me until I was the guy with the interesting case.

I want to die without having anything "interesting" happening inside my body ever again.

[Don]

Hope your foot heals. One of my coworker broke his foot recently too and just finished physical therapy.

As an aside I have all kinds of problems with nails too, and toenails can get really painful if you're doing a lot of walking.

[Kupek]

I hope everything turns out okay. I lived with Shrin, and I know how debilitating his condition can be. Shrins's not talking about everything that lead up to the surgery, but he had days and weeks where he basically couldn't walk without being in some pain - which is a problem when you don't have a car and your job is checking people's IDs at the door. Most of us take pain-free walking for granted.

[Blotus]

I hope it turns out okay too.

I have a friend in the hospital who has been there for about four months now. He worked as a pipe fitter in an oil refinery and a 2500lb pipe crushed his foot. He had to have all but his big toe amputated and had a bunch of rods and plates put in. The doctors took some muscle off his back to try and build a sort of eh... flap where his toes had been but it didn't work out and they had to remove it. Now he's scheduled to have one of the plates removed, then a skin graft, and he may finally be out in another month and on to physio to learn to walk on it.

So if you need someone to talk foot pain with, I could give you his email.

[Shrinweck]

That may be too intense for me right now. My one night in the hospital was so bad that I gave up another 18+ hours of morphine treatment just to get out of there. They put a catheter on me during the surgery and fucked up when they were taking it out, leaving an obstruction. Making it impossible to urinate. I tried for two hours. When it was becoming worse and worse to hold it in, a nurse decided it was time to put another catheter on me, finding the obstruction and getting it out of there basically immediately. Still found it damn near impossible to subsequently piss lying on my back, though. Oh and my penis bled that night. So, yeah, fuck hospitals. I feel for your friend, though I hesitate to compare our experiences. Can't imagine being in a hospital that long. The hospital was understaffed, as well, and during a shift change I had to wait 45 minutes at one point for an oxycodone dose and had to wait a similarly long period of time for morphine at one point. Seriously. Fuck those places. I'm not asking for morphine because I'm fine with waiting another half hour before I can get it.

It's amazing that he has gone through so much to keep the foot, though. Sometimes I fantasize about how much easier things would be to just cut the damned thing off.

My Mother made a comment about me learning to drive and getting a car (a somewhat two-faced attempt to get herself a new car and give me her car as if I'd ever be caught dead driving an SUV for a prolonged period of time) for my future physical therapy and college classes, only it's impossible for me to drive in this state heh. Customizing a car that I could operate right now would be too much of an investment. I miss my job back in Blacksburg sometimes and think about how/if I could work it in this condition. Still, alcohol would be a no-no and there are surgeons that would outright refuse to perform these procedures on me if I still smoked. There's a much higher incidence of the bones not knitting together like they should in smokers after a triple arthrodesis. They gave me plenty of anti-smoking literature to 'help me out' even after explaining to them that anti-smoking propaganda is one of the triggers that makes me want to smoke.

[Shrinweck]

More coming when I feel like it but I got the cast off today and God damn does it feel good to be out of that thing after seven (7) weeks.

Starting tomorrow I'm supposed to put weight on my foot again in 10% increments/day while it's in a pneumatic boot and pressure sock. Next appointment in a month. Tape I'm not supposed to remove is still over the incision sites, so I can't look at my bitchin' scars yet. Actually there isn't really more to post, I guess. Heh.

[Shrinweck]

Got around the house tonight in a pneumatic boot and a cane. Got to the point with my foot that I use the cane more for balance than bearing weight. Good feeling being able to move around without wheels. Not much pain as I'm walking on my foot but my knee hurts for whatever reason (lack of use probably) and my other foot which requires similar surgery is starting to feel the pressure of being the only healthy-ish foot.

I guess if things keep going this well I'll be getting the next surgery on my left foot in Winter of next year.

[Shrinweck]

Another appointment today.. 3 months until the next one. Supposed to work on becoming less dependent on the pneumatic boot for the next month and by the end of the three months I should be walking with a less and less pronounced limp. At the next appointment we'll be talking about getting the other foot done at some point in the next few months after that. Joy.

Foot hurts from all the walking... Feels like the kind of pain I would have had after walking five miles previously.. even though I don't think I've walked a hundred yards today.

[Zeus]

Another appointment today.. 3 months until the next one. Supposed to work on becoming less dependent on the pneumatic boot for the next month and by the end of the three months I should be walking with a less and less pronounced limp. At the next appointment we'll be talking about getting the other foot done at some point in the next few months after that. Joy.

Foot hurts from all the walking... Feels like the kind of pain I would have had after walking five miles previously.. even though I don't think I've walked a hundred yards today.

If it's just sore from "a lot" of walking, that's a great sore to have, man

[Shrinweck]

Been walking unaided for about a month now and I've gone to the gym a few times with a plan to go 2-3 times a week if things keep going as they are. Surgery on my left foot is scheduled for March 22nd. Shouldn't be as major as the right foot but he's still dramatically altering most of my foot and it'll probably be another six month recovery period for the bones to set and functionality to return.

Forgot to ask for before x-rays at today's appointment but here's what my foot looks like since after the surgery: http://postimage.org/image/o0jlk7tht/

To give an idea of what it was like before.. the top-down image was like a Z in terms of bone structure and the bones in my foot in the image looking on from the side were arched up in several places.

[Flip]

I'm glad to hear things are progressing! Albeit slow, it sounds like this process is working for you. Keep up your strengthening drills, or whatever the docs are asking you to do, and you'll be doing great man!

[Shrinweck]

Other than the progression of weight on my foot as I strengthened once the cast was off, my doctor hasn't told me to do anything different than normal activities that I feel comfortable with. My gym activities are basically 40 minutes of weight lifting and then 5-10 minutes on the elliptical. I wish I could do more cardio but it feels like my right foot still shouldn't be pushed to its limits and my left foot can only do so much. Going to try to push it to 15-20 but it'll probably be next week by the time I feel up to pushing myself further.

I think at this point, time is 90% of what my right foot needs to heal. It's already better off than my left foot and the only thing to do is wait for nerves to heal and bone to strengthen. My toes still feel really odd and naturally using them as I walk around has proven to be a challenge, especially when I'm wearing shoes. It doesn't help that my big toe, where the wire is in what used to be a joint but now I'm pretty sure is a mostly fixed position, almost constantly stings when I walk. It's almost nothing but it definitely makes walking without a limp more difficult.

[Shrinweck]

Surgery in a week. I've met all my 'in my head' fitness goals and have fairly consistently hit a wall where my left foot is the limiting factor, as opposed to my overall poor fitness or semi-recently-operated-upon right foot. On the plus side, I know what I'm in for this time, even though most of the procedures he'll be conducting are different, the pain resulting from the procedures will likely be pretty similar. Personal goals after the surgery (besides waking up with most of my brain functionality intact) include not having to get a catheter in my penis while conscious again and.. okay that's basically it.

I've been saving up my favorite Podcasts so I have something to do at night, since this time I know that sleeping will be next to impossible and basic cable is useless between midnight and 7AM.

[Zeus]

Hopefully, it all goes well for ya

[Oracle]

Good luck, hope is goes smoothly (as smooth as something like this can go, at least).

[Shrinweck]

Pre-op appointment was today. Everything normal. I met another one of my surgeon's doctor interns. I've met something like 8 of them now. They've all been attractive women except for two (men). Coincidence? I don't care, I like this guy haha

[Shrinweck]

Survival check-in. Surgery went well and he actually ended up doing more to this foot than the last one. Pain has been comparable to last time except it's over more of my foot than last time. He had to lengthen a muscle to accommodate fusing the bones to a different part of my foot which is as far as I'm aware the only major procedure he didn't perform in my right foot. He didn't have to do extremely bad things to all my toes this time so that should help with my pain level this time, too. Waking up without surgical tape on my toes was a bit of a pleasant surprise haha.

And yes, successfully got the nurses to take me to the bathroom throughout the night so they didn't need to cath me again. Apparently I really do have tons of trouble urinating in bed. Not spending 75% of my hospital stay trying to urinate was probably the biggest relief of the entire ordeal.

Next appointment is on Thursday and I should find out if there are any differences in recovery.. My guess is no and I'll get my cast off around the release of Diablo 3 and I'll be walking without aid by July.

[Zeus]

Aside from your health, the real question everyone wants to know the answer to: any hot nurses? :-)

[Shrinweck]

God dammit, yes. The night nurse couldn't have been more than a few years younger than me and was the exact kind of woman I would have had a blast talking to in a bar, while having trouble making eye contact because she's so pretty. Instead she was helping me to the bathroom while my ass hung out of the hospital gown. Eye contact is easier in this situation. She even made an Asians are bad at driving joke while trying to get my knee walker to me. Yes, she was Asian. God dammit. She gave me several doses of morphine so that's more satisfaction then I probably would have gotten in the bar scenario :D

Met another two residents under my surgeon. Another guy and another attractive woman. This guy has basic-cable-hospital-drama-level attractiveness with his underlings. Couple of his (female) residents only came by at one point and it was literally less than a minute after a morphine injection. It's hard to do anything else other than smile and do what they want in that situation. Doctors are never around when you actually remember questions and concerns.

The nurses (and I'm guessing a lot of the doctors) all have twelve hour (7 to 7) shifts. Good lord. Almost excuses how ridiculously long getting discharged took (and other delays). They got the ball rolling at 10AM and it was nearly 1 before the orderly with the wheelchair came in. And this was their version of rushing me out of the door so the room could be used for someone new.

[Shrinweck]

Cast off yesterday. Amount of dead skin that gets produced during the healing process is disgusting. The other foot STILL produces a ton of dead skin so 7 weeks of it collecting while in a cast constantly warmed by body heat is.. well.. I won't go into it further. Let's just say that was one of the best showers of my life. Healing is going well this time which was nice to hear since the pain generally wasn't anywhere near as bad as before, I was worried that something so emphasized before was different.

Since they lengthened a muscle in my calf I thought there was going to be a scar on my leg but I guess he was able to reach up through one of the same incision sites as before and do what was needed. Still a month away from walking with a cane and another month or so after that before I'm walking comfortably without aid.

Going to need to buy some new shoes now that the shape and length of my feet are finalized. Not sure at all what to go with. Strangely, it should be easier to find shoes that fit me now. I haven't stepped foot in a shoe store since 2005. I'm not even sure what my size is now since before I had two different sizes because the length of my feet changed when I was in the middle of stepping because of the nature of the bone deformity. Had to buy shoes ~1 full size up from what my foot measured while standing. Probably going to stick with boots with lots of support for the foreseeable future. Oh, well, I still have 2-3 months worth of time to decide about shoes.

[Flip]

Glad to hear youre progressing along a normal curve, man. You need to pimp it out when you get that cane! I'm thinking...

[Zeus]

I've always liked:



But I would get this one

http://www.likecool.com/Umbrella_Sword_ ... -Home.html

[Shrinweck]

Haha I already have one from last time and it's about as plain as it gets. Needs to be weight bearing-oriented instead of balance-oriented so I couldn't find anything cool.

[Zeus]

Haha I already have one from last time and it's about as plain as it gets. Needs to be weight bearing-oriented instead of balance-oriented so I couldn't find anything cool.

C'mon, man! The umbrella sword could support your weight! It is hardened steel inside after all :-)

[Shrinweck]

Forgot to mention that this foot only required nine screws and two plates versus the other foots twelve screws and three plates. There's a little more hardware in the big toe joint but that makes sense since that joint was extremely painful compared to the right foot. I know it sounds somewhat insane, but the amount of pain that little fucking thing could generate... well let's just the inability to move my big toe (in comparison to before) for the rest of my life is a price I pay willingly.

I did a little Internet detective-ing (okay, a few Google searches) about the procedures my surgeon performed and the most suitable metaphor I found for it compared it to a salvage operation.. Seems pretty accurate to me, I'm just glad I found a surgeon confident in it lasting the rest of my life. But maybe he's secretly a murderer and he kills me in my sleep in three years.

Also if I was going to buy a sword cane it would be more Japan-stylized than Penguin-stylized :P