One Month Post - Op and BLISTERS! Ouch

My foot has been hurting a lot more the past few days. I even went back on the dreaded knee scooter yesterday because the pain was so bad. But it didn't feel internal. It felt like it was around the incision site.

I took my boot and sock off last night and examined the area that was hurting me. It turns out there were blisters forming where the stitches had been removed. I guess the tape they stretched across the cut after removing the stitches was rubbing the area and agitating it. It hurts so bad! It's a burning, stinging pain paired with the numbness that's still there, which just feels uncomfortable and weird.

I have put antibiotic ointment over the area and am letting my foot have some fresh air instead of keeping it wrapped in a sock all day. Hopefully this will help soon.

The ball of my foot is still pretty swollen and I can't bend my toes too much.

I can't tell if there's much internal pain right now because the pain from the blisters is all I can think about.

My next check-up is in a little less than a week. Not sure what to expect but eager to hear how everything is progressing.

One Month Post-Op Appointment - Scooter Be-Gone!

Warning: Graphic pictures ahead!

This check-up appointment included:

- Getting rid of my blue shoe

- Getting my stitches out

- Getting a new boot

Taking off my blue shoe was amazing. I haven't been allowed to remove it, so I welcomed the opportunity for my foot to feel fresh air. 

It is harder to tell in pictures, but my left foot is a lot more swollen than my right and my big toe is pretty enlarged. Also my left foot seems shapeless compared to the right. It's like one big puffy rectangle to me. (My toe is NOT black and blue - it's my crazy paint job. Please ignore...). Also, you can still see where I had to write "Yes" on the day of my operation to confirm that was the correct foot on which to operate. 

Here is another angle:

Getting my stitches out... well... this is how it started:

P.A.: "Are you on your pain meds?"

Me: "Um...no. I haven't been for a while. Should I be?"

P.A.: (Grimacing) "Do you have any with you?"

Me: (Again) "Um...no. Should I?

P.A.: "Well, this is going to hurt."

Me:    :-|

So, ya... that part was no fun. Here is my foot before the stitches were taken out. You can see white marks around my toes from not seeing the light of day. They are dry and itchy.

Here is my foot after the stitches are out:

The nurse put some stinky kind of glue over the incision site to hold everything together just in case it needed it, and then put the four pieces of tape across it as extra security. She said not to pick at them but just let them come off whenever they do.

Then the good news:

P.A.: "You can shower without anything on your foot tomorrow."

(Angels singing)

Also I can sleep barefoot now! Which will just feel heavenly.

These are the instructions I left this visit with:

Gradually increase the weight I put on my left foot using crutches or a walker. If I need to walk a long distance for some reason, I should use my scooter. 

Their suggestion was to use 25% of my weight for 2 days, then if there was no pain increase to 50% for two days, then 75% for two days, then finally 100% (all while in my new boot). If at any point I experience pain, I am to decrease the weight for another day before adding more. The big goal at this point is to be walking without crutches in a week. 

This is my new boot:

I was a little discouraged after leaving, because for some reason I had pictured magically standing up on both feet and walking out of the office while my husband tried to do tricks on my scooter behind me. 

When I got home I experimented with putting weight on my foot and was surprised that it was easier than I thought. 

The next day, I walked around the house without crutches and put most of the weight in the heel of my left foot. It was awesome!!! I cannot tell you how liberating it is to be free from my scooter. No more 5-point turns when trying to leave a room, no more wheeling over squeaky baby toys, and no more handlebars sliding down on me unexpectedly. 

Currently my foot still feels slightly numb in some areas, but for the most part feeling has returned. I can lift my big toe up higher than a few days ago, but scrunching my toes is still quite a challenge. Also, it seems like if I were to poke my foot with a needle, it would pop. I know that sounds gross, but it feels swollen like there's no room to spare. 

My foot felt tired after trudging around in my boot today, and a pack of ice really helped it feel better. 

But as far as pain goes, there really isn't any unless I put too much weight on the ball of my foot.

My next appointment is in two weeks.

Things are looking up!

Now for that shower...

3 Weeks Post-Op and I can curl my toes!

I am finally getting a lot more feeling back in my toes. I can curl my toes slightly and can raise my big toe. These are two big accomplishments for me!

There are still a few numb spots around my toes, but I am now hopeful that it is temporary and will go away soon!

I have also put the smallest amount of weight on my heel for balancing purposes around the house and it doesn't hurt at all, it just makes my foot tired.

5 more days until I'm off my scooter! It can't come soon enough.

First Post-Op Appointment

My first post-op appointment after my sesamoidectomy went well. 

Me and all of my scooter buddies in the waiting room. 

I was so excited to go in to see how my foot was doing, but I was especially excited to take off all of the bandages and let my foot breathe for a little while!

This is my foot after it was first unwrapped ~ 2 weeks after surgery.

You can still see the faint purple marker lines from where I wrote "yes" before the surgery - as in, "yes, this is the right foot to slice open." Also, as you have probably noticed, the nurse said "It looks like you have skittles on your toes!" It was my attempt to get my notoriously dry doctor to chuckle before surgery, but instead he said - "What happened?"

My foot still looked pretty swollen - especially my toes and ankle, but it felt really small to me. I can't explain it. I guess since it had been smashed under all of those bandages my foot looked a little slimmer than usual. 

WARNING. Gross pictures ahead.

Here is the incision site:

Yuck! That's a lot of stitches!

After the nurse unwrapped my foot, they took me back for x-rays. I was definitely nervous about this part because I was afraid they would ask me to put weight on my foot. They didn't, which I was so grateful for, but they did ask me to point my foot up towards the sky, and that hurt a lot. It was like an electric shock.

Here are my x-rays. Compare them to the diagram beneath it to see if you can tell that my lateral sesamoid is gone. Can you see the bright white spot in the red circle? That is my medial sesamoid. If you look close enough, you can see a dark spot to the left of it where the lateral sesamoid used to be. 

When the P.A. walked in, she looked at my x-rays and said "YOUR SESAMOID IS MISSING!" Then we both freaked out about where it could have gone. That was fun.

She walked over to my foot and started touching it. This made me very nervous, but I didn't really feel any pain. Then she started gently rubbing my toes, and this felt like HEAVEN. I was still a nervous wreck, but for the most part nothing hurt. I can't tell you how wonderful and weird this felt. On one hand, the pressure felt amazing, but on the other, there was still numbness on several parts of my foot. The combination of these two sensations was crazy and very hard to explain. 

She grazed the incision site once, and there was a shock of pain, but then it went away.

She said the numbness and tingling was normal, but that I should start touching my toes and wiggling them to remind my body that they were there. 

And then, like music to my ears, she said, "let's see you back in 10 days and hopefully get you off of that scooter and into a boot!" Woo hoo!!! I can't wait. That's also when they will take the stitches out. If it goes as planned, this means that the time on my scooter will only be a total of 3 1/2 weeks instead of 4, which doesn't sound like much until you're actually in my situation! It's as sweet as an early Christmas present. 

This is my new setup. The bandages are gone with the exception of one layer over the incision site. Then they put this silky sock over my foot to keep any debris from getting close to the stitches. I can finally move my ankle! 

My foot gains a little more feeling every day. I am continually challenging myself to find positive things to focus on rather than the "what ifs" and the frustrations that come with getting around on a clunky scooter in a small apartment. Here are some of my positives: I am on my way to healing! I have great doctors taking care of me who know what they are doing! And I am gaining an appreciation for the smaller things in life like taking a shower whenever you want and being able to clean a sink full of dishes (thank you hubby for doing so many of these small things for me!). 

More to come after post-op appointment #2. 

Thanks for reading!

Day 12 Post-Op

Recovery seems to be going well. I am finally getting the hang of my knee scooter and have been off pain meds for about 5 days now.

I added a little carrying pouch to my scooter so I could transport things more easily around my apartment. If I'm ever out in public, little kids seem to think my ride is pretty sweet.

I can't WAIT to get to my post op appointment this Friday (in 3 days) to see how everything looks, and especially to get all of the bandages off for the first time. My foot is yearning for freedom!

I noticed that the bandaging is keeping my foot turned inward, and it has been bothering me a lot. My uncle is a physical therapist and thinks it is probably purposeful and is keeping the distance that my tendons have to stretch smaller so they can heal faster. That sounds good to me. But still, it's annoying.

I set my foot down very gently on the ground to check things out. I put the tiniest amount of pressure on my foot and was amazed at how different it feels. I thought I would only feel changes around the ball of my foot and toes, but I could feel change all the way up to my ankle. I wasn't expecting that.

The way I described the feeling to my husband was that it felt like my size 8 foot had size 4 muscles. It was a very tight, uncomfortable, and painful feeling.

I can't yet tell if any of my previous pain is gone, because I really only felt it when I was putting pressure on that foot. Two and a half more weeks (fingers crossed) until I can put weight on my foot!

One Week Post-Op

It's been one week since I had my lateral sesamoid removed. I am making a point of celebrating today, because it has been a challenging recovery - maybe more emotionally than physically. It is very hard to let others take care of you. I am making each week a big mile marker so that I have something to look forward to.

I've been off my pain meds for about 48 hours, though I considered taking some yesterday when I accidentally slipped off my scooter and landed on my bandaged foot... OW. That hurt pretty bad - it felt like a shock wave rippled through my body up to my shoulders. The pain lasted for a few hours, but after sleeping it off I feel like I am in a good spot. I considered going in to get x-rays, but I'll be doing that any way at my first post-op appointment in one week, so I think it will be ok to wait.

The pain meds still seem to be taking a little bit of a toll on me as my appetite is not back and my stomach is giving me a little bit of a hard time.

My pain level is pretty low right now - it's mostly just discomfort and some tingling that remains. My toes feel like they're asleep, and it's probably partly due to how tight my bandages are wrapped. My heel and ankle actually feel bruised because I can't bend it. The bandages have stayed super tight against that part of my foot for a week now and the pain is setting in. It's hard to rest my foot on any surface simply because of the bruising on my heel.

I was able to shower two days post-op. I just have to make sure my foot is completely covered with trash bags and tape to ensure that no water makes it to my bandages. Also, I have to sit on a shower chair and use an extendable shower head, which I found at Target for a pretty good deal. Showers are nice and help lift my spirits a little.

Here is a picture of my foot when it's ready for shower-time.

The red part is actually the string from the trash bag, NOT blood...

I still haven't seen any part of my foot and won't until my first check up one week from now. I'm interested to see what it looks like...

I needed a little bit of happiness for my foot because the boot they have me in is totally unflattering. So... I jazzed it up a little...

Now when I look at my foot, it makes me a little happier. Also, I keep reminding myself that I CHOSE to have this surgery, and that total healing is on the horizon. I just have to keep pushing through.

In the meantime, my family and especially my HUBBY deserve HUGE PROPS. They have been amazing at taking care of me and our little 9 month old, Molly. 

If you are considering this surgery, make sure you have a helper who can be with you almost 24/7. It is a lot more difficult to do things than I imagined. One of the challenges for me has been using the scooter in a small apartment. It's really hard to go anywhere, and especially to turn around in the bathroom.

My best friend Mollie sent me a care package in the mail which really cheered me up. I'm mentioning it because I KNOW she'll be the first one to read this blog post and she totally deserves a shout out. 

So overall, the hardest part for me has been accepting the help of others and giving up some things that I usually do with my little one, like rocking her to sleep and preparing her food, which, don't get me wrong, it's nice to have others do it for you, but when you can't do it, you kinda wish you could. 

If you're looking for more information about this operation, I found another great blog for you to read that has brought me a lot of hope: http://kimsfootstory.wordpress.com/.

She's been through the surgery and is a couple of years past the full recovery, and testifies that there is no more pain!! Woo hoo, Kim! You go, girl!

I'm here for anyone who has questions or concerns about this surgery/condition/or anything else I can help with. You are not in this alone!

Thanks for reading. 

Day 3 - Post Op

The surgery went very smoothly. I found out more information about what they actually did. It was coded as:

Lateral sesamoid removal and plantar plate restructure

My doctor and his staff were phenomenal. The best of the best. Before they took me back to receive anesthesia, my parents brought my daughter back to me and my husband, and my doctor picked her up and played with her. It was so cute.

I had to get pricked twice before they got my IV in, but it wasn't too bad. 

While operating, they wanted me on my stomach so they could go in from the bottom of my foot. This meant that I would have a breathing tube in and would be completely asleep during the procedure.

When I went in to the operating room, California Dreamin' was playing on the speakers. I felt kind of a warmth wash over me and I asked if they had started the anesthesia. I think the doctor said yes, and the next thing I remember I was waking up in the recovery room. 

Dr. Brodsky said that everything went smoothly and there were no surprises. Now I have this lovely thing on my foot where it will stay 24/7 until further notice. 

I painted my toe nails all different colors to try to make my doctor laugh, and to give him something interesting to look at. He looked at my toenails questioningly and said "what happened here?"

You probably can't tell much from the pic, but my toes are swollen and there is a lot of gauze underneath my foot. 

The pain has been more intense than I was expecting. At first it was kind of a tingling/burning sensation. 

When I woke up the first day post-op, I told my husband that my foot felt like a blowtorch and all of the fire was coming out of my big toe. Thankfully, the pain has greatly decreased from that point, but it is still hurting pretty badly. 

The pain ranges from stinging to burning to throbbing to numb tingling. It's a little bit of everything. 

I go back and forth from my roller scooter to crutches. The roller scooter is more comfortable but less convenient in small spaces as it is hard to turn around. 

I keep my foot elevated most of the time as high as I can get it, and I try to keep it straight up and down. If I turn it to the left or right, the pain sets back in pretty quickly. 

I wasn't able to sleep much the first night, but I remembered I hadn't been taking my Phenergan along with my hydrocodone. The combination is supposed to increase pain control and help me sleep. I slept a lot better after implementing this for night 2. 

I am drinking a ton of liquids and eating whatever I want, although my throat was pretty scratchy after having the breathing tube removed. 

When I try to move my toes around, there is a searing pain in the ball of my foot. I guess I should probably steer away from doing that for a while. 

The numbness is slowly decreasing and I am finally able to feel more of my foot. For the past few days my foot has felt how your mouth feels when you have it deadened at the dentist. I would say as of day 3, probably 30-40% of my foot still feels totally numb. 

The pain meds make me kind of loopy, but I'm trying not to miss a dose. It definitely helps to stay on top of the pain.

My first post-op appointment is in about two weeks. Dr. Brodsky said they probably won't remove the stitches until the second post op appt in about a month since the tissue on the bottom of my foot is so thick and will require more time to heal. 

As far as bathing goes, I'm allowed to shower using a shower chair and a shower hose as long as my foot is completely wrapped in a trash bag or waterproof covering of some sort. I'm hoping to embark on the challenge today. I think a shower could lift my spirits!

It's hard being on the couch all day, but I am so grateful for all of the help around me. My husband, mom, dad, and grandmother have really been great! They are wrangling my little 9 month old all day so I can rest and get well. I can't wait until I can run around and play with her as much as I want!

More updates to come. What specific questions do you have for me? Thanks for reading.