Monday, February 3, 2014

Week 4 - Day 28

Received some great news from my Doctor during my 3rd post op followup. I am officially done turning! After only 2 weeks, I reached full length and no longer need to turn. Its pretty surreal looking down and seeing a normal 5 straight toed foot. Now it's just a matter of my bone healing before the fixator can be removed. :)



Last week, I noticed my foot was starting to get very irritated. My incision was red and purple and yellow ooze was beginning to come out of it. I became alarmed and texted a photo to Dr. D who immediately arranged for me to come in for an emergency visit. Thank goodness, it was nothing too bad. I had just developed another infection. He prescribed me stronger antibiotics and the matter cleared up rather quickly. Other than that, he pointed out that I was still healing beautifully and I was even beginning to show signs of callus growth in my bone gap! Below is a photo of how it looked with the infection for anyone pursuing this surgery. Yes, it is gross...but you must always be attentive to ANYTHING alarming and inform your Doctor right away in case it could be serious.

The pain has seemed to calm down drastically since I stopped turning. I am still incredibly uncomfortable ( I mean, I have a device sticking out of my foot), but for the most part I am sleeping better and its becoming a bit more tolerable. 

Since I have gotten the OK to wet my foot, I've been making it a point to clean it thoroughly and softly. I use DOVE for Sensitive Skin to wash it and use a Q Tip for the hard to reach spots. The incision on my ankle which Dr. D took a bone graph from also has healed up nicely (as shown above). I still have the purple residue from the ointment he used during my last followup visit, it's quite hard to wash off. Other than that, all seems to be going well. My bone simulator has been starting to bother me lately, I get shooting pain in the area where my 4th metatarsal bone is. Dr. D suggested I give it a break for a couple days, but it's normal. He also suggested I take D3 K2 vitamins daily to speed up my healing process. 
I am feeling good for the most part. I just pray for a continued speedy recovery because this handicap life is not for me. I will strongly warn anyone pursuing this, that ALOT OF PATIENCE IS NEEDED. I will admit, I have had quite a few breakdowns recently because of how emotionally draining this process is. I have been very limited in almost everything I do. Everything is so much harder when you lose the use of one of your limbs, especially your foot. I am very independent and having to depend on others has been the biggest challenge for me in all of this. I have to keep reminding myself that this is only temporary, and my results will be everlastingly great. 


2 comments:

  1. Toe is looking good! Can't believe you had to do 4 half turns a day. Wow! Is that 2 mm a day? Hang in there!

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    1. Yup! The pain sure reflected how much I was moving that bone up; however, it definitely sped up the process a lot more. It's been rough, but it sure has made me realize how strong I can be, thanks!

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