I can WALKKKKKK

Surgery went well today. it only took 8 mins! I woke up and my foot was wrapped up as pictured below. I have a little swelling which is to be expected. I have a lil pain when I walk, but its ok. I'm just glad to walk again!!!! My follow up is the 13th. I'll let you guys know how things progress and what happens at my follow up! All smiles this way!!!!

3 Days...

So there are only 3 days before my surgery to have the fixator removed. I am so excited! I really can't wait to walk again. My surgery is scheduled for 1:30pm. I have to be at the hospital at 11:30am. My doctor told me that the surgery should only be about 15 mins. So I am really excited about that....

This past Friday, I went to the nail salon. I asked the technician if he could paint my toe nails because the job I had done was pretty bad. So he painted my toe nails and since he did that I started getting a million questions from everyone in the shop. I just told everyone I had surgery. When they tried to dig deeper I started talking about other things (lol). In the end my toe nails came out pretty good though. My toe is still a little short to me. I really don't care though. It looks a lot better than it did before. I'm grateful...

I was wondering how you guys liked your first pedicures (for those who have completed the surgery) after your surgery was completed. I've only had two pedicures before. One for my prom and one for my wedding. I had to suck it up and get them done. So I was really wondering how you guys liked your first pedicures post brachy surgery. 

Here are some pics:

What I Promised

So I have the x ray. You have to look closely. Its not a very good pic, but bone is actually growing in. Yay!!! I stopped turning on the 13th of July and my surgery is on the 8th of August. So its not quite a month before the fixator gets taken off, but I'm just sooo ready for it to be off my foot. My doctor says scar tissue grows in first, but the x ray does not pick that up so there is a possibility that scar tissue is in there as well. He said he'll know definitely what he is dealing with when he removes the fixator.

Little toe still little...

Just wanted to update you guys and share a photo. my next appointment isn't until Tuesday. I"m scheduled to have the fixator removed on the 8th of August, however I want it off NOW!!!!! I am concerned about the cosmetic look of my toe. I think my toe bone needs to be lengthened. tell me what you guys think....

An Early Update

So yesterday I had a doctor appointment. I had been suffering from some intense pain and decided I couldn't make it until Monday. I'm glad I had decided to go because there were a few things that needed to be addressed.

My incision: My original incision ( minus the re-opening) was and still is healing fine. However, the skin closest to the first two pin sites got pulled and caused some tearing of the skin. It isn't really that bad, but its a problem. So basically every time i was turning the fixator I was tearing my skin a bit.

My lengthening: My doctor eye balled my foot and said that we were about done turning the fixator. Then he sent me for an x ray. The x ray revealed that my metatarsal heads are lined up. Which means I'm DONE turning the fixator! Yay!!!!!

If I had waited for my Monday appointment I believe there would have been a possibility of me over lengthening and that would have been an issue. So, I'm glad I made that appointment. Also since I haven't been turning my pain has decreased a little. Not a lot, but its better.

I must say that I am not pleased with the cosmetic look of my toe. Its lengthened and I know it. I lengthened the toe about an inch, but my toe still seems to float a bit and the toe itself looks short. I asked the doctor would it continue to float and he said probably so and that its not floating but my second and third toe are laying lower because of the flexors and tendons in my foot (or something to that effect). I also asked him (for about the third time) if my toe bone itself was short. He looked at the x ray and said it was a little short, but there is no way to lengthen that bone. I was thinking to myself, "well why have I read blogs on other people getting fillers to correct their short toe bones." However, I didn't ask him about it. Maybe I will at the next appointment.

He scheduled me to come back in 2 weeks. He wants me to let the bone grow in for 3 weeks before he takes the fixator off. However, I'm hoping by the time I go back he sees bone growth and I can have it taken off the last week of July. At this point I feel like I am soooo over this surgery.  I feel like everything that could have gone wrong actually did, but I don't regret it. I just know to do more research next time before having a serious surgery. After all, I do need my feet to walk (lol)

So at this point I just hope my toe loosens up (its stiff) and I hope that it settles down and falls into place with the other toes. If that happened I would be satisfied. If my scar isn't that bad that would be a plus (even though I plan to get a tattoo over the site of the scar)!

Also, I've experienced some of that involuntary flexing too!!! Not fun!!!!!!

Pain and Progress

Lately, I've been in a hell of a lot of pain. I've been taking my meds way more often then I have the past few weeks. I've even began taking 800 ibprofens. I'm trying my best to manage the pain, but its beginning to get really hard! I wake up in the middle of the night nearly in tears from the pain. I think the pain, in part, is caused by the turning of the fixator.

Monday is my next doctor appointment and hopefully that will be my last day of turning. Monday will be a total of 28mm turned for me. I see the growth in my toe. Its looking pretty good. However, my toe is still sitting a little high. I don't know if the cosmetic look I'm hoping for will come after some settling with the toe, but I hope everything works out for the best.

My incision is healing up slowly, but surely. Its closed up some. There is minimal bleeding form the site and virtually no serous fluid leaking, However, swelling in my foot is becoming a problem now. the good thing is that there is no sign of infection.

I plan on playing it cool until Monday. I can't wait to go to my visit and see the x rays and hear wheather or not I am finished with turning.

Earlier today i was going through my computer and I found some picks of my brachy foot from 2010 I believe. I took the pics because I was preparing to start a blog back then because I had a surgery scheduled, but I had chickened out. the pics come in handy now. Take a look:

this pic is from today. You can see my toe peaking over. Its still sitting a little high though.

This is an old pic. You could barely see my brachy toe from underneath my foot.

My old brachy toe. Way smaller than my pinky toe

ER visit....again!

Yesterday I had a yet another emergency room visit because my incision re-opened! I thought the stitches were not ready to come out but my doc insisted that they were overdue to come out. Since the stitches were still in my foot I couldn't get my foot wet. After they were taken out I could wash my foot. I was hesitant about getting it wet, but being home all day bored you start to get ideas. (lol) So I thought I would UN-bandange it and clean my foot up and do my toes. When I UN-bandaged it I got a big surprise. I called my doc and because of the holiday he was closing the office early and told me I would have to go to the er. My initial response was o_O? Your patients incision is open!!!!!!!

So when I got to the ER she (the ER doc) confirmed that my incision did open a little. She treated it with gel foam. She called it a fake scab. It will stop the bleeding and in two days or so I should take it off and it should be better. She  said usually they do not re-stitch after an incision has been opened. I was glad to hear that because I wasn't really in the mood for stitches. (lol)

Here are some pics:

This is what my feet look like daily. Bigggg difference in the feet! lol

15mm distracted. the toe has really grown, but still has a way to go.

This is where the incision re-opened. Looks gross!!!! And my toe looks fake (lol)

Slowly, but surly (I think)

Today I had my second post op visit with my podiatrist. I had my stitches removed. I was really nervous about the stitches being removed, however it was pretty painless and fairly quick. I had a total of six stitches. After the stitches were removed I bombarded my doctor with a bunch of questions because at this point I'm confused. I'm not really sure why he would tell me I would need 10mm of lengthening when I obviously need way more! Today I told him I am at 14mm. I asked him how much longer he thought i would have to turn for. he said about 2 more weeks, which is 14mm more. So now he is telling I need about 28mm of lengthening? This is frustrating me. Instead of him guestimating he should come up with a real number. I also asked him if he thought I would need to use a bone stimulator. He said hopefully not. It seems as if things are touch and go right now. Who knows, when I will be done lengthening? 

I did get some good news. I was told that I can take a shower without covering my foot now. I am a lil hesitant about doing so though. I don't really want to look at my foot. It looks kinda gross so I had the doc cover it up again. Plus I think my foot is still secreting serous fluid. So I will give it another week before I uncover it.

My next appt isn't for another 2 weeks. I'll probably pay the doc a visit before then. hopefully my toe will be the desired length by than.

My Trials

Its day nine of me turning the external fixator. I've been going through soooo much. I've had an emergency room visit. Fluid was coming through my bandages. I learned in the ER that it was serous fluid which is actually good and means my wound is healing. I had a fall. I fell while i was sitting in my computer chair that I use to get around with. Now, I have blood coming through my bandaging. I don't want to go to the docs about it because I think I'm getting on his nerves (lol). He told me I would only need about 10mm of lengthening but he lied! Its day nine and my toe is still short. I think I need between 13mm nd 18mm. I'm not doctor, but I know this toe is really short. After the lengthening is complete, I wonder how much longer this fixator has to be on my foot because its giving me hell! I want this all to be over asap!

Ok you guys, I've had a brachytoe for what seems like forever! I've always dreamed about actually getting the surgery to correct my toe. However, the timing just was never never right or it seemed as if I were always backing down. Finally, April 2012 I decided that I was going to have the surgery performed. A lot of things in my life were changing this year. I got married May 2012. I finished my last class as a junior in college in this year, so I felt that with all the new things taking place in my life that I had to have this surgery. I no longer wanted to be held back by this condition.

June 13th, 2012 I finally had the surgery performed. I opted to go with external fixator because it seemed a little less risky than the bone graft. The bad thing about it is that I want this thing off my foot! (lol)! I hate being dependent on others and I hate not being able to do what I want when I want. So this surgery is trying, but in the end I hope for great results.

I'm still a little hazy about what to expect. My doctor tole me I only need about an centimeter of lengthening. I turn one millimeter a day. So that would be about ten days of lengthening and then I would be done right? So why do doctors tell us we should expect 4 to 6 weeks with the fixator on?

I've been turning for about 4 days now, which is about 4mm of lengthening, but I don't see very much difference. I need to learn to be patient, but when you cant walk, patience is hard to come by!

Day prior to surgery

A few hours after surgery

Week after surgery. Post op visit. Started turning that day!