Week 4

34 days post op visit, it doesn't seem like it has been a month since I had surgery. We did the same routine check up, he looked at the fixator and said it all looked good and that we're at my final length!  Now to wait for the bone heal itself. The growth was roughly 27 millimeters or almost 3 centimeters. 

I have been using a shower chair to take showers and I've been putting a plastic bag over my foot so it does not get the scab wet that is healing in between the bars that's been slowly pulled apart when I turn it. I have also been using a chair that rolls to get all around the house which not having carpet makes that convenient. I use crutches when I go out and have not been instructed to put any kind of weight on it yet.  Here is my final length. 

Week 3

27 days post op appointment went good. The doctor said I was doing better than he expected. It is longer than my fifth toe now,  and the X rays show haziness in the gap. He wants me to turn it for 5 more days and it should be the length I want and I'll go for my 4 week check up April 23rd and if it's the length I want we'll leave the fixator on for about a month to let the bone harden. He also said if my toe starts to want to press downward then he will remove the pin that's in the toe to keep tendons straight. My ankle has been hurting a night time whenever I want to go to sleep for a few days but It has stopped and it gets agitated when I turn it but, it won't be long and it will be off. Still using crutches to get around and wearing the ugly shoe they gave me. I put it flat on the floor when I sit sometimes but that's about it! Here's another pic, my toes are a little swollen. 

Week 2

15 days post op and I'm at my second appointment. He said I'm at 9mm of length and my X ray showed haziness in the gap! Our goal is 20mm in length by my next appointment which is April 16th. My foot really bothered me last night,  pain medication didn't seem to help it at all but it's doing just fine today. Here is another picture, almost up there with my fifth toe. 

Week 1

7 days after surgery I seriously cannot complain about my foot whatsoever. The only time it has bothered me was the morning after surgery. My post op appointment was a week after surgery. He took the dressing off of my foot and said that it looked good and said he was going to go ahead and turn two half turns. I cringed, but like I had read, it doesn't hurt one bit, but I will say at times it's a odd sensation that you feel when it happens. I was instructed to do a half turn of the morning and a half turn at night to reduce pain and a lot of pulling.









5 days of turning and 11 days since surgery and I can already tell that it has grew and I still cannot complain with the pain, I keep it propped up but when I need to get things done I use a rolley chair.  It still does not hurt to turn it,  just an odd feeling at times.  I go back for my 2nd appointment April 4th.


My dressing is a bit messed up,  but here's another picture:

Surgery 3-20-13

Surgery day!  I went in at my scheduled time and they got me registered and sent me back to get antibiotics to be safe, did a spinal, and a nerve block so I wouldn't wake up in so much pain. Before I knew it I woke back up about 2 hours later, didn't feel bad at all, got something to eat and waited out the spinal, got crutches, pain medicine, and went home. I noticed a slight headache when I got to lay down and take medicine and didn't think nothing of it. The next day I started puking and still had a headache. 2 days after surgery I woke up and could not raise up without my head throbbing and then getting sick.  The doctor got called and I had to go back in for a blood patch in my spine that relieved and later on that night stopped my headache, it is the worst headache imaginable. If you get a spinal and notice the slightest headache go ahead and call the doctor because it will get worse. The doctor said a spinal headache is where there is a small hole in your spine leaking spinal fluid and making your brain rest upon the nerves in the brain and making it feel like your brain is sitting on your eyes. They take blood from your arm and inject it into your spine like getting an epidural. But you feel awesome after its done.  But after those two days of a headache I couldn't complain about my foot,  I thought it would hurt a lot more  the only thing that's really bothered me is the feeling of just wanting to get up and walk! But I feel really good.  Here's a picture a few days after surgery. The pin looks gross but doesn't bother me.

Brachymetatarsia

 

My name is Rachel, unfortunatlely I have a condition called brachymetatarsia. Since you are reading this you probably have an idea of what it is. My fourth toe on each foot stopped growing when I was around the age of 6, so therefore my forth and fifth toe look like they need to switch places (as I have heard from family members before). I have read blogs of how it gets painful to walk having this conditon, especially as you get older. Fortunately, it does not bother me to walk, but it does get uncomfortable wearing certian shoes. I decided to have this surgery before I got to the point of pain. I am also doing the procedure for myself, noone truely understands the embarrassment of simply wearing flip flops in public in the summer and having to hide your feet all the time so somone doesnt ask "what happened to your toes". I remember not being self concious about my feet being at the lake when I was younger, so as I got older I started thinking about how I felt 'normal', I started looking through some pictures of when I was a toddler and my toes were normal cute toes. They have been short for 15 years now. I started getting anxiety about having the surgery because I have two little girls (2 year old and 6 month old) and I also babysit my nephew who is also 6 months old through the week, so I about back put of the surgery, but it was a do it now or never type of thing for me. So if I can keep 3 babies and have this surgery done, anyone can do it. I decided to make a blog to let others read my journey of having the surgery, what happened at the doctors appointments, and the milestones of what happens next. The blogs I have been reading are helping me as well and I just want to give my insight of a different perspective. I will update as everything happens..





Here is a before picture: