I wore two matching shoes to church today .... yeah, yeah! I discovered last week that my operative foot is about 1-1 1/2 sizes larger than the other foot. I went to several shoe places early in the week and had no luck finding anything that was flexible and had the ability to stretch. I did find a pair at Kohl's at the end of the week that happened to match a pair that I already owned, so that worked to my benefit. I bought them on clearance & can wear the bigger size on my right foot and then the pair that I already had on the left foot. I definitely still need to wear the tennis shoe the majority of the time, but it was fantastic to wear matching shoes for the morning.
The pain is slowly subsiding. I've been able to get away with 2 pain pills and Tylenol (each day) for the past week. It was not uncommon for me to take 8-9 pain pills in a day before, so this is big progress. I am praying that by the time I have students at work (end of Sept.), that perhaps we won't need any. If I have to do a minimal amount of medication for another several months, it is not a large issue. We're still taking anti-inflammatory medicine to help reduce the swelling that remains. My mom is continuing to manually move the foot and we're working on breaking up scar tissue inside the toe area. We will likely begin some additional physical therapy around August 27th.
I returned to the neurologist on Thursday. He said that there is no "nerve issue" that remains and he thought all the foot nerves were working at least a minimal level. He had forgotten how bad it was before, so he wasn't as excited about the progress as everyone else.
On Saturday, my mom came over to help me with some things at my house. We reorganized my bedroom closet and attempted to find the "right shoe" of many pairs that only had the left shoe on the shelf. We couldn't find the box of "shoes that I've never wear again" for the longest time in the basement .... it finally surfaced, but obviously I had put the tub in permanent storage!
We have two appointments on Friday (Aug. 24th) in Chicago, so we will go Thursday evening and stay with family in central Illinois. I am so looking forward to 11:15am on Friday, when we meet with the orthopedic doctor .... the new foot position is going to make her weekend! We meet with the pain specialist thirty minutes before seeing her. Needless to say, I cancelled the follow-up appt. with the amputation doctor - which was also supposed to happen on Friday. Our Chicago trip this week will definitely be better than our last visit. I'd love to meet again with the plastic surgeon at some point too, but that won't happen on this visit.
Laura - Loved the "sensible shoe" card .... it is classic & I fully agree with you that we are both glad that those tie up gems are not what I'm sporting these days.
Continue to pray for increased flexibility and increased range of motion behind the toes ... if I can get this stiffness to reduce somewhat, it will make everything easier. There is also a small spot that has a sharp bone piece and looks like a bunion is starting near the big toe - Band-Aid is working nicely now, but I would like this to subside somewhat naturally. Pray that God will continue to be glorified, honored and that his name will shine brightly in the midst of our summer miracle.
We may try to have lunch with the orthopedic surgeon on Friday (she has Friday afternoons off) so if that is to happen, pray for a rejoicing lunch! I'd be surprised if it happened, but perhaps she will have time available - we've talked about doing it before.
"Patience produces character, and character produces hope. And this hope will never disappoint us." Romans 5:4-5
1 comment:
I am so excited to hear what your Chicago docs say after seeing you and your miracle foot! I'd already foreseen the possibility o you having to buy TWO pairs of shoes, one for each foot. You'd better: a) shop the sales b) save your dimes, girl! But at least it's an OPTION to have matching shoes AND two feet that belong to YOU, flesh and bone & not one flesh and bone and one falsie! Whoopie! I'll bet cancellation of appointments at the amputation doc HAVE occurred before, but not too often for your reason: "I was healed." Doesn't slip off of the tongue frequently! We rejoice that it's coming off of your tongue and apparent in your closet! Jobacks
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