Skin issues .... ugh!!

It has been a busy week at work this week and I'm so glad it is the weekend - yippee! Only three more days of student visits for the year and then two days off before camp starts.

Pray for the skin on the top of my foot, as I'm having minor issues with the incision area. I'm not totally sure what is going on with it, but it is similar to what I've had in the past. It looks like a combination of hives, suture allergic reaction (?), or a combination of both. There are three incisions at the top of the foot (two are from last May) and all are super irritated, some open areas and it looks overall really rough. My feeling is that the skin at the top of the foot is super thin. I think the top of my tennis shoe rubs on the skin and some areas have come open. At the same time, there is an itchy rash along with it - there is a name for it, but I can't remember it. It happens after surgery & looks similar to a skin infection - although supposedly it is not infected.

I got a quick round of an oral steroid and some high powered anti-bacterial prescription cream to see if we can get it to clear up. I can't see a dermatologist for 2-3 weeks (takes forever for an appt.), so I am hoping this Rx does the trick. I've never had issues with skin before like I've had with my foot - it is crazy. I'll try to leave the area open this weekend & not have anything touch it, but it is hard during the work week. My experience in the past tells me that most of the time it eventually clears up on its own, but it can take several months.

Today was the end of the second week for pt & it continues to go well. I am noticing a little more toe movement and the foot massages at pt have been nice. No problems with my hip - knock on wood. I need to have the hip x-rayed in June to see where we are w/timing in needing to have it replaced.

I picked up my car tonight, so I am looking forward to figuring out all the bells and whistles this weekend .... hoping it is sunny weather outside.

Prayer requests for the weekend:
1. Skin issues clear up
2. Toes continue to remain flat and flexibility improves.
3. Stamina for walking

Thanks for continuing to pray ... happy weekend to you!
Jenny

Week #9 Post-Op

Things are still progressing in the right direction with the foot. This week is the 9th week post-op. We did pt twice last week and it went okay. We are doing mostly manual therapy, which involves the therapist working with the foot with his hands …. I can’t do it on myself, so even though we are taking it slow at least I know we are working on things that I cannot do alone. Pt is Wednesday and Friday this week. I have no follow-up appointments with any doctor, which is somewhat scary. It feels like I should have something on my calendar for medical appointments! Last Thursday was the "5 year mark" when I started my foot saga with the first surgery.

Over the weekend & today I thought the foot felt weird on several occasions, but nothing seems to be wrong .. toes are still flat. I found myself checking on toe position multiple times over the weekend.

My big news over the weekend was that I bought my first new car. Dad helped with negotiation at the car dealership on Sat. morning, as that is not my forte. It is a white Honda civic with khaki leather interior – more practical than I had envisioned, but it is exciting.

Over the weekend Heather and Georgie (18 months) came to visit from Ohio and stayed with us for the long weekend. Heather is a foster-sister that lived w/us during her high school years. It was great fun to have a little one running & squealing thorough the house. Georgie loved to sit on the red riding mower in the garage. We played trucks, race cars, went on walks, ate ice-cream together, played with bath toys, saw a deer in the back yard, and read lots of books together this weekend. He was busy, busy and needless to say I was exhausted by Monday night! We took lots of pictures together and special memories were created. We celebrated mom & dad’s 40th wedding anniversary on Sunday night.

My prayer for the week is that gradually my foot will feel more natural when in a shoe and that I’ll have more stamina when standing for longer periods of time.

Thanks for checking in & for your prayers!

Pt starting again ....

Pt on Tuesday went well and it was fun to reconnect with my therapist again. I am really fortunate to have his office right next door to my office and to have been able to stay with the same therapist for 3+ years. I noticed that I had a new, clean file folder for my chart and he said that he moved the volume 1 notes to a binder! We are going to work on walking and to get the forefoot to function with the hind foot. Because either the front or the back has always had an issue it is like it now has to be retrained to work together & function as one foot. My calf on the operative leg is 2” smaller than the other leg. We’re going to do pt 2x/week for the next month and see what results happen. We’re taking it slow, as not to send the foot, nerves, muscles, tendons, etc. into “shock!”

Somehow I picked up a cold at work, so I’ve been fighting the sore throat and sniffles all week. Between the flu and this cold, I’ve been sick more this month than healthy. I have to be thankful though that neither happened around a surgery date. I am very ready to have a break from students, but I have 7 more visit days (125 kids each day) after this week, then a two day break, then a full week of summer camp.

My incision has been super itchy this week, so not sure what that is about. It looks similar to when I was told that I was allergic to the internal sutures, but who knows. Either way, there is no fixing it.

Looking forward to the long holiday weekend ….. hope you are enjoying sunny weather!

Love,
Jenny

Good Weekend ....

This weekend has been a great one! Mom & I went to dinner together on Friday night. Blake went with me on Saturday morning to test drive a new car that I’m considering. I ran errands and did house stuff on Saturday afternoon. For Saturday evening dinner, I grilled Steak kabobs and made squash casserole. I went to church this morning and then spent time with my grandparents this afternoon.

I tried to wear my tennis shoes more at work this week or I’d change into them half way through the day. There are just so many summer shoes with no back &/or toe piece. If I do find some with a back, lots of times they are too high. I’m managing, but I find myself spending more time on this than I’d like. Hopefully it will get easier with time.

I have paid more attention this weekend to how I am walking & my STL ortho doctor is correct …. I don’t use the front half of the foot like I should. If necessary I could definitely live w/it like it is now, although it would be easier & probably less fatigued if I could get the forefoot to function a bit better. I am anxious to talk w/my physical therapist on Tuesday & get his thoughts. Although every good pt will always tell you that they can help you! Whatever we do, I'm making it clear that we are going to continue to take it SLOW and not be overly aggressive.

Toes continue to remain flat and toes are wiggling like they were before. I feel somewhat bad that I’m not flying to Dallas to show Dr. C how great it is in person. I’ve e-mailed notes and pictures, but I’m sure he would like to see it. I’ll go if there is a problem, but I hate to spend the money on another plane ticket otherwise. Perhaps I’ll go to Chicago over the summer & will show Dr. P the progress. I’d love to walk into her office with fun sandals walking better than ever! I continue to be very grateful for the steady progress that I’ve made since the March 12th surgery. It feels like it has been much longer than eight weeks.

I have a super busy week this week, as my boss in on vacation so I’m responsible for more than usual. Tomorrow I have 120 students during the day and then two training sessions with 130 parents (10am & 6pm).

Better get organized for the week ahead ….
je

7 weeks Post-Op ......

My follow-up ortho. appt. went well this afternoon. It was essentially the same conversation that we had at the 7 week mark the last time we did this operation! Dr. K thought the foot looked really good and he was happy with where we are now. He said that the fact that I can wear a shoe is a good sign. For eighteen surgeries, he thought the incision area healed very well (lots of prayers, believe me).

He watched me walk and my gait is off just a little …. Somewhat hard to explain, but basically I don’t follow-through in my step with the complete stepping motion. So, he wants me to meet w/my physical therapist next Tuesday and discuss whether or not he thinks a month of pt might help improve the situation. It is not a big deal, but I’m sure he will recommend a month of pt. I’ll meet w/my therapist next Tues. & we’ll go from there.

We talked extensively about if there is ANYTHING that I could do to “mess up” what I have now. He said, “no” – gave me permission to return to the gym – run, walk, swim – whatever I feel comfortable doing. Because we still don’t know why the problem resurfaced after we thought we originally had it fixed, I am not going to be super aggressive with this.

Dr. K did say that IF the problem should return at some point, that would strongly indicate a nerve issue that has been previously missed & then I would continue having positioning issues until the exact cause was found. I asked what we do if 8+ neurologists have found nothing & he didn’t know. He said that time will tell, but he thinks it is highly likely that the problem will return at some point …… we’ll see. It wasn't the news that I really wanted to hear, but I appreciate his honesty. For now, I'm not going to dwell on the possibility of the unknown. My Dallas dr. doesn’t see it as a nerve problem at all, so everyone has a little different option on this.

I expressed my viewpoint that we’re not going to just keep operating and operating & brought up the amputation question again (IF the problem would return). He advised against doing the amputation based on seeing how well it looks today. Bottom line: Continue to pray that what we have now will last permanently. We have a mess & are back to square one, if it doesn’t.

I’m very thankful for the past few weeks of feeling & walking well (aside from the flu scenario). It is great to be able to drive again, walk around the grocery store, wear matching shoes, and be more mobile at work. I’m trying to simply do normal everyday activities and not focus so much on the foot situation (easier said than done, but I’m trying).

Off to enjoy strawberry shortcake …..
je

Gratefully doing well .....

Greetings! This time last year we were having yummy BBQ dinner and great iced tea at a fun restaurant in San Antonio, Texas. My artery transplant surgery was at 7am tomorrow (year ago) and then it was a long week in the hospital. When I think about it now, I didn't have a clue what I had signed up for (especially mentally). I still remember the first night in the hospital, which was spent with no food & it was in an 80 degree "hot room" (to promote healing). The long scar on my arm and foot remind me each day how much I grew that week to fully depend on Him. During the surgery, I had arranged for lots of friends to call mom's cell phone and keep her company (via phone conversations). She received 36 phone calls during the four hour surgery time ... she loved it & it was a huge surprise!

My follow-up dr. appt. with my STL orthopod is on Wednesday afternoon - 3:45pm. I expect it to be pretty non-eventful. Everything has healed very well now and I am walking quite a bit .... still being careful as to how much I am on it & have not returned to the gym yet. I have decided that it would be best for me to try to wear my good tennis shoes to work 2-3 days during the week to give my foot more support.

I did send an update to my Chicago orthopod last week and she wrote back and said that everything sounded great from her viewpoint! She thought I'd enjoy summer much more this year, which is definitely true.

I would still absolutely love for some dr. to be able to tell me that what I have now will last forever, but that will never happen. In a way my foot situation is kinda like cancer that is in remission, you always know there is a possibility of it returning. I try not to dwell on it or get consumed with thinking about it, but it is hard not to think about the "what if ..." question. I just have to take it day by day and those eventually turn into weeks and months. I will be thrilled when I get out 6-8 months. I am doing very well now (7 weeks post-op) and continue to be grateful for no wound issues following the last surgery.

Wishing you a joyous week ahead!
Love,
Jenny

Summer Shoes!

Check out my snazzy new summer shoes!?! I've discovered that if you find cute summer shoes with a back, I need to buy them! Almost everything is backless or involves a toe piece and neither of those styles work for me, but these do!

Getting back to normal ....

I think I am over the worst of the flu ..... FINALLY! It has been a long five days on the home front with icky flu symptoms. I can't recall the last time that I was so sick and had a fever of 104 for four days. Between the dry heaves and upset stomach, I've had enough of both to last quite some time.

I am headed back to work this afternoon and have a teacher meeting from 4:30-6pm tonight. I will probably get back to leading kiddos tomorrow, unless I can talk someone else into doing my "talk" at the start of the visit day. This was the first time that I literally made no preparations at work and was just gone for 4 days, but I'm sure they survived. I have a ton of e-mail to go through.

Last year this time we were preparing for our big artery transplant operation in San Antonio. We left St. Louis on Mother's Day and the surgery was on Monday .... then the long week in the hospital. It doesn't seem like a year ago that we were there - lots of memories of laughs that week. We were so fortunate to have been referred to that surgeon, as most doctors won't attempt what he did because of the complexity.

My mom and her parents made it safely back to St. Charles yesterday late afternoon. We had dinner together last night. Blake and dad are flying to Orlando tomorrow morning early and will then drive home her parent's car on Fri/Sat. I don't think the moving truck will arrive until Monday, so pray for good "move in" weather on that day.

Thanks for all your prayers this week!
Love,
Jenny

Flu .....

Sorry for the lack of updates recently .... I am struggling with the flu! Not swine, but I do have it bad. Very high fever & all the other typical symptoms .... just got home from an urgent care clinic w/medication. It basically has to run its "course" for several days and will improve eventually. Thankfully, I have been really healthy the entire year, so I guess it was time for something. No one at work has had it, so I probably got it from a kid. Last night I was having dry heaves so bad that I honestly thought perhaps it was a seizure ... the shaking was awful. I'll be home from work for the next couple of days.

All is okay with the foot .... the area that was bleeding stopped and there is a scab over the spot. It looks like it is healing. It is just very fragile and nothing can touch the area. I ordered a new forefoot compression stocking, so it is MUCH tighter and has helped with the swelling. I wear it a few hours and then have to take it off because it gets achy after wearing it a long time - compression pressure.

My mom is in Orlando and she is helping her parents with last minute move preparations. They are moving to an apartment in O'Fallon, MO later this week. They fly back to St. Charles on Wednesday, but it is a process. The moving truck arrives in St. Charles at the end of this week.

Better get back to bed .... pray that the flu is short lived!

je