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