Baseball Night

It was a HOT, HOT night at the Cards game on Friday night, but I made it with all the walking involved! Thankfully, our seats were not facing the sun. I couldn't go to any games last summer because of the walking, so it was good to be able to go. We had lunch today with our relatives that were also at the game.

I am so glad that camp is over. It was a fun week with great kids, but it was a ton of work. I have a little break until July 14th, when I have 100 inner city kids for two days in a row.

My foot today has not been good, but it is because of the extreme heat. It was super swollen at 9am and I had not been outside or done anything yet! I am hoping that it will go down some over night and plan to ice it before bed. I wanted to try to go to the gym today (have not been yet), but I decided to wait until tomorrow due to the swelling situation. The wound situation is about the same .... it looked a little better yesterday, but not so great today. Hopefully it will resolve itself eventually. Pt is on Tuesday and this will likely be my last session.

On Friday, July 10th I have an appt. with my hip ortho doctor to see what the status is on my artificial hip. We'll discuss when he thinks it will need to be replaced. I am not planning on doing anything w/it this summer. I'd really like to get another year out w/my foot and then look at next summer. It takes 8 weeks to collect enough blood for the blood transfusion that is needed, so you have to plan way ahead. I need a summer with no surgery to say the least!

Stay cool & have a relaxing weekend!
je

Great Birthday!

Today has been a great Birthday day! All I wanted on my birthday for the past 2-3 years was to be able to wear a summer sundress and matching sandals and it had not occurred, but it happened today - yippee! My ability to wear shoes and walk is a bigger deal than any possible gift and I'm continually grateful for it everyday.

Mom & I met at St. Louis Bread Company for breakfast at 7am. It was fun to chat over coffee and I deviated from my "no wheat" rule for a cinnamon crunch bagel. Camp was fun today and the kids had one humorous thing happen after the next. I scooted out of work a little early to go to the license branch for plates for my new car and a new drivers license. To my delight, I was in & out of there in fifteen minutes!

I met mom & dad at PF Chang's for dinner and then back to their house for dessert and gifts. Dessert was key lime pie - it rocked! We are going to a Cards game on Friday night and are meeting relatives there.

My foot is tired and puffy tonight, due to the heat. I also have a tiny spot of skin on the inside of my foot (near the heel) that is open and I'm praying that it doesn't become a wound issue. It is the end of a very old incision and I have no idea why it suddenly came open. The spot has been bothersome since the last surgery, but it is no where near where we operated! Anyway it is maybe 1/4" at the most that is open, but I can't seem to get it to totally heal and stay closed. It is not deep and looks somewhat "superficial" almost, but it has produced blood on/off at times, so it is open. It is not a big "wound issue" now, but obviously we don't want it to turn into something bigger. I'm not even sure if there is enough skin there to stitch up, if it came to that at some point. Please pray that it heals naturally ... I'm keeping it clean and doing all the wound-care stuff from past experience.

Thanks for your e-mails, cards, and calls today!

Heading to bed with a grateful heart,
Jenny

All still okay .....

There really hasn't been much change in anything toward the end of this week. Everything still looks like it is in the correct position. I am watching it closely. Yesterday we went shopping at Soulard, so I was on it more than usual. I had to take my tennis shoe off about half way through because the swelling in the toe area was too tight! I changed to a sandal for a while and it was fine. I only have 3 pt sessions left.

This is my last week of summer camp at work and Wednesday is my birthday, so it will be a busy week. Thankfully only 57 campers this week, so it won't be as large of a student group.

Hope you are enjoying this sunny Father's Day!
je

Little bit of stress .....

All of you prayer warriors out there .... this is your week to keep praying that nothing changes with my foot positioning! At pt this afternoon, my therapist and I noticed that there wasn't as much movement and it felt more rigid. There was a tiny bit of concern on his part and a MASSIVE amount of concern on my part! I was dying on the inside as we were discussing it. There was more swelling today, because it was like 90+ degrees outside, so we are both hoping that the lack of ROM was due to the swelling and not the positioning issue returning. I am a wee bit stressed because this is week #12 and that is the same time frame that I noticed it going "bad" last time. Swelling can cause a lack in ROM, so let's hope that is what happened today. The toes still look flat, so pray for peace, reduced swelling, and that we stay on the right track with this. I'm remaining positive about it and am not overly concerned, but don't want any other surprises to surface.

My "skin issues" have magically cleared up and all the tiny sores are now gone.

My TX surgeon did send me a note today as a follow-up to my e-mail last week and sent congrats on it doing so well. He said that he didn't need to see me again, unless problems developed.

Long day today, so I need to get some zzzzzs ....

Love & hugs,
je

To: Carol, Teddy, Ted & Laura ..... thanks for being so faithful with your fun and encouraging comments. I love them and they are the first thing that I read when I sign onto the blog each day. Whenever I see "2 comments," I know who wrote them!

First Outside Walk ....

Tonight I walked 1 1/2 miles around my neighborhood after dinner! It wasn't real fast, but I was thrilled to just be walking. Pt went well today and we did some new things with weights. I have not returned to the gym yet, but am planning to after my camp weeks are finished. I have several training sessions left, but I won't do those for awhile.

A parent came into JA today to register her child for camp and somehow we got to chatting about foot surgery .... she was about to have surgery by a podiatrist and I said "no way!" Needless to say, she is going to get another opinion soon on my strong recommendation.

I am now past the "one year post-op" mark from the artery transfer surgery and the scar on my arm looks great. It is still a scar, but it has faded considerably and a little bit of tan color helps significantly. It is now totally flat and looks really good.

Hope you survived the wet weather in St. Louis today!
je

Doing well ....

I survived my first week of camp last week .... one down and one to go! I was exhausted by Friday night. Long days and then I needed to do dinner and entertaining with guests from our JA Tulsa office that were here Monday through Thursday. This week is a planning/preparation week for the second week of camp that begins on June 22nd.

All continues to be well with the foot. I think another three weeks of pt and then we'll be done. When I walk fast or quickly it still looks pretty sloppy & is more challenging, but I'm not super concerned about it. It is not everyday that you walk with someone. Pt is helping, but is a big time commitment. I was on my foot more last week than I've been on it in the past 8-9 months, but it did okay. I expected fatigue and tiredness, but thankfully no pain & toes are still flat. I sent an e-mail and foot pics to my Dallas surgeon last week. His assistant thought it looked good. She told me about these new scar strips made by Band-Aid & said they would help my scar look better quicker. I was all excited about them & then found out that Band-Aid stopped making them this month - don't you love it. Grrr!!

I am doing better with driving with my right foot. When I got my new car, I decided it was time to drive with the correct foot. It is a hard habit to break, but I can do it, so there is no reason that I shouldn't be driving correctly.

This week ahead will be post-op week #12 .... last time it all fell apart at week
#14, so I'm still being cautious about "out of the woods" thinking. It still feels good to be able to do simple everyday things. My neighbor offered to water my flowers this summer, but I declined the offer and told him that I was planning on being at my house all summer this year. He's done it the past two summers, so I told him that this was his summer off.

Hope you have a joy filled week!
je

Summer Shoes ....

A few new foot pictures this weekend .... I'm finally able to get my foot into a normal looking pair of sandals. These black sandals are good for dinner out or church, but I can't wear them standing all day with the kids. They are cute and summer looking though! I think my foot looks pretty good for enduring eighteen surgeries.

Camp starts at work tomorrow (9-3pm) ..... 70 lively darlings for the week. Thankfully, I do have a staff of ten that are helping me. Two friends from JA Tulsa are watching our camp this week as well. Pt happens on Tuesday and Friday this week. Not a lot new this weekend ... I had a luncheon on Saturday for a Make-A-Wish child that I've been working with that is leaving on a cruise tomorrow, have finished final camp preparations, and have tried to rest some since I know it will be a busy week ahead.

All is still flat, wiggling, and in the correct position .... yippee!
je

Pt is working ....

I apologize for no updates this week. I've been swamped at work with preparations for summer camp that starts on Monday. Working & physical therapy appointments is about all I've done this week!

No big changes this week. I've been able to wear a shoe all day at work - some days sandals and some days my good tennis shoes. One day this week I walked three miles by noon and I was starting to feel it, but overall there is no pain (big praise!). My skin is a little bit better, but I still feel like there is a lot of redness and it looks overall rough at the top of the foot. If I recall the last time this happened, it suddenly improved a lot around week #14 and I'm at week #9, so maybe it will just get better naturally with time.

My Chicago orthopod & I have e-mailed a little this week. Dr. P thinks that I am doing well and told me about a comfy sandal with Velcro that would help since swelling is still happening. She bought a pair in red for herself! I may go to Chicago in July/Aug. & stop to see her.

The good news at pt today was that it is working and helping! We did ROM measurements today and it had improved 5 degrees in each measurement area - this is a lot for me in two weeks. My therapist also feels that there is more flexibility in the toes & they are not as stiff. There was a pt intern from Mizzou at therapy today, so I had to tell him my medical case. I would guess that he wished he hadn't ask to hear the details of the case!

My gait is fairly decent when I am walking slow, but when the pace picks up it is noticeably weak (more time/practice needed here). The operative foot is still 1 1/2" larger than the other foot, but it is 1/2" less than it was two weeks ago. I will take new pictures this weekend and will post on the blog.

I'm so thankful for each day that I'm able to wear matching shoes, drive to work on my own, and for the continued little progress that is happening each week. When I picked up my car at the dealership, there was another customer there with an amputated foot also buying a car. I thought it was ironic, considering it could have been me, but how grateful I am that it is not. God is good. Keep praying that what I have will remain a permanent fix and we'll be "good to go" forever!

Wishing you a relaxing summer weekend ahead ....