Follow-Up Appt. Update ....

My appointment with Dr. B had to be moved up to this morning, because he had a surgery case that got moved from this am to this afternoon.

We didn't make a significant amount of progress. He agreed that there are now multiple areas (on top and both sides of the foot) of concern and that it certainly is not any better. He said that what we done has not hurt it significantly, but it has not solved the problem either. Dr. B is stumped as to a possible cause. About 95% of the biopsy results are back and all remain negative. He took pictures of the various open spots. He wants me to see the head of dermatology at Wash U and see if she has any further suggestions. His office has to call and try to get me in within the next month.

We briefly discussed skin grafting, but I don't think he is totally comfortable doing that ... as he said, "it wouldn't be my first choice." I think we were beyond the first choice option years ago. It is harder with multiple spots. No script for anything further as for medication or cream.

Hopefully I can get into see the Wash U dermatologist sooner than later .... can't begin to tell you how many dermo doctors I've seen already with no success. Waiting game ..... je

Step up the prayer this week ....

We are on post-op week #5 and we need to step up the prayer ..... the open areas are increasing and there is more drainage/bleeding and swelling that is happening. I really need the path report to reveal something substantial .... doesn't matter what it is at the moment, but we just need a definitive diagnosis. I'm not as concerned about treating it as I am concerned about where to go from here being tough, if we cannot pinpoint the problem. We have not tried a wound vac with this, but I am somewhat leery of trying it (often doesn't work) & it involves an external drain that is a hassle on the foot. However, I'm open to anything at this point ..... if we need to skin graft, I want to get on w/it.

Pray for: Wisdom, encouragement, path report w/problem areas to surface, treatment plan going forward and that the Dr. B will see the need to help or do something more, whether it be new Rx medication, surgery, etc.

Believing that all things are possible in Him,
Jenny

Gummy Foot Look-Alike .....

Not a lot new .... still bandaging, taping, watching and waiting. My appt. w/Dr. B is on Friday at 1:30pm. I really wish there was some Rx that would help to speed up the healing process. Not sure if he will have biopsy results back on Friday, otherwise it will be another week. My gut feeling is that it is not going to reveal much. Not all bad, but if you saw my foot now you'd agree that it needs skin healing help.

Funny story .......
I was at Wal-Mart on Saturday afternoon in the Halloween candy aisle looking for a chocolate pumpkin sucker (to take on a kiddo hospital visit next week). They had every other gross candy item, but not a simple orange chocolate sucker. However, I did run across the life size "Gross Gummy Foot" as I heard a kid commenting to his mom on how awful it looked. It was a giant gummy foot with red spots all over it that resembled blood. I looked at it on the shelf and laughed inside as I thought, "oh, goodness .... it looks like MY foot!" Then for a tiny second I thought about buying it and sending it to the joker (dr.) that started all this mess, but then on second thought he doesn't deserve the money I'd spend on postage. Hopefully by next Halloween my foot won't qualify for the "Gross Gummy Foot" look-alike! You have to keep a sense of humor in the midst of it all ...... I can't be buying Kleenex for tears at the same time that I'm funding the tape/gauze pad industry.

The pain comes and goes depending on how much I am on it. I'm amazed at how small and fragile my foot looks each morning when I wake up and then by evening it is puffy & large. I am still able to wear shoes (selectively), so that is a HUGE positive. Praying for the path report and a good appt. w/Dr. B on Friday afternoon.

Hugs -
Jenny

Agghhhh ...... healing issues continue

Aghhh!!! The small spot that was there last weekend is still there. No worse really, but no better. However, now there are two other spots that have started, so clearly the "problem areas" are slowly growing. Tonight the area at the top of the incision, where the end of the suture material was knotted, is looking rough (possibly infected) ... I can see that the suture material is not dissolving. It was bleeding in multiple places today, so we are back to bandaging and taping. The end spot is deep, so here we go with wound issues continuing. Next Monday will be the 4 week pos-op mark, so are not very far out for this deteriorating already.

To make matters a little worse, Dr. B's office wasn't overly concerened about it earlier this week. He has surgery tomorrow and then is out/on vacation or something alike until next Thursday. Actually, his nurse told me that he will be gone ALL next week, but I am supposed to have a follow-up appt. w/him next Friday .... at the rate I'm going, I will need it! I will call tomorrow to make sure that I still have an appointment for 10/30.

I really wish my former plastic guy in San Antonio was still available. I did research him on the web last night and found his new practice address/phone, which is in York, Pennsylvania. It could have been the same outcome with him as well, but I feel like he knows all the quirks, and "weird stuff" with my foot.

I've had lots of staffing issues w/some of my part-time staff this week at work, so my patience is wearing thin. It will all work out, but we may not be done with all of this as soon as I had hoped. Keep praying for wound healing and that this doesn't spiral out-of-control.

Hugs -
Jenny

Prayer request .....

I had an okay weekend ….. there still seems to be more pain than I’d like, & I’m not sure where it is coming from. It doesn’t seem like it is because of the latest incision and it doesn’t hurt all the time. Saturday night I was at the STL Mills Mall and wasn’t there ten minutes and my entire foot was hurting so bad that I could hardly walk. I hobbled around for a few stores and then gave up. I didn’t think I had been on it that much on Saturday, prior to the evening. Maybe it just needs a good pt workout/stretching …. no pattern as to when the pain starts.

Prayer request: Please pray this week about one spot on the center of the latest incision that is not closed. I thought it was getting better last week and was starting to slowly heal (so I didn’t mention it on the blog), but no such luck. Tonight I had a real time getting the bleeding to stop. It is very, very tiny and almost looks like a superficial opening. It is weird because it is in the middle of the incision. At 3 weeks out, nothing should be bleeding. Therefore, I’m going to call Dr. B’s office and will ask about it tomorrow …. probably nothing more to do now other than watch it. I think I have lost the ability to form a scab and go through the normal skin “healing process.” I don’t want to do a skin graft, so I am really praying that this week it miraculously closes.

Mom & dad got home from Hawaii today safely. They had a terrific week of perfect weather and scrumptious food & celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. We had brunch at my house this morning and then viewed pictures w/them tonight. The beach pictures, tropical flowers, water falls, and foliage were magnificent!

Wishing you a joyous fall week!
je

Moving along .....

I am so glad tomorrow is Friday ..... whew, long week! There have been some ups and downs this week, but I am hanging in there and am trying to move ahead with the healing process, walking, shoes, work, kiddos, doing "life", etc. Today I taught a 1st grade class (JA econ curriculum) to students in the city, so needless to say I'm pretty tired tonight. I will sleep well tonight, no question about that. I did this drawing on the board of how to say my last name and it must have worked because every two seconds it was "Miss Eickhorst this, and Miss Eickhorst that." The classroom was on the 3rd floor and there were no elevators (very old building), so I got my workout on the stairs today. Normally I see 120 fifth-graders each day, so the little guys were a fun change today. They loved looking at shredded money from the Fed with magnifying glasses ... they were fascinated with how old money is "retired."

My foot is finally starting to get back to wearing a normal shoe. Two weeks in the surgical shoe didn't provide much support and it didn't allow me to walk/flex/bend like I normally would. Tues. & Wed. were rough with pain but today was a bit better, so I think it is just a SLOW process. I have to keep reminding myself that next Monday will only be the week 3 post-op date, so I feel fortunate to even be wearing a shoe ... usually it takes me like 6-8 weeks before shoes enter the picture after surgery.

I plan to talk w/my physical therapist next week, but I'm wondering if it would be wise for me to do pt like twice a month for the next several months to keep the toes flexible, continue to work on strength/stamina, etc. ..... it feels like if I'm not continually keeping things moving and as flexible as I can then there is a noticeable difference in how the foot feels/performs. There is manual stretching that happens at pt that I cannot do on myself ... we'll see what happens in the next few weeks.

Keep praying for a clear, definitive, pathology report in several weeks. My next appt. w/Dr. B is on Friday, October 30th.

Hoping to see some sunshine this weekend!
je

New Foot pics .....

I moved back home over the weekend and it was great to sleep in my own bed Mom & dad are on a trip this week to celebrate their 40th anniversary, so I am on my own! Latest foot pictures are above .... still looks a little rough. It feels like I need to do some pt and the toes need a workout, but I'm going to wait another two weeks just to be on the safe side. The therapist is able to move and work the toes manually in a way that I cannot. Not sure why, but it seems that if I am not really using the foot it has a tendency to get stiff/rigid very quickly.

No kiddos at JA until Friday of this week, so that is a nice break & it means I'll be able to sit more. Today I was able to keep a normal shoe on the foot for the entire day .... I brought a Croc shoe to work just in case, but didn't need it. Tonight it looks like I have an 85 year-old ankle (puffy), but it will subside overnight.

On the way to work this morning, I was thinking about the fact that I still haven't successfully been able to truly wear a shoe with a small heel (talking an inch - nothing big) ..... will have to work on that eventually. There are times that I want to be able to wear something other than a flat shoe --- not complaining by any means, just a goal for the future. If it doesn't happen, I can live with it, but if I could wear a heeled shoe occasionally that would be nice.

Brought work home tonight, so I'd better get going on it. Thanks for your continued prayers and encouragement!

Love & hugs,

jenny

Good Post-Op Appointment ....

The post-op appointment today with Dr. B went well and was pretty uneventful. As it turned out, he didn’t have to remove the long stitch as I thought was going to happen. He cut both ends of the suture material and that was it. The long part that was under the skin stays inside. He thought it looked good for the 2-week mark (relatively early for skin healing).

I can get the incision wet now and can drive. I can wear a shoe, but I’ll need to get creative w/shoe wear due to swelling. During the day I’ll keep it covered, so nothing rubs on it quite yet (for several more weeks), but at night he said to let it get air while sleeping. He prescribed an Rx for an antibiotic cream to prevent the possibility of a skin infection starting.

As for what he found during surgery, it wasn’t as “bad” as he anticipated. The tendon that was so huge was the lengthened tendon from the surgery last March and it had a bunch of un-dissolved suture material and the senovial fluid was too thick inside the tendon. He cleaned it all out. There was scar tissue and inflammation, but nothing that was majorly wrong or of big concern. He said that the tendon may decrease in size over the next year …. if it doesn’t, I didn’t get the idea that it was a big issue.

I about panicked when he said that the tendon area that he cleaned out was the one that we had lengthened last. I really didn’t want anyone to mess with that in fear that something might get altered or messed up, but we didn’t exactly know where the problem was until he opened it up. Nothing appears to have gone awry w/the tendon as for positioning (I’ve been checking the toes like every 30 minutes today).

Re: Pathology report ….. The initial path report has come back totally clean (big praise), but it will be another 4 weeks, before we have the final “official” report back.

As he said, it is somewhat of a “catch 22 situation” ….. ideally he’d like the path report to reveal something substantial so we’d know a cause and would be able to treat it & prevent it from happening again. On the other hand, he doesn’t wish a big medical problem on anyone. He didn't want to prescribe a bunch of medications today, not knowing if they were really needed.

At any rate the incision appears to be closed now, for which I am very thankful. Time will tell if it stays closed, but we are praying & hoping for this to happen. If it was going to open again, it would likely open sooner than later (the further we get out time wise, the better). I’ll carefully be “babying” the area for the next 4-6 weeks & will be overprotective of it. The skin on the entire foot looks like it needs some TLC.

I feel like the foot needs another 4-6 weeks before it feels back to normal again. Although I’d love to truly get to the bottom of all of this w/the path report, I’m so happy that it is closed that I’m content with just getting it closed. Keep praying that the area stays closed, continues to heal, path report, and no skin infection occurs.

Thankful for Dr. B’s expertise, his willingness to help and for the healing that has already occurred.

Happy weekend to you …. (toes are thankful for socks on this chilly weekend)

je

Post-Op Appt. #1 on Friday ....

Today marks the 1 1/2 week post-op mark. It feels like I've been wearing the beautiful, blue surgical shoe MUCH longer than ten days. It has been a quiet week with not much "foot happenings" yet, but I didn't want you to think that "no news" on the blog was bad news. I think all continues to heal well. I've taken the bandage off several times to give the incision some air and last night slept with a sock on it, which felt so, so good. It has been really itchy around the area, so I've stepped up the Benedryl for itch relief.

We've had very large school groups this week at work, so I am have been exhausted each night. I am still using the scooter, but was on my feet more than I had hoped today. The skin transfer area at the front of my foot is really puffy tonight, but it will decrease overnight. My toes were feeling stiff today and like they needed to be making contact with the ground more (i.e. out of the surgical shoe), so I've walked around the house in a sock some tonight. All is still okay with positioning/bone structure - whew!

My first post-op appt. is still at 10:15am on Friday .... will ask some more questions about what Dr. B is testing for related to the biopsy & the stitch may be removed. I know one test is for a micro bacteria that falls in the TB category. I read some on the web last night about tuberculosis & learned that it is transfered via air (breathing in the germ) & is often transfered from a health care worker. The bacteria can stay in your system for over a year before it starts to manifest symptoms. Think of how many health care employees I've been around in the past five years! Medication is needed to stop the bacteria, but it can take 1 1/2-2 yrs. to completely kill the disease. It may not be that at all, but we'll see. Dr. B had TB himself before, so that has to be a big reason that he knows to test for it. Nothing to worry about now ..... still praying for a clear diagnosis on the path report & for something treatable.

I will likely return to my house this weekend .... looking forward to my own bed & hopefully will be able to take a shower and get the foot wet. Will update the blog on Friday after my appt.

Need to get the foot elevated and cheer on the Cards .... go red birds! Thanks for continuing to pray and your encouraging thoughts/e-mails.

Hugs -
je

Quiet weekend ....

The week ended well and there were no big changes with the foot. I’ve loosened the bandage a few times to give it some more air & it feels better for awhile to not have the bandage be so tight. I used the scooter the entire week at work and didn’t walk much. This week coming up will be the first week with kiddos for the new school year. We have groups Tuesday through Friday and Wednesday is a huge project with the water company and there will be media at JA throughout Wednesday as well.

I’m past the worst of the post-op pain & have taped off the narcotic meds. I ventured to Wal-Mart earlier today w/mom for an ace bandage with Velcro (clips keep coming off), but they didn’t have any electric carts left, so I didn’t get very far. I’m basically home this weekend and am taking it easy. I can walk around the house with it just bandaged up, which is a nice break from the surgical shoe. It was a chilly morning today for open toes.

My follow-up appt. w/Dr. B is on Friday, Oct. 9 at 10:15am at his west county office. I think he will remove the single, fish-line stitch …. It is ouchy removing it, but I’ll make it! It has that “itchy healing feeling,” now so that is a good sign. There was some bleeding tonight, so it needs more healing time. Keep praying for complete skin healing and no need for a second surgery. I think it looks good so far, but we'll see what Dr. B says on Friday. I’m eating lots of protein to help with the healing process.

Happy fall weekend to you!
je