Appointment Summary ....

At 2:00pm today, I got a migraine headache at work and started to lose vision instantly (stress related). I thought for sure that I was going to have to call and cancel the appt. at 3:20pm. I took some medicine, had a Coke and gave it thirty minutes …. Eventually, it worked enough that I could see to drive and talk coherently.

The appt. was about as positive as I could expect … thank-you for praying. Dr. K joked w/me upon entering that it had been 6 months since I had seen him, which is a major time record for my foot. He fully agreed that we are now back to where we were a year ago. He said to forget about attempting to figure out why it reoccurred, as we’ll likely never know & it will just prove to me more frustrating to keep searching.

He suggested cutting the tendon that is pulling it up and not necessarily lengthening it ….. he was not concerned about the “foot drop” possibility & said that it would not happen if the tendon was just clipped. It is supposed to be a relatively simple operation. He said that he wouldn’t pay for the pt, but I could do whatever I want on that topic …. won’t hurt it, but he said it will likely not reverse the problem. Dr. K’s explanation of the problem was essentially the same as the Dallas doctor. It is a little hard to tell if is just a toe positioning issue or if it is a bigger positioning issue w/the ball of the foot (hard to tell w/how I bear weight now). Dr. K & I lean toward to feeling that it will improve if the toes touch the ground & if I can bear weight on the entire foot.

He firmly believes that there is still a nerve issue & that I will likely deal with this the rest of my life. Because none of the neuro tests reveal anything, he said that you have to treat the symptoms, try to get it to be somewhat better, see how long it lasts and then do more treatment/surgery again as needed. He feels strongly that this is going to be ongoing and that any fix we do now will not last forever. He made the point that I am now having more time in between each surgery (which is good), so what we are doing/trying is working, but he fully expects the problem to continue to return at some level down the road …. doesn’t sound like there is any way around that & no one guarantees anything in the medical world.

Dr. K just saw Dr. C (Dallas dr.) three weeks ago at a conference and they talked about how well I was doing ….. ugh! Dr. K is going to send Dallas a letter with his thoughts/recommendations. Tomorrow I am supposed to call Dallas and make sure I can do surgery (assuming Dallas agrees upon seeing it) on May 13th, after my appt. on May 12th. Dr. K agreed to do the follow-up in STL …. if there are no wound issues, it sounds pretty minor. The Dallas dr. has never said anything about a nerve issue, so I’d be curious what he thinks on that point, but I’m hesitant to bring it up. Dallas may have another idea on solving the problem when I go to for the appointment …. this is hard to discuss over the phone.

I am dealing with it all and am still processing the reality of the situation. The idea that this is likely going to be an on-going problem was something that I have heard before, but I really thought that being 13 months post-op …. maybe we had dodged that notion. Evidently not. One of the hardest things about this is the fact that most of the general public naturally assumes that if you have surgery you should be “fixed” forever, which is not the case in my situation. It is hard for me swallow, too.

For now, there still seem to be treatment options (even if just a few), for which I am grateful. Dallas & STL still seem to be willing to help, which is another praise – pray that it stays that way.

Thanks again for praying today … I’m thankful for supportive friends, family, faith, and strong medical care. Keep praying for wise decision making and pain management in the next few weeks.

Jenny