Vacation Days This Week ....

I have had the last three days off of work and it has been wonderful! I've done a lot of things around my house that needed to get done and today had my carpets professionally cleaned. I've really enjoyed sleeping in and having a more leisurely pace.

On Tuesday, I went to the dermatologist about the itching on my foot and multiple spots on the other leg. She wasn't sure what it was totally, so she took a biopsy (not on the foot) and said she hopes to call me by the end of the week with a diagnosis & treatment plan. She didn't think that it was gluten related, but we'll see. I am hoping it is ok to eat gluten, because it has really limited my eating choices the past month. My STL orthopod is also a patient of my dermo dr., so that might come in handy for the future ... should have learned that fact long ago.

The little toe is definitely up where it was before, but the others look like they are "holding their own" and remaining down. My big toe is fused and does not function at all and then no weight goes on the little toe, so I am walking really only on the three middle toes. It is not ideal, but I am trying to make it work. The swelling has been a bit better this week with cooler temps outside.

Yesterday morning I noticed that I was able to buckle a sandal further back (different hole) than I have in the past, so that was encouraging. Gotta be thankful for those little moments of progress! I have been walking very slow today, but I am guessing it is because the foot is tired. I really notice how much slower I walk when I with a friend shopping at the mall .... everything that is normal feels like a speed race to me. I need to work on stepping it up a bit at some point. My gym membership is "frozen" until the beginning of July, so I'll get back to exercising after summer camp at JA is finished.

Nearly everyday I have someone call or e-mail me with foot surgery questions .... either pre or post-op. It amazes me how many people have foot surgery complications .... it is more common than most realize. I've got all the tips on cast and crutch products ... I should be a rep.

Need to finalize a few things before work begins again tomorrow .... thanks for your continued prayers and encouragement!

Jenny

Not A Lot New .....

I am doing okay ... not a lot new to report, so I guess that is good in my situation. It is like the same song verse twenty ..... swelling - itching - swelling - itching. The extreme heat only continues to make the swelling linger on and on. My foot looks great the first hour of the day and then it slowly increases in size. The positive side is that it does go down quite a bit at night, when it is elevated and in a cool house. I may have to resort to getting a DVD several nights this week, so I'll force myself to keep it elevated and iced.

The itchiness was rough over the weekend, so I'm going to try to avoid eating gluten/wheat this week and will see if that helps. It did in the past, so hopefully it will work again. I had been trying to do the gluten-free diet somewhat, but had not been strict about it lately.

All things considered I am okay with positioning, so I have a lot to be thankful for. Thursday is my birthday, so pray for a non-itchy day on Thursday ... that would be a great gift.

Thanks for your continued prayers!
Jenny

All is about the same ....

The medication from last week seems to have helped some ... it is not getting any worse. I still think it looks like there is an allergic reaction happening on the outside of the skin.

The skin mess from last week is not totally gone, so I may need to call and get more steroid medicine. It was itching horribly on the way home from work tonight. There seems to be a lot of increased tone in the foot over the past few days ... I'm watching it. Toes 2-4 still look to be touching the ground. I don't see any "toe marks" on my sandals yet, so the toes must be barely making it or else I'm not putting much weight on the forefoot. I've not made much progress with getting the swelling to decrease .... until camp is over, I think there is just going to be a lot of swelling. Last Thursday was the 4 week post-op day.

I've not slept well the last two nights, so I am hoping for a better night of sleep tonight.

je

Suture Reaction & Positioning ....

Monday seemed to be filled with more "foot drama" than I'd like, but things were a little better today. I did see Dr. K on Monday afternoon after camp, and he thinks that I am allergic to the internal sutures that were used during the surgery on 5/13 and the skin reaction manifested itself above the latest incision. I'm on a steroid and antibiotic ... had a fever last night, but it is better tonight. It could be 2-3 weeks before the skin really clears up. The foot is very sore because of all the open areas that occurred over the weekend and on Monday. Everything needs to dry up, scab over, hopefully heal, etc. It will take 4-6 months for the internal sutures to dissolve, but I am not totally convinced that they do dissolve in my case. During the plastic surgery last November, there was a lot of internal stitches that had not dissolved from the previous March and that was part of the problem with the skin opening up.

Re: Positioning .... the little toe started to come up over the weekend, too. Dr. C called me Monday afternoon to discuss the issue and said that the other toes should not come up again. Supposedly he severed the tendons to all the little toes, so there is nothing left to possibly pull up. Dr. K felt otherwise yesterday that this would happen during healing due to scar tissue, so we'll see what happens with time. Initially I was totally panicked about this, but I am better now. I can likely live with it as it is now, but it is not has perfect as it was two weeks ago.

Needless to say, I'm ready for a few quiet days with no foot developments. I am finding it incredibly hard to manage camp, staff, and everyone while sitting .... it is not happening. I am using the scooter, but it has been a challenge. Next week camp is only mornings, so that will be a little better.

Although the skin looks terrible at the moment, it will get better with time. Keep praying that the positioning does not become any worse. The pattern in the past has always been that it begins with the small toe and progresses to the other toes. I am working with toe #5 (little piggy) manually but as you can imagine forcing your toe to go down, when it wants to stay up, is not real fun/comfortable.

Hanging in there!
je

Small set back ....

Just when I tell you everything is going well, things have a way of changing .....

I was sitting in church this morning and felt something wet dripping down the side of my foot. I looked at my foot and realized that there was yellowish drainage seeping from an incision area right above where we just operated (about a 4 1/2" strip). It was swollen, red as a tomato and itching by the time I left church .... infection wass my immediate thought, but the weird thing was that the area when we just operated looked perfect.

I headed for the Take-Care clinic at Walgreens and they wanted me to go to the ER. There was a 2 1/2 hr. wait at the ER, so they sent me to the Urgent Care clinic, next door to the hospital. The doctor there immediately thought it was poision ivy, but I said no way ..... I have intentionally been indoors more, since it is has been so hot outside. They cultured the area, prescribed a steroid and antibiotic & told me to follow up w/my STL foot ortho dr. tomorrow. He did say that it could be an allergic suture reaction to the new internal sutures, and it is just showing symptoms above the area where the sutures are located .... talk about weird! The area has continued to drain all afternoon, so something is not right.

I had planned on taking digital pics of my foot this afternoon and sending them to Dallas with a note saying how well things were going. At the moment it looks so bad, that there is no way I want him to see it yet. Tomorrow is my first day of summer camp (I lead all day), so it is not the best day for me to work in a dr. appt. I'll figure it out somehow ... may be after 3pm, when the kids leave.

Pray that we'll get to the bottom of it tomorrow rather easily & that if it is an infection, it will be quickly treated with the right meds. Ortho guys are typically not masters at skin issues, but I guess I will start there. I feel like the queen of weird medical problems!

Will keep you posted ...
je

Swelling and Shoes . . .

I am still doing well with my foot. The largest challenge this week has been swelling and trying to figure out shoes that are workable. On Monday, the AC was out at JA so that got things off to a rough start. I had to go to Wal-Mart mid-day and buy a Velcro sandal. I'm just leaving the sandal under my desk from now on ... in case I have another swelling crisis. The hot weather increases the swelling.

I've started to transition from the surgical shoe back to a regular shoe. It is always a big process to find shoes that will work for the first several weeks. It seems like the summer is harder because I must have shoes with a back and most summer shoes are backless. I had a size 8 1/2 tennis shoe and a size 10 tennis shoe that I tried this week .... one was to small and one was to large. Today I bought a size 9 in hopes that it will work next week for summer camp. I have to wear something closed for camp, in case a camper steps on my foot.

This weekend I can begin to manually work on stretching the toes and the tendon that we lengthened. Everything is still pretty tight and stiff. It feels weird to not have pt appointments. I am still getting used to the feel of all the toes touching the ground ... it is a great feeling! I find myself checking on the positioning several times a day ... that will go away with time. I heard that it is supposed to be over a hundred degrees in Dallas this weekend and next week, so glad we are in STL.

I am trying to rest and take it easy this week, because next week will be busy with 85 campers.

Happy weekend to you!
Jenny