I met with the surgeon and a few other people today - nurses, schedulers and nurse practitioners. At this moment, they want to do 5 procedures to my right foot. The lateral calcaneal osteotomy, a longus to brevis tendon transfer, a midfoot osteotomy and fusion, percutaneous tendon achilles lengthening, and girdlestone taylor transfers to straighten the toes. It's scary, but I was actually excited at the prospect of no more claw toes on the right foot at least and a straight foot. I wanted a June 1 surgery date because I'm a teacher and that gives me 3 months to heal so I can drive to work. They are scheduling into September at the moment, so we set up a Sept. 14th date and they will try to get me in on a cancelation. I'll call every two weeks or so to try to get that June date because I really can't do September. I'd have to put it off until next summer which I do not want to do. The doc said my left foot will probably need it someday too, but at this point, I think it works pretty well.
If anyone reads this that has had these procedures, of course I'd love to hear from you. So many questions. Pain is the subject of most of them. This hospital keeps you in at least one day , but they reserve two days in hospital just in case. The first surgeon I spoke to, it was done on outpatient basis. Yeouch!!! That was enough to turn me off! The other major subject for questions is recovery, but I think I can figure that one out pretty well, it's just nice to hear lots of voices, put them together with what I know about me and predict.
Yeah I had all the osteotomies mentioned, and the tendon transfer. He was going to lengthen my achilles, but ended up skipping that part. Not gonna lie, you'll be one sore puppy for a while. They stuck a nerve blocker in my leg so at least when I woke up from surgery I wasn't in any pain at all. Out of the 3 months of recovery, I'd say there were 30 total minutes where it was hitting the unbearable point. That first 2 weeks is kinda rough. Oxycontin does wonders though. :) Good luck - keep hammering away on getting in sooner!
ReplyDeleteSo, my questions are - can you wear normal shoes, can you hike, Is your quality of life improved? I'm just getting where sometimes walking is awkward on this foot. Is that better?
ReplyDeleteBack up to running 10 miles a week, plan to get up to about 15-20 by summer, running a LOT stronger now with better form because I can push off with both legs. Buying shoes is much easier now (nice side effect). Looking back now, I can't believe how crippled up I was before and how long I put up with it. It's not perfect, but I'd give it a 92% now and before it was like a 45%. There were a couple trade-offs, but they were minor in comparison. I say go for it, but I also take my vehicles out and jump them on a semi-regular basis so I might not give the most prudent advice. :)
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