Many of you are aware that I had foot surgery, again, recently. Hopefully this will be the final one of that foot and ankle! I now have 2 metal screws stabilizing my ankle, 1 metal screw correcting a bunion, and 1 metal staple holding my big toe straight. Many have asked, how did you get here? Let me tell you a little story….
A year and a half ago, I was rebuilding a bridge in my yard for my Girl Scout’s Bridging Ceremony. I decided to kick one of the planks into place, rather than bend down and move it. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t wearing my boots. So that was how I broke the big toe on my left foot. Not a pleasant experience, let me tell you. But that is only the beginning! Urgent Care gave me a post-op shoe to wear for protection. However, they only had one that was too big for me. So about two weeks after I broke my toe, the shoe got snagged on my stairs, slamming my foot into the stairs, leading to break #2 on the same toe.
I heal slowly, so I ended up being in a walking boot for roughly 6 months. I faced surgery to fuse the bones if they didn’t start healing. Finally, with the help of a bone growth stimulator, my toe started to heal. Yay! Unfortunately, wearing the boot for so long changed how I walked, which greatly affected my right foot. I ended up with a pretty bad bunion on my right foot. A large callus formed on my big toe, with a rather large wound formed under it. I tried several methods to get rid of it, but eventually surgery was my only choice. The VA couldn’t get me seen in a reasonable time, so I was referred out to a local foot and ankle specialist.
Two days before my initial appointment with this new doctor, I stepped off my front porch and rolled my ankle. Now this is not unusual for me. What WAS unusual, however, was the pop and incredible pain I felt. When I arrived for my appointment, I had to explain that while I was referred there for a bunion on my right foot, now my right ankle was messed up pretty badly. One MRI and several x-rays later, we realized that I had fractured my ankle, torn a tendon in my foot, and sprained another tendon. Conveniently, this was on the same side as the bunion, so one surgery turned into a slightly more involved surgery. I got the bunion fixed with a screw, and the doc used two screws to stabilize my ankle to (hopefully) prevent me from rolling it in the future.
However, because I am me, my recovery was slow and I dealt with infections and delayed healing. My right big toe started to turn in. Usually, this can be partially corrected by using padding to hold it straight. However, it didn’t work. So I had to have another surgery to correct that. Basically a wedge was cut out of the toe and a staple was put in to hold the toe straight for healing.
So now I find myself in a boot, again. As I still heal slowly, I will be in the boot slightly longer than most people, but at least I am healing.
I tell you all of that to tell you this: Don’t kick stuff. If you take anything away from this story, don’t kick stuff. You never know what it could lead to down the road! 🙂
On another note, the kidlets are doing ok. LE seems to be really struggling these days, but she has an appointment with her GI doctor soon and hopefully we can come up with some time of treatment plan to help her out. It is hard to watch her in pain and know there is nothing we can do about it. She’s a seriously tough kidlet, but I wish I could make it easier for her.
We did have a great snowstorm here recently, and the kids and dogs had a blast running around outside in it!
I hope everyone is doing well out in the world right now! Stay safe, and remember that you are not alone, no matter how it feels. There is someone out there who would love to hear from you.