Update

So it's going on 5 days since my pins were removed and it's been great. I was walking around normally with the darco shoe up until yesterday. I bought some Champion sneakers at Target and went up full size. They're very comfortable and very cheaply priced which is good because there is no way I'll be able to wear them once my foot is no longer swollen. I wore them yesterday with my regular socks (of which I have quite the collection due to years of hiding my foot) and drove to lunch!

It felt so good to be able to drive again and I had no pain. I was nervous at first but my foot was fine so off we went! I walked around a lot, we went shopping afterwards and only got tired once we were waiting in the long line at the tea shop. I sat down for a little while our drinks were being prepared and then I was off walking around again. I'm walking around normally but with a slight limp once I'm tired. My foot didn't get as swollen as I thought it would so yay for that!

Here's a picture of my scar:

Yesterday I started wearing the ScarAway silicone sheet (the beige part) taped down with medical tape to keep in in place. I'm wearing it already as a preventative measure. The box says not to use on open wounds and although it appears pinkish, the middle part of the scar has been closed for weeks now. It was really stiff and I can already feel the silicone softening it. The pin holes don't hurt at all but I'm giving the top 2 more time to heal before I move the strip vertically & cover the entire scar.

So this is my last week before I return to work. My goodness these 11 weeks flew by quickly but I've got to say that cable, Netflix, and my laptop made things a lot easier to deal with. Not to mention the recliner I've been nesting in. And I'm still not used to the new look of my foot. I was trying on my flip flops by the mirror and I still can't believe that's my foot in the reflection. I'm so happy I did this. I can hardly believe I actually did it and went through surgery and everything else. I'm proud of myself for not bolting out of the doc's waiting room on my first appointment even though it was all I could think about. I was sitting there with all that doubt in my mind thinking "how could I be this self centered and consider SURGERY for something non-life threatening?". Luckily I got through it and dived right in anyway. It may not have been a life threatening condition but it was holding me back. I sat there and thought about how this past January I was invited to go to Miami at the end of July and how my excitement immediately turned into dread because I'd be worried the entire time about hiding my foot on that beautiful beach :(. My only gripe now is that it's blazing hot outside and I don't want to wear socks & sneakers while I'm out wearing cute outfits...but it's no big deal! It won't be for much longer anyway :) 

Thanks for following & have a great week!

Pins Are Out!

I'm back! I'm excited to say that my pins were removed today. I went in to my appointment and they immediately took xrays. The doc came in, took a look at the xray and said "you're good to go!". 

He put on gloves, went to get pliers and screwdriver and got to work. He unscrewed and removed the fixator (the black bar) first. Then he took the pliers and started back to front unscrewing each pin. I bled a tiny bit (less than the girl in the youtube video I posted a few posts back) and I felt nothing! Just a slight pulling at the most but no pain whatsoever. I kept bracing for pain but it never came. Keep in mind that this was with no painkillers or numbing shots. I was very nervous and I'm so happy that the whole ordeal was over so quickly, it took maybe 5 minutes MAX. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat.


So here are the new pics!

4th toe is relaxing even more probably due to fixator removal 

The doc says to keep wearing the darco shoe for a couple of days to adjust without the pins and then transition to athletic lace up sneakers. I may have to go up a size to accommodate the swelling. He says to keep using the bone stimulator and stay away from high impact exercise for the next 6 weeks. So that's it! My next follow up appointment is in 4 weeks and they said I'll be doing so good I'll probably cancel it haha! I'll start using those over the counter silicone sheets on my scar as soon as the pin sites are closed.

I want to give special thanks to Brachynomore for creating and keeping up with her blog and for her support.    Her foot looks absolutely fantastic and I wish her all the best in her healing :) I'll be checking her blog as usual for new posts ;). 

And to Byebyebrachy and Brachychik who are going through this process at the moment, I want to say thanks for your support and stay strong! It will be all over before you know it :). 

Brachygoneforever is having her surgery soon & I want to wish her good luck! 

To all the lurkers: you are not alone and feel free to ask questions! We Brachybloggers don't bite.

Have a nice rest of the week & weekend everyone and thanks for following!

Week 11

Another week has gone by. It went by nice and quickly. This is the week my fixator is scheduled to come off (in 2 days to be precise). I've been using the stimulator everyday. Also, I regained control of my 3rd toe around 3 days ago. I've been wiggling my toes constantly and feel that doing so not only helped me regain control of the 3rd toe but I feel the 4th toe trying to wiggle with the rest although it can't because the metatarsal still has 4 pins in it.

Here's a side view of my toes (sorry about the darkness of the pic on the right, my flash can be tricky).

As you can see my toe was quite straight back on May 29th (the brachytoe pin was removed on May 23rd). It's still really straight but is very sloooooowly starting to relax. Interestingly, it's really only the top half of my toe that is so straight. In the pictures below it's more obvious; the 4th metatarsal is perfectly flat and aligned with the rest of the metatarsals. I took these sitting down, no weight bearing. 

As you can imagine this is very frustrating but I know that it will eventually relax and sit all the way down with the rest. I see and feel the difference everyday. I seem to be the only blogger that this has happened to. Probably because my pin had been in my toe since day 1. A common issue among the blogosphere seems to be that the toe is dragging too low and in those cases the toe eventually sits right and stops dragging or a pin is inserted to correct it. In some lucky cases the toe doesn't float OR drag at all. This is just another part of the healing process; one that I didn't anticipate. It's just another thing to deal with and move on. 

On a positive note, I was playing with all of my new sandals and these leather t-sraps are the only ones my swollen foot will fit through lol. So you see, it's not so bad. I just want my toe to do it's job and carry it's own weight :)

Week 10

This past week went by really fast, I spent the weekend at the beach and it was a blast! There's not much new to report as I'm still waiting for my next appointment which is over a week away. 

I've been using the bone stimulator every day for the full 3 hours. Also, I've been clearing out the dead skin around the pins, though there isn't much to clean anymore. My scar is looking pinkish. I plan on either getting a prescription for those silicone strips or just buying the ScarAway ones at Walgreens (they have good reviews).

Here is my latest pic. The swelling has gone down however it still comes back after a bit of walking; it's not too bad though. The 2 pins closest to my ankle start to sting after a good walk so I'm trying not to overdo it. Walking with the fixator is tiring anyway but there's no pain other than those pin sites stinging. The bottom of my foot feels normal. As you can see the middle toe bends down a little on it's own, probably due to holding 2 toes worth of weight for most of it's life, now it doesn't know what to do with itself lol! I can't wiggle the 3rd  & 4th toe yet. I'm hoping once the fixator is off it'll be fine since I can feel them wanting to wiggle with the rest. The 4th toe itself is getting more and more flexible as I gently massage and wiggle it with my finger everyday. So anyway, here I am! Still waiting and still very much aware of the metal I long to have off my foot :)

Week 9

My bone stimulator finally arrived yesterday. It's light, portable and I have to wear it for 3 hours a day but I can do it in 60 minute increments. I can walk while wearing it too. I'm wearing it over the fixator right now. 

I had my appointment today. I was scheduled to have the ex-fix removed, however because it took so long for the bone stim. to arrive my doc said he would feel more comfortable removing it two weeks from now. To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement...on a positive note the new x-ray shows even more growth so I do find comfort in knowing that I did pretty good on my own. He just wants me to wear the bone stim. for at least 2 weeks before removal so that my metatarsal will be that much stronger. It makes sense. And at this point even though I'm barely winding down from the feeling of betrayal (LOL), I feel like what's another 2 weeks? I was supposed to be staying at the beach this weekend to celebrate but like they say: life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. Maybe I can still go and just use my cast cover ;)

Here's my x-ray:

My scab came completely off. It was really thick and deep where the 2 pins closest to my toes are. Also my toe is very straight (it almost looks jarring looking at it from the right side as the rest are my toes curve down while at rest) so I asked about it. The doc says I can start pushing it downward at the base of the toe to help  with that and I'll also have therapy once the fixator is off. So anyway here we go again with the waiting! At least this time around I already know my bone is doing great :D