Week 14

Here are some pictures comparing toe flexion. As you can see, I am sloooowly starting to bend the 4th toe with the others and even the others are able to bend further down. I'm attributing this to the reduced swelling.   It's nowhere near my pre-surgery flexibility or my left foot's flexibility but I'm hoping to get there eventually. If  I don't get there I'll still be 100% fine with it! Anyway, it's bending more than I thought it would considering it's only been 4 weeks since the fixator was removed! All pics were taken with me bending my toes with all of my might.

Trying to bend!

Comparing left & right foot flexibility

Here's a scar update pic:

Starting week 4 with ScarAway

My scar was feeling a little sting-y today when I got home from work because I did a lot more walking than usual. The stinging didn't last long :). Other than that there isn't much else to report on so that's it for now! Thanks for following ;)

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 :)