April/May 2012 Week 4


At this stage I am winding down on my distraction. To be honest I didn't think I would keep going through this past weekend because of the pain but I did. I kept thinking that I've already gone his far....might as well get the exact length I want! So today might be my last day to turn the screw depending on how my brachy toe looks at the end of today. My 4th followup appointment was at 27 days post op. They unwrapped my dressings and took xrays. The gap is almost 2cm long! The doc said everything looked perfect and said he was still going to leave in the brachytoe pin. He said they were gonna order my bone stimulator now and that I should start putting weight on my foot! I tried a little bit today but it's gonna take me a little bit to get the hang of it :)

My foot looks pretty bruised but it's because of all the distracting and stretching. This picture is at 18 mm. Almost done!

April 2012 Week 2


My 2nd follow up appointment fell on the morning of Day 14 post op. By this point I was 5mm (1mm per day)! And this is also when I started to hurt. The first 3 days of distracting were fine. There was no pain and the screw would easily turn. On Day 4 there was more resistance when turning and immediately afterwards there would be a stinging pain throughout my brachytoe followed by 30 minutes of intense ache around the fixator area. The pain would come and go in waves: burning, aching, stinging and repeat. I started taking the painkillers again and it would help some but it would mainly take the edge off so I could relax and not be so tense. Don't be afraid to ask for more pain medication!

The morning of my appointment they unwrapped my foot and took xrays. The nurse came in and said that the nurse aide was going to remove my stitches which was good news because they were hurting/stinging. I told them what I was feeling the days before and they said the stitches coming off should help relieve some of the pain. The nurse aid was so nice and gentle! She took her time and I barely felt her removing them. There was a last stitch however that the regular nurse came in to take a look at and she snipped and removed it. That last stitch hurt so bad I could tell that was the one that was giving me trouble! After a while the stinging went away.

The doc said my foot looked great. I was surprised to see growth that quick. My brachytoe was now even in length with my pinky! In 5 days! So the doc wrapped it up and off I went :)

April 2012 Week 1


My follow up appointment was on Day 5 after surgery. The doc unwrapped my foot; the gauze was bloody and my skin and nails were yellowish from the betadine they used at my surgery. Warning: the picture of my foot is a little gory!

They took xrays and said everything looked good! There wasn't much swelling or bruising (that's dried blood on the right side of the fixator). I realized that I had yet to use ice pack this whole time!! Oops! Just goes to show that the surgery itself is truly minimally invasive even though it doesn't look like it ;) Surprisingly there's also a pin sticking out of my toe. He says it's to make sure the tendon stays where it's supposed to which is fine with me because I don't feel it AT ALL!

The doc then brought out an allen wrench and made 2 full turns on the screw. I felt nothing.

 He gave me the wrench and instructed that I was to start turning the screw 1/4 clockwise 4 times a day starting on Day 9 post surgery. This will be different for everyone, you must follow what your doc says to the letter. Also, compared to the other blogs and youtube videos I've seen my fixator is a little different. There is only 1 screw that needs turning and you cannot see it in this pic because it is at the tip end of the fixator. Also the pins in my foot appear to be pretty short compared to the fixators used maybe 2-3 years ago.

So..... they cleaned my foot up with peroxide, wrapped me up with gauze and the ace bandage and sent me on my way :)

April 2012 Prep & Surgery Day!


To prepare for the surgery and my future disabled-ness I decided to read and dissect every single foot surgery forum I could find online! I got a temporary handicap placard for my car, bought a sweat-proof ice pack, a waterproof cast cover, this shower stool, this knee scooter, and this shower head with an attached hose to use while sitting:

My surgery was scheduled at 10am at an outpatient surgery center nearby. I arrived with my husband at 9am as instructed when the receptionist called me the week before and again the day before surgery. She said to not eat or drink anything after midnight, to stop taking birth control (to prevent blood clots), wear loose clothes and to arrive 1 hour early for paperwork and prep. They took me in, weighed me, did the urine pregnancy test and I changed into a cozy warm gown. Everyone kept asking me what I was having done in order to make sure I was the right person. I was given a purple marker to write YES on the foot I was to be operated on. Then they inserted the IV (this was my first surgery EVER and I was quite nervous) and the nurse said "this is the most you're gonna feel today". She was right because it just felt like a pinch. Then the anesthesiologist came in and gave me a "cocktail" haha! He and my doc wheeled me to the OR and I woke up after what felt like a nice nap with my foot wrapped up like this:

My doc said everything went well! He told me not to get it wet or put any weight on it. They gave me this medical boot and some crutches. My husband and a nurse helped me change back into my loose clothes and helped me into a wheel chair. The valet brought my car around and I was back home by noon. I kept my foot elevated at ALL times and had zero pain! My husband picked up my painkillers and antibiotics at the pharmacy while I slept and I started taking them immediately as instructed. After around Day 3 I stopped taking the painkillers since I had no pain but kept on with the antibiotics until they finished :) Overall I saw that I was able to do everything on my own thanks to the scooter so my husband went back to work. 

Hi! My name is Brachyfemme; I'm a twenty-something Texan girl who suffers from a condition called Brachymetatarsia. In short (pun intended): the 4th metatarsal on my right foot stopped growing in childhood which made my fourth toe (or "ring" toe as I've heard it called) appear to be a lot shorter than the rest.

Is brachymet painful? Sometimes. I love to run however after a couple of miles of running, the right half of my right foot goes uncomfortably numb probably due to uneven weight distribution. Also, I love shoes and almost all of them have material than run right across my lil toe and cause it to get rubbed raw :(

In addition to physical discomfort, this has stopped me from doing a ton of things. For example: Texas + Memorial Day= float the river. It's a blast but less so when everyone is wearing flip flops and you're wearing crocs or other hideous waterproof shoes. Same goes for waterparks, the beach, and swimming pools. Only my immediate family has seen my foot. Nobody else in my entire extended family has it.

Probably the most sadistic thing I ever did to myself was work at a shoe store surrounded by shoes I couldn't wear. Once at the store I saw a girl walk in with brachy on BOTH feet and she was rockin' those flip flops like nobody's business. If only we all had such confidence.


As I said, this is something I have been deeply embarrassed about my entire life and finally took the plunge and had the external fixator surgery 4 weeks ago today. I could've gone to Arizona to have Dr. Lee do the 1 step lengthening but I found an awesome doc close to home so I figured why not just keep it local ;).


Anyway I only have 1 clear-ish "before" pic of my foot due to I hated my foot and never took pics of it. So I'm posting it here so you can have an idea of what it looked like :)