Infection! 11-29-16

Hey guys! I am now home back in Chicago Illinois in the middle of winter and I want to cry! I miss California so much. The flight back home was extremely brutal!! The flight was basically full except for one seat and my mother and I somehow got lucky enough that it was between us so throughout the flight I was able to keep my feet elevated. Traveling during thanksgiving is so brutal with how many people there are flying and being handicapped was so bad. The people in security completely screwed me over from having a big seat up in the front of the plane I was almost late to boarding and was boarding with group C so I had to walk all the way to the back of the plane. Security wanted my feet, made me stand in the scanning machine, then did that explosives paper on both of my feet then also made me wait 30 minutes to check my bag because I had a computer. It was so terrible. I got home safely though without injury!

So today I was taking a shower and had been noticing my right foot hurt A LOT! More than normally. When I got out of the shower I took a good hard look at my foot and realized how terribly red my bratty toe was! I then asked my mother about it and even the slightest touch of my toe was excruciatingly painful. She said she thought it was infected. I then took a picture and sent it to Dr. K and he said it probably was infected. He told me if it is red like that, terribly painful to touch, swollen, and hot then yes it is infected and to take the meds he prescribed. I started taking my antibiotics that night. I had to take 4 a day for 10 days. I was wondering how in the world my toe itself was infected. It wasn't the pin sites. I thought that maybe it was the wire going in through my toe that was the reason. Upon more inspection of my toe I realized that there was a giant open crack in my skin where my toe connects to my foot at the bottom. My toe still isn't long enough to where the pad on the bottom doesn't lay over my toe. So it got wet in there and my skin cracked and because there is no oxygen flow it go infected. Dr. K warned me about this and I totally forgot. I then figured out a new way to wrap my feet with the gauze to keep that dry and to heal it! I cut the gauze a little longer than normally and I wrapped it around my toe and shoved it into the spot where the crack was.

I have my next set of x-rays on 12-3-16!! I can't believe I've been home for almost 2 weeks now!!

You can see how bright red my right brachy
infected toe is.

You can see here how the bottom of my foot
flaps over. In there is where the crack was that
got infected.

The new way I wrapped my toe so that it stays
dry in the area.

2nd Doctors Appointment! 11-19-16

Hello all!!

11-19-16 was my second doctors appointment. I went in and they took x-rays immediately of my feet. It's really awesome the machine that Dr. K has that takes x-rays. You can sit in a chair while they do it and they place your foot on this cylinder type of thing and the x-ray pops up right in front of you on the screen. I took a picture of my right foot and you can see the gap of the bone!! It looks really cool.

Dr. K said everything looks really great so far and my x-rays look good. He wrapped my feet all up and gave me a care package of gauze and wrappings to go because I was flying back to Chicago that Monday on 11-21-16. They gave me another written prescription for pain pills since I was running out of them and would need a refill. He then told me that every two weeks I need to get x-rays done and send them to his office. That way he can monitor me from out of state. My next x-rays will be done on 12-3-16 then!

This is my right foot. If you look close
enough you can see the gap!

Pain 11-13-16

Hello everyone. I wanted to give you all an update on how I am doing!

So since I am out here in California I decided to go to northern Cali to visit one of my best friends who moved out here. My mother and I drove up and she actually flew back home for a few days to help out back there. I stayed with her in her apartment. We arrived there on the 11th and we were going back to our hotel in SoCal on the 16th. When we got to her place I went a little bit too much too fast... It was only one week after surgery on my left foot and I did a little too much walking around and it caused so much swelling and pain. I completely regret doing that. There was a ton of bruising on that foot and made my foot extremely painful to the touch.

I took my first shower on the 14th. This was the day I started turning my left foot and stopped turning my right foot 2 times a day. The shower was amazing!! I sat in the shower and got both feet wet. It felt so wonderful. It was really crazy and kind of gross but the amount of skin that I scrapped off of my feet was ridiculous. I couldn't get them wet and just using a washcloth every so often to wipe them down didn't help much with getting dead skin off. Other than that I was doing well. I was in pain but the pain pills helped a lot. I also iced and raised my feet every single night which helped tremendously.

My next doctors appointment is on 11-19-16 where he will check on my feet and take x-rays!

Doctor Visit! 11-7-16

I had a doctors appointment set up for a follow up after surgery and to also start lengthening my right toe! We drove out to his office in San Fernando CA. We got there and walked into the office and met the girls I had been emailing with and talking to over the phone. They are very sweet and nice people! They took me to the back and took X-rays of both of my feet to see how they are doing. Dr. K said that they look great! I then had to pee in a cup for them for a drug test which was supposed to be done before my first surgery but it was forgotten about so I did that! I then went back to a room and sat on the chair. I was lifted up and Dr. K came in and asked how I was doing. Which I have been doing great!! He then took off my ace bandages for both feet threw them out and took off the gauze around my pins on both feet. He looked at both of them and said they look really good. He then wrapped up my left foot with new gauze around the pins and a new ace bandage around my whole foot. Then he gave me an allen wrench and taught me how to turn my fixator! There is an arrow pointing to the inside of my foot he said to go opposite of that and turn to the outside of my foot to lengthen. He told me for the first week of turning I will make 2 quarter turns, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. After the first week I will go to turning one quarter turn a day until I reach the proper length. He said he does this because when he breaks the bone during surgery he actually compresses the bone together to make it "sticky" this is making the bone start healing and building new bone and you can go a little faster in the beginning because of that. After he likes to go slow because that way the bone is building fast enough so that you don't have to wait a long time once you reach the right length for the bone to harden. This way when I reach length I will not have to wait as long for my bone to harden. He gave me the wrench and wrapped up my feet and I set up an appointment with him for 2 weeks later. I start lengthening my left toe on Monday! I can also start getting my right foot wet and my left foot on Monday as well but I have to dry it right away and am not allowed to soak my feet but showering is fine. He also gave me a roll of gauze to change every day or every other day. I have been changing it about every other day. There is only a little bit of fluid on them when I change it, there isn't much ever. He then gave me a prescription for antibiotics in case I get a pin track infection. He said almost everyone gets a pin track infection at some point during this. It happens because you have something going from outside skin to inside and it's just a common thing with that. He said some people get it once every few weeks, some never get it so fingers crossed I never do! However he gave me antibiotics just in case. He said if I see it's infected, which is red, puffy, tender, sore, irritated, and pussy. He said if it happens take the antibiotics. He said if I ever need anything just text him and he will help me out! He's so nice. I'm very happy I chose them!

Second Foot Surgery!! 11-4-16

This was an exciting day! I woke up early and we drove to the surgery center in Tarzana, CA again. We got there and I signed some paperwork again and then walked to the back to change again. I walked all on my own without crutches but I still brought them with me because I knew I would need them after surgery. I changed into the gown and cap and peed in a cup again for a pregnancy test and put everything in a locker. I walked out to the bed and signed more paper and got my IV ready. I met my anesthesiologist who was different than the one I had last time. Dr. K then came in and unwrapped my foot finally!!!!

So there was a little miscommunication between the surgery center, Dr. K, his office, and myself about my first foot. I should have seen him in between these surgeries, he was confused and said that he usually sees people about 3 days after surgery and he didn't see me for 8 days. I was also supposed to have been changing the gauze around the pins and icing my foot without the ace bandage on it but I was told no appointment and don't unwrap it the entire time until the next surgery and the ice machine wouldn't do much with the ace bandage on. So my foot was a little more swollen than it should have been however he said it looked really good!! Make sure you get a follow up appointment sooner and make sure you're icing your foot and understand the instructions for the proper post op care!

I then went into surgery for my left foot the strapped me down and I passed out. I was so cold I was shaking when I woke up but stuck this tube under my blanket that blows hot air and it feels sooooooo nice!!! I then recovered and was then walked into the bathroom to change. My foot was SO numb that I was hard to walk and the nurse had to help me to the wheelchair in the bathroom. She told me to pee but I couldn't at all this time!! I got dressed and was wheeled out to the car. I also got a handicap placard. This will help so much.

This time around my foot was blocked again and this time it was so much more numb than before but thats the difference between doctors! It is now late at night and my foot is still so numb so it's hard to get around because it feels like I'm missing my foot! I was told to set up an appointment for Monday as a post op appointment for my left foot and as an appointment to start turning my right toe! Dr. K usually waits 10 days post op to start turning to lengthen the toe. I also can now take the ace bandage of and every day or every other day I change the gauze out around the pins. I will probably change the gauze tomorrow or the next day and video tape it and put it up here! I have not had pain in my right foot this entire day which is awesome! The later it gets in the night the more my numb foot comes back which sucks! I hate the feeling haha it's so strange and it gets hot and tingly feeling when it comes back and it drives me nuts but it's only for today so I can get through it! I simply can not wait to turn my toe!!

Before surgery!

After surgery at the hotel

This is what my foot looks like without the bandages.

My swollen toes.

Swollen foot!!

I think my foot is a tad bit bruised! 

Day Before Second Surgery 11-3-16

My mother and I chose to go to Huntington Beach. It was my last day of walking a little more "normal". I also rented a wheel chair, not a full size one, it's more of a transfer chair. My mom does push me around in it because it doesn't have big wheels to use to push yourself around. I also got soft pads for the crutches because I was really starting to hurt my armpits and palms of my hands. The pads really really help! We were going to go on the beach and go on the pier and get food down the pier. I also got a cheaper cast cover so I could go on the sand and possibly in the ocean! My chair that I got is a rental from a medical supply store here in Anaheim. I had the option to get a prescription from Dr. K and go through insurance but it would have taken too long, and I didn't want to deal with insurance. This place we went was super affordable it's $90 a month or $32 a week. So I rented it for the rest of my time here.

We got to Huntington and I tried to use just the crutches but my armpits hurt so bad we ended up just using the wheel chair and my mom wheeled me around. We went down the pier and ate lunch at the restaurant at the end of it. We then went to a few stores and then put the wheelchair back in the car put the cast cover on and then attempted going on the beach. We made it to the water it was so hard to walk through the sand on crutches but we made it and rested and it was super nice to rest on the beach for a while! Getting back to the car was even worse! I made it though. We then went back to our hotel and I was able to start walking around without crutches! It was amazing.

I then prepared myself for bed showered and got ready for surgery tomorrow! Same as last time nothing to eat or drink after midnight and then be there at 6! I then went to bed.

The pads added to my crutches.

This is my chair I use to get around. It's collapsible.

This is me at the beach! Goodbye to my
left brachy toe, hello new feet! I love
Huntington Beach.

5 Days Post Op! 11-1-16

Hello everyone.

It is now been 5 days since my surgery and I just wanted to do a quick update. I am having my next surgery this Friday on the 4th! I spoke with my doctor about getting a handicap pass while I'm here to make it easier to go places because it's been a little hard getting around. I've been needing to get dropped off whenever we go places. I also am checking with my insurance company as to where they would cover me to get a wheelchair from a medical supplies store. I will definitely need to get a wheelchair if I want to go places for longer period of times. We will see what they say.

I have been able to bend my ankle more now and put more pressure on my foot which has been amazing! I'm very impressed with how well this is going. These past few days have been going well. I've mainly just been relaxing and laying around. Today was the first day where I went out and was out for a while, especially not being able to have it elevated. Today was interesting. I also didn't take any pain meds all day for some reason I just forgot and I didn't feel any pain in the beginning of the day. My mother and I went to go get our hair done and we both where getting it cut and colored so we where there for about 3 ½ hours. It was tough because I was also having to walk back and forth from the chair and the washing tub. I used the crutches to get back and forth but it was still hard to do. Sitting in a chair for 3 ½ hours my foot started to hurt really bad. I also had not taken medication yet and couldn't due to the fact that if I do not eat with it, it will make me throw up. So I had to wait until after our hair appointment and after we got food to take my pain meds. We finished up (our hair looks amazing) and headed to get food right after. I ate and popped a pill and waited for it to kick in. We headed back to our hotel and my foot started to hurt extremely bad. I had gone all day with not having it up and not taking any pain meds made it hurt. This was the first time it hurt really bad and has never hurt this bad prior, I would say a 5 out of 10 on a pain scale. I got back to the hotel and instantly put my foot up and took off my wrapping a little to relieve a little of the pressure and it felt like it was on fire, which is from the swelling, and it felt much better. I'm still not allowed to unwrap it yet until my appointment on Friday they will show me how to change the dressings and everything then, but I needed to loosen it a little just for a few minutes. The pain pill kicked in and now I'm feeling great and my foot is feeling better and not on fire. I will update on Friday after the second surgery!