Xrays and 3rd physical therapy appointment! 2-10-17

I now get X-rays every 3 weeks instead of every 2 weeks. We are looking at bone growth now. It's the countdown to fixator removal! It's been 3 weeks since my last X-rays at his office and he said 8-10 weeks so that means I have about 5-7 weeks left! I'm taking my vitamins to try and promote healthy bone growth so lets hope for the less amount of time but I'm willing to wait because if the fixators are off too early the bone is still soft and with no support it can collapse and you can actually loose length and will have to repeat this whole process in order to fix it NO THANK YOU NEVER AGAIN! I will post my X-rays below my left foot the bone has not unionized yet but it's almost there! My right foot the bone has unionized so now time to solidify. The whiter it gets on the X-ray the harder the bone is getting.

I'm now on my third physical therapy appointment. So what happened is that we actually bumped up the times I go to 3 times a week instead of 1-2. I need a lot of work done and when I get these fixations off I want to feel as normal and free as I possibly can! I have big goals to achieve in due time once this is all done. Im going to finally start racing and I'm working towards my spartan trifecta!!! I will achieve that goal but there is no way I possibly could at my flexibility at the moment. So my therapist gave me more exercises to do that are now working on my hips! They make me sore but it's a good feeling I think coming out of this I will also have a nice firm booty too hahaha! Anyway, the way she describes this is that when you don't use a joint for a long period of time is that it freezes. What that means is there is a capsule and in this capsule are tendons and ligaments that tighten up. You need to work on them to loosen it up and boy is it a slow process! However I have already made great progress in just 3 visits and my exercises at home I've been doing. My flexion in my brachy toes is actually great! Flexion is bending the toes down like curling them, my brachy toes are able to do what all of my other toes can do! She said that flexion comes first it's easier to achieve and then extension comes next. Extension is moving them upward like if you were to put your foot into heels your toes would need to extend. My toes are slowly but surely working their way upward. I'm at 20% extension in only 3 visits. Prior to that I was at 0% it barely would move so I'm extremely happy at that. She also can't work on my toe as much as normally because of my bones not being hard enough and having hardware in it gets in the way. She said I'll see better results once I get these off because then she can really go in and just work my toes. So far my toes are stiff in the beginning for a few seconds and its about 2 second of pain and then my toe starts to release as she works at it and after that it feels so amazing like releasing and relief its great. I'm so excited for the future and I'm really hoping that by the time I get these fixators off ill be near 100% maybe at the 60-80% range! I have quite a few more weeks so I have about 15-21 more visits before fixator removal so fingers crossed! I will keep you all updated on my progress.

I'm still waiting to hear from my doctor on the results of my X-rays.

Left no unionized bone yet

Right unionized bone!

2-2-17 First Physical Therapy Appointment

Hey everyone!

So these past many days have been a struggle for me but after this physical therapy appointment I am extremely excited and optimistic!!!!

My toe has not been wanting to move at all whatsoever... It is just stuck frozen in this position.... neutral (straight). Now what is happening is it's starting to slide under my third toe on each foot because it does sit lower than all my other toes. I was not able to walk on my bare feet for a while because of this. These toes have never touched the ground before and now that its starting to and it's the first toe to touch and the fact it doesn't give way makes it really sensitive and irritated.

Fast forward to after this physical therapy appointment. She gave me two exercises to do. One of them is to put a towel on a hard surface and sit in a chair and put your feet on the towel. She wants me to the scrunch my toes to scrunch the towel up and then un-scrunch the towel with my toes. She said to do this for three minutes. Then she told me keep my feet on the towel and slide my feet backwards but keep heels touching the ground to stretch. I do this 20 times and hold it for 10 seconds.  I do this 4 times a day. She also works on my toes for about 30 minutes each. It hurt so bad at first but then it released a little and started to feel relaxing and good! After she was done my toe was relaxed and flat no longer pushing down into the ground...sadly this faded and it went back to its tucked lower position throughout the day. She mentioned that because I was living most of my life with brachymetatarsia that my knees and hips were also out of whack. She told me she was going to contact Dr. K and ask him if she would be able to start on some hip and knee strengthening exercises next time and some soft tissue work as well! Dr. K is so nice I'm sure there will be no problem with him saying that it is fine! I really like my physical therapist as well she is super nice and extremely helpful and knowledgable. She said she has never seen this in her life. She specializes in the lower half of bodies so she knows everything that will help me but she said I am a very difficult patient but it makes it fun. I go to Athletico physical therapy.

1-23-17 Follow Up Appointment

This Monday was a follow up appointment after the wire removal surgery. I went into his office and they took X-rays which sadly I don't have to display for this post! I was then taken into a room and Dr. K removed my bandages. My toes were swollen and puffy of course but the issue now is that my brachy toes wouldn't move at all. They were completely frozen. This is a common thing that happen to joints that aren't moved in a long time. My toes at this point haven't moved in about three months! Dr. K showed me a way to try and start move it to loosen it up but when I tried it was so painful and it freaked me out touching it knowing it should be moving and it wouldn't I couldn't do it. He then prescribed me physical therapy. He wrote on the order form for them to focus on the range of motion in my fourth metatarsal joints for 1-2 days a week. He said other than that everything looks great and he is extremely impressed with the way my toes look and said that they look so natural!!! He mentioned now that it could take about 8-10 weeks before pin and fixator removal because now my bone needs to completely calcify and become solid!

NOW STARTS THE COUNTDOWN TO REMOVAL!!!!!!!!!

Left foot 

Right foot 

1-21-17 Second Surgery

Hello everyone here is an update!!

The wires through the tip of my toes needed to come out! I called Dr. K and talked to him about my options. I told him that the wires through the tips of my toes were now angled down towards the ground and this started causing me terrible pain. In the boots and walking without the boots the wires would push into the ground which caused a ripping feeling where the skin was around the wire which sucked so bad. It was also pushing up on my toe that was excruciating! He told me that he normally doesn't take these out until the whole fixator comes out because there is a small chance that the toe could become a little deformed but that a simple surgery could fix it. However he told me that if I couldn't walk normally though it would hinder my healing process and that it's better to remove it. I was not walking normally at all. I was putting my weight on the insides of my feet. My ankles were killing me and my legs were hurting like hell so we set up a day for surgery for removal of the wires.

I flew back to Cali and had my surgery set up for a Saturday at his new surgery center. I got there and was told to do the same things as before change, got my IV set up and was wheeled into surgery. I was put under light sedation, I was still completely under, Dr. K removed the wires and then put a corticosteroid shot in each brachy joint. Forgot to mention at this point I was at complete length. After the surgery I scheduled a follow up appointment for that Monday. The surgery went very well! It was an instant relief once the wires were removed.

1-3-17 X-ray update!

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful New Years day! It was sad that this new year for me I wasn't able to go out and celebrate but it's okay. My new feet are the beginning of my new year and it's so worth it! I got X-rays done so I thought I would post those and give you all a little update on how I'm doing!

I'm in more pain now than I ever have been throughout the whole process. Dr. K said that when I got to this point I may not be able to walk as well and boy was he right. Walking is terrible painful because I have so much space in between my bones! I'm so close as well I'm nearly at length!! I will post picture of what my toes look like as well. It's crazy to see my feet look "normal". I'm also having issues with the wires going through the tip of my toes. Now that my toes are long and at the proper length basically the wires stick out far and point downwards. This causes issues for me that result in a lot of pain. They are tapped on everything because they stick out farther that my big toe and I always am tapping it or hitting it on things and it hurts like crazy! They also hit the floor/bottom of my medical shoes as well. This causes my toe to be pushed upward and results in excruciating pain! I am now walking weirdly by putting my weight on my heels/inside of my feet. My ankles are now so sore and painful because of the way I'm walking due to these wires! I contacted my Dr. and I am waiting got hear back from them on whether or not I can get these removed prior to the whole device removal. I am willing to fly out there to get these taken out!!!

Other than that I am doing extremely well!! No infection which is amazing. Skin is healing really well and my feet look amazing. I also am trying anything and everything to make my bones heal fast! I am taking vitamins such as calcium, fish oil, D3, and magnesium. These are all good for bone growth! I also purchased helichrysum essential oil that I am going to mix with coconut oil and rub on my feet. It is known for restorative properties and can help with bone healing and scars! I also purchased a TENS device. These devices emit electronic pulses to help with deep tissue massaging. I put one pad on the bottom of each foot and it helps with pain and discomfort and contracts my muscles it feels great. I am also hoping because of the frequency that it emits that it will also help with bone growth because it's at that sweet spot were bone grows. Fingers crossed. I am so ready for this to be over I'm going a little crazy. Especially because it is winter time I can do nothing more that just sit around at home. SOON SO SOON......

Left foot currently!

Right foot currently!

Right foot difference!

Left foot difference!

Right foot X-rays!

Left foot X-rays!

X-rays 12-17-16

Hello all these are my x-rays from today! I think they look really great based off of what I know about x-ray images. I am waiting to hear back from Dr. K on how they look and to see if he tells me to start turning faster or whatnot. Today marks 51 days since my first surgery (right foot) and 43 days since my second surgery (left foot).

Right foot from top view.

Right foot from side view.

Left foot from side view.

Left foot from top view.

Left foot from side view.

Right foot from side view.

Update 12-14-16

Hello everyone!!

My new set of X-rays are due on the 17th! I've almost been home for an entire month and it is seriously crazy to think about!!!

I just wanted to give you all an update on my feet. The infection is gone and since I've been wrapping my feet differently I have not gotten another infection.
Every time I shower I scrub my feet and get off all the dead skin. My feet have never looked so good in my life!! HAHA!
I have been using hydrogen peroxide at the pin sites and my toes every other day to keep it clean! It has severely helped with not getting another infection.
I noticed that around the pin sites they were getting extremely dry and cracking and it was hurting my so I have been using a clean q-tip to apply vaseline around the pin sites and it has helped dramatically.
I asked Dr. K if I could remove the stitches from the little incision he made to break the bone and he said sure. I took the stitches out and the area has been healing wonderfully! I don't think I'll even have a scar!!
I heard back a couple days ago about my x-rays and Dr. K says they look great and that I should keep turning at my ¼ turn a day rate. This made me a little sad because I was hoping to go faster but I know that slow and steady wins the race and that it will be worth it in the end.
I also use this all natural cream on my feet every other day to help keep them soft and keep the skin from getting dry and cracked making sure to stay away from any opening. Don't want to go near those.
I feel really great! I don't have pain anymore at all. I haven't needed to take a pain pill in many days and it's really nice!

I'll show you guys an update on my length! With these pictures you can really see the difference! The photo on the left shows length prior to turning and the photo on the right shows length as of today!! 12-14-16. What a difference already.

My next X-rays are this Saturday on the 17th and I'm excited to see the difference and hopefully will be able to get the pictures off the disk to show you all.

Left foot length difference.

Right foot length difference.