THE WOES of TOES

For today's blog why not see if I can make anybody queasy out there while I describe more of the saga of the rebuilt foot. Surely you all would enjoy visualizing this so let's test your imaginations.

The day of the visit to the doctor's office finally arrived and anticipation was high. Our gal, Carly's Mom, put on a brave face, anxious to shed the "rags" and take a look at her foot for the first time. Luckily being a nurse she can handle this sort of visual, but we heard hubby didn't fare so well.

First thing was the removal of the double layer of Plaster of Paris, lots of cotton, and the ace wrap splint she's had on since surgery and at last our patient sees her new arch and straightened foot and is absolutely elated. Hubby sees it and is positively nauseous. Poor guy either lost it at the sight of the six incisions ranging from about 2 inches to about 6 inches or somewhere along the 80 staples giving the foot a rather zippered appearance. There were the two little ones, each about 2 inches long, one just behind the inside ankle and one about 1/4 the way up to the calf (those apparently for harvesting bone for the fusion of the front of the foot and lengthening the heel cord(Achilles tendon). The biggest one ran from the bunion straight back along the side of the arch to just short of the ball of the heel. One was similarly located along the little toe side of the foot with the other 2 incisions between and running parallel with those 2. All 4 big ones look parallel, kind of like a cat scratch, a very large cat. Are we grossed out yet?

Meantime, back to the toes, they are quite porky looking by now and extremely bruised so most likely a pedicure would be a major waste of time. This is to be expected though and the doctor thought everything looked good. So next up it was staple removal time and again hubby held her hand while looking another direction. I do believe he probably felt them more than she did. Following this procedure new x-rays were taken, all looked good so next step was the fiberglass cast. Our star chose a bright shade of orange, probably to match the color of her VW bug which she can't drive for awhile. She'll be wearing this cast for about four weeks and then return for more x-rays. This particular cast is what they call a "diabetic cast" which means it has twice the padding of a regular cast to prevent forming blisters.

There was a small blister sighted at casting time so now hubby has the dubious chore of keeping a close watch on the fat little piggy's to make sure this one heals properly and no new ones crop up. So Carly's Mom figures that if hubby shows no signs of horror on his face when he views her toes, then all is well. She is much more comfortable with this footwear than the previous "rags". Carly should have no problem seeing her coming or going with that fluorescent shade of orange either.

Now Carly's recent note tells me that the day they left for the doctor she was quite concerned since they were gone several hours. Fortunately her wait paid off since when they returned they brought lunch with them and shared it with her. Carly happens to like people food. She was concerned over this new thing on Mom's foot though as it was such a weird color, very hard and quite scratchy. It appeared to be shorter and now Mom's toes stick out of it but you can see it coming for about a half a mile. She also overheard Mom mention she wanted another attempt at using crutches again. Poor Carly wanted to know how she can help should Mom tumble. Carly actually thought she could try and catch her so I had to tell her the truth...run the other way and don't look back.

Now the story goes hubby took Carly's Mom on a short trip to the store. The knee walker came along to escort her in and it turned out to seem like miles and miles before she ever got back to the car. While everyone else thinks nothing about the quick walk from the vehicle to the front door of the store, our one foot wonder winds up with muscle spasms in the back of the right thigh before she ever gets there. A couple of elderly customers in the store thought the knee walker looked wonderful and like a lot of fun but little did they know it comes with Charlie and his horses!

Carly also tells me Mom attempted to weigh herself the other day. Not only can the woman not manage to balance long enough to see her weight, hasn't it occurred to her that her bright orange cast probably adds several pounds so why even go there? But we do thank her for that comical visual.

Okay, more tomorrow on 'As The Foot Heels'!
Sister VC