Hi all, :wave:
I'm back again after a long time just living with things. To make a long story short, broke my little toe, over and over again. x-rays, mri's showed possible bone infections. had biopsy,possible infections, had picc line for 6 wks. found new dr. old one wanted to amputate little toe, new podiatrist surgeon removed about half of the bones in the little toe, I found it hard to walk afterwards, test showed neuroma. he did the next surgery by cutting the ligment between the 4-5th toe. woke up at the end of surgery(bad move), dr accidently cut vein in foot and I started to bleed out. got that taken care of and 1 week later i developed a staff infection in my foot. Took about 5 weeks till i could walk again in a shoe (crocs). Now I'm set up to have the nerve severed dec 2nd. he is going to go in thru the bottom of the foot, cut the nerve and bury each end in a muscle. it will take 6-8 wk of being off work. any suggestions? has anyone had the surgery in the bottom of their foot. I really trust my dr, and according to other specialist, he is one of the best out there. It's been a long year of surgeries, but at this point I've tried everythin out there. In fact, going to get another shot in the bottom of the foot in about 3 hrs. can't wait. any thoughts or experiences?
thanks :wave: :wave:

Wow, you've been through a lot. I wish you the best of luck!!!

My new doc is considering excising a nerve from the bottom of my foot. I understand it allows them to see better and allows them to bury the nerve stump in muscle away from weight-bearing areas.

When you get a shot, it is cortisone? Does he do it through the bottom of your foot? Does it provide relief and for how long?

Wow :bouncing: it's good to know that there is another dr that wants to do the surgery from the bottom of the foot. You must have a lot of pain/discomfort for him to do that. As I understand it, your are right, It does allow the dr to see the complete nerve, and to cut it and place the ends into muscle. He told me that if it isn't done right, the nerve will try to regrow,reconnect,stay alive, have phantom pain,etc. Also, going in thru the top, he has to go thru alot of bones, muscles, etc. he told me abt 4 wks non-weight bearing, then another week or two learning to walk on it again. but if it stops the pains, then it should be worth it.
Yes, I get the shots in the bottom of the foot, usually as far back on the foot as it takes, and it is cortisone. It also has a numbing agent in it so you don't have pain till it wears off. He pushes on my foot to see where the pain ends. That is where he places the needle. He does put some real cold liquid on the bottom of my foot before the needle, but it still hurts quite a bit. then for the next couple of days, it is as if you steped on a real sharp rock, and it is tender. After that it is great. Mine are lasting only about 3 wks. but it is worth every ounce of pain to get it. Areyou going to get some. It does help. When are you looking to get the surgery? Are you going to a pod surgeon, or ortho dr.?
let me know :wave:
mary

I tried a couple of cortisone shots (from the top of my foot), but they didn't help. He may have missed the target. I'm afraid to get more because it affects the fat pad and I don't have any fat to spare there.
I haven't booked surgery yet. My diagnosis is still not certain. They're not sure if the pain is coming from my forefoot and going backwards to my heel and tarsal tunnel or vice versa. I'm seeing an orthopaedic surgeon. I've had it with podiatrists. I've been to so many over the past 20 years. I learned the hard way that their answer to any questions about success rate is 90%. The podiatrist who did my first surgery said 90% success rate to me verbally and then turned around a wrote a very different story in his report when the surgery was a disaster. I know there are good pods out there - this has just been my experience.

I forgot to mention that i read that going in through the bottom is the norm in England.

Are you going to a new doc for your upcoming surgery?

It sounds like your shots are also diagnostic in that if they relieve your pain, it is very likely the surgery which excises the nerve will be a success.

I'm going to a podiatrial surgeon. He is a graduate of yale medical school and accoring to different types of specialist in the area he is one of the best in the area. He has done 2 of my foot surgeries. I know he will do the best for me. i also know medicine isn't a perfect profession. My ortho surgeon, (when this all started) said that if the 6 wk of PICC line didn't help, then he wanted to amputate the little toe. I really didn't want that, so the infecticious disease spec. that ordered the picc line said that she thought I needed a different dr. so she called my pod surg. and spoke to him.
It has taken him about 6 months to pinpoint where the damage was done. because I couldn't tell him precisely where the pain and discomfort was and the symptoms were quite often different it was hard on him. I got shots in som many places in my foot from the top, between toes, heel,back of foot, etc. finally, he got the spot which was much further back than he thought. The shot really stopped the pain, and from than on we were on a roll. from my 4th toe, it is about 2 21/2 inches back towards the heel. I know what you mean about the shots. I've had about 15-20 in the past year. It's a lot, but it was the best temp solution for me. So far i'm ok. like you I don't have a lot of fat on the bottom of the foot,which is why I'm going to have the surgery one. are you going to get a 2nd opnion? if you trust your Dr. stay with him, but it never hurts to get a 2nd if you have doubts.
mary

Sounds like you have a great doc who really took the time to pinpoint your problem. I went to about 30 docs in the past year and a half and none of them did the diagnostic shots. My new doc is out of town, but he wants to get to the root of the problem so I will stick with him.
Nerve problems really are a different animal when it comes to foot issues. Seems to be so complex and not a lot of doctors have experience with it.
If your nerve pain originates so far back, even the amputation probably wouldn't solve the problem. Thank goodness you didn't do that. What's picc?
Thanks.

A PICC line is where the Dr. inserts an IV line into the upper part of the part and threads a cathater into the vein into the chest. You are then hooked up to an IV pump getting antiboditics 24/7 for 6 weeks. they do that when they think there is a chance of infection. It didn't change anything, but at least it rules out a sever infections. It's not fun. to get up during the night, you have to take the pump with you. Hard to do when you're not really awake.
how are you feeling?

Thanks for the info. on the picc line. This sharing of information sure is empowering.
I'm not doing very well. I'm finding that the pain is getting worse in my bad foot and now my good foot isn't so good anymore. My case is complicated because they aren't sure if the pain is coming from my forefoot and going backwards or vica versa. The only thing that seems to help is heat, so I constantly have my foot on a microwavable bag filled with rice or flax seeds.