Brookej

Dear JudithC,
Thanks for replying to my post. Yeah, it DOES stink!!! Right about now, I wish I lived in Mass. I did not wear a hard cast for either foot but I didn't have a fusion procedure either - I had a screw put in each foot to hold the cut bone in place. A friend of mine had very extensive work done on both of her feet and she did wear a cast with both - she had metatarsals fused, etc., etc. I am not totally convinced that her orthopedic surgeon was the best one out there but he is not on my insurance list anyway. With me, each foot was bandaged with a coban wrap around it for the first week and then bandaged with an ACE wrap around it for one more week. I had to use 2 crutches with no weight bearing for 4 full weeks, then partial weight bearing with 1 crutch for an additional 2 weeks. Crutch walking can really slow you down! How was it for you - wearing a cast? My friend described it as a torture chamber for the foot! My feet were just wrapped but the right foot especially felt like it was trapped in a pressurized torture chamber. Did you use crutches or a walker? I have never worn a cast and I think it would drive me crazy! I also had hand surgery last fall and I was supposed to wear a cast after my first post-op visit but my hand surgeon was kind enough to prescribe a removable splint when I told him I was claustrophobic about having a cast. Was I ever!!! Even with the splint, I was having panic attacks but I could at least remove the splint to relieve some of my anxiety when I needed to. Three surgeries in 4 months might have just been too much for me. All that lost time and I still have 2 messed up feet! BTW, my hand surgery went well - that Dr. was excellent. I am glad your foot surgeries have gone well - I wouldn't wish these poor results on anyone. Anyway, I have an appointment with a Podiatrist in about a week and a half. Someone told me that Podiatrists are the original foot surgeons and that specializing in foot and ankle surgery for orthopedic surgeons did not come about until 1992. I have other foot problems anyway that need to be addressed by a Podiatrist - I don't think an orthopedic surgeon would want to bother with some of the other foot problems I have. This whole messed up foot thing runs in my family. Two of my aunts and an uncle have had similar problems and had surgery on their feet. I think my uncle had good results (he lives far away) but one of my aunts wants to have more surgery on one of her feet and I don't know how my other aunt even walks - you should see her feet! My mom has "it" too but she does not choose to have surgery as she is in poor general health anyway. At least I didn't pass "it" on to any offspring of my own since I had problems with infertility. I sometimes remind myself of this when I get down about being childless. Sorry for rattling on so but sometimes it is therapeutic for me. Good luck on your continued healing - geting the cast off must be a relief but we both know that healing for foot surgery takes a long time. Take care!
Brookej