Hi there. Long time no post eh!! So, what happened since May?
I went to see the surgeon and they made the decision to do two things -
They gave me a machine called 'Exogen' - which is an ultrasound bone healing system. There seems to be very little info on line about it, but essentially I had to strap it onto my foot for 20 mins every day for 4 months. Apparently it creates a little vibration in the area where the bone hasnt healed which causes your brain to think that there is healing to be done. So, the nurse who explained it to me said that it was about a 50/50 success rate. They also put me on the surgical list for surgery "if" the Exogen wasnt successful.
That was May. Roll on to November - and I finished with the machine.
Unfortunately the pain is still there. In absolute honesty, not quite as bad, but then I manage my pain and my "being on my feet" so well and I usually have to take codeine based pain meds if Ive been on my feet too much. My left foot looks just as pronated as before, which makes me feel sad. In fact both feet still pronate. It would seem that hypermobility doesnt respond too well to extreme surgery. Sigh.
So, as the Exogen wasnt successful, it seems there will be more surgery. Apparently the waiting list is 15 months, so we are looking at next August-ish. Thats fine. Im working on losing as much weight as possible so that that doesnt hinder me.
I have to be honest - if I was to be asked would I get the surgeries again - my answer would be - yes, without a shadow of a doubt. My right foot is as good as its going to be, and works without pain. The left foot - well, its a blip and I have no doubt that it will get better.
It is a long and quite frankly frustrating journey - but if you know about the pain of PTTD you know that that pain is horrendous, and arent we lucky that we can have corrective surgery, even if it leaves us with about 80% better feet.
