Side view of new hardware. Red box shows the fracture location still shows separation.

[foot] Walking on a thin line

It’s time for an update! Yesterday marked 8 weeks since my most recent surgery. I had to push out my 6 week followup bc of my hospitalization because, let’s be honest here… as frustrated as I am by my foot, I was more frustrated to lose a week lying in a bed on the 5th floor at GWUH and at the 6 week mark, I was still really destroyed from that time.

So I saw my doctor last week and there were x-rays! Woot-woot! Now, to be fair, this looks like someone emptied a box of picture hanging nails into my foot and sewed it back up and while this might be hard to believe, there’s no pain. The big nails have been in there for year(s) and the human body is really good at just.. getting used to it?? I don’t know but needless to say, I can generally amble about on this guy. Or at least I could to some extent.

Angled view showing the break is still visible.

Anyway, this recent surgery was to put those two small nails into my 5th metatarsal to fix the fracture. If you look closely though, you can still see the fracture. By this time, generally there’s some solid bone regrowth but the doctor thinks it’s likely due to the infection from the pneumonia. That, plus the cocktail of drugs I had while in the hospital may have stunted the healing a bit. So I’ll have to have a CT scan at 12 weeks, something that normally doesn’t happen but is now required to ensure the bone is actually solid. Otherwise, the minute I come out of the boot, I’ll likely just re- it again, probably in a different spot (and OHMYGOD I will subsequently lose my shit.)

This was 12 weeks post op of the double osteotomy on my heel last summer. That white line through the middle of the large screw is the healing once the bone has significant fusing. Hoping to see this on the 5th met in 4 weeks.

So it’s another month in the boot, with fingers and toes crossed. PT starts in a week and once again, I’m back in my familiar place, trying to fix the problem my years of running and bad shoes, has caused. Wish me luck.

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