Prayer Request: Reconstructive Foot Surgery

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ccgr
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Praying, keep us posted!
EchoDelta
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Returned from California last night. Then immediately got up this morning to take the blood test. I didn't think I'd get the results until Monday but surprisingly received the result already: 6.9%, which should be low enough to have the operation on the 27th of this month. I'll fax the results to my orthopedic surgeon on Monday. I am surprised at the result. I thought it would be lower but the cortisone shot in my elbow in February certainly had an impact on the result. Forgot to mention the progress of my elbow. The cortisone shot didn't work. There's still pain in the elbow so I wear a brace 24/7 now including when I sleep. I will continue to work on maintaining my diabetes numbers. No cheat days.

Thanks for the prayers,
Ed
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ccgr
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Sorry about your elbow but glad to hear the operation should still be on track. Still praying for you!
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The hospital called and confirmed the foot operation for April 27. April 15 is the pre-op. It's been just straight up stress and pain for a year. The news today has been a wave of relief. Now I can really relax for about 3 weeks before the operation. I pretty much know what the operation entails but I'll update this again after the pre-op.

Thank you so much for the prayers.
Ed

My only celebration will be making cauliflower-crust pizza. It'll be my first attempt at it though. I haven't had pizza in over a year and certainly don't want the large amount of carbs even from thin-crust pizza. I'm not craving pizza but I do miss it.
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ccgr
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Great to hear! Good luck on the pizza!
EchoDelta
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Surgery finally confirmed and it is set for next Wednesday. In speaking to my orthopedic surgeon during the pre-op, this may be the riskiest operation I've ever had due to the skin graft/free flap on top of the foot. Recall that there's a living muscle (taken from my upper leg) below the skin graft. In order to access the bones at midfoot, both the muscle and skin graft need to be carefully "lifted" off the foot. This procedure will be performed by my plastic surgeon. After my ortho surgeon has completed fusing the bones, my plastic surgeon will reinstall the skin graft & muscle. Thankfully this will be a 2-4 hour operation which is much less than the 10-hour types I've had in the past. I have to spend at least 2 days in the hospital after that.

Here's the entire procedure:

1. fuse the navicular bone to the cuneiforms at midfoot in an attempt to eliminate the bone pain
2. shift part of the heel distally (outward from foot) in order to straighten the foot as well as hopefully walk better. For an unknown reason, my right foot healed crooked after the 2013 operation
3. perform 2 osteotomies (removal of bone) from areas on the bottom of the foot in order to reduce pressure points when walking

I'm set on this being the last one for my right foot. If it works then awesome, if not, I'll just live with it. In the event it is successful, then I'll consider the same bone fusion for the left foot. There's the same pain at midfoot but it's not as severe as the right. We'll see.

I also have something else going on next week which I will briefly explain. Last year in October, I was indirectly involved in a criminal matter. After stating several times that I did not want involvement in court hearings, last week, I found out that I've been subpoenaed to testify in court. The trial date, believe it or not, begins this Monday.

I've told the prosecuting attorney's secretary that I have surgery on Wednesday that I will not miss. Her response is although the trial will last the entire week, I may be called in any day but likely Monday or Tuesday. Nevertheless, I am required to appear in court on Monday. At that time, I will provide documents of my pending operation to prove that I'm not trying to get out of testifying. That's all I will say here. If anyone is interested in a further elaboration, send a pm. Obviously when I found out about this subpoena, it caused a great deal of stress. So if anyone can keep this situation in their prayers as well, I'd appreciate it.

Thank you,
Ed
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ccgr
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praying, please keep us updated
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Praying for you. Hope it goes well.
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Some good news finally. Out of curiosity, I called the courthouse to check if there were any new messages this morning. The trial has been postponed. I'm unsure if it was due to me but I kept stating I have surgery Wednesday and was prepared to provide proof of that Monday morning. This certainly removes some stress as I am running out of time with things I need to do prior to Wednesday's operation.

Thank you for the prayers again,
Ed
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ccgr
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excellent news, thanks for letting us know!
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No one, and I mean NO ONE can get in God's Way!
This is good news!
Peace!
8)
If God is my Pilot and fully in control of the flight, I guess that makes me a Steward on the plane. How may I serve you?
EchoDelta
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Hi everyone,

Thanks for the prayers. It's been about 10 days since the foot operation last Wednesday 4/27. The operation so far was a success. My doctor performed the procedures I described in an earlier post in order to fix what went wrong during 2013's operation.

I stayed in the hospital for 2 days. It was a difficult time. While there I was taking 4 oxycodone pills every 3 hours plus a minor shot of morphine to help deal with the pain. My body, unfortunately, reacted negatively to the high amount of narcotics. I developed complications. Upon my discharge, I decided to minimize the oxycodone use to 2 pills per day total. This certainly isn't enough to cover all the post-surgery pain I have but it minimizes the complications.

As a result, I am in a lot of pain & have difficulty sleeping. Plus I have this huge plaster cast that not only covers the foot but up to the knee. The added weight doesn't help especially when I lower the foot below my heart. About noon is when I take the oxycodone & it only lasts a couple hours.

I have xrays but they're not on disk; only scans from a printer & not high-quality. There's new hardware in my heel (1 plate & 4 screws). For the bones at midfoot, the original plate installed in 2013 was removed and replaced with new hardware. I can't tell by the xrays but it looks like there's 2 small plates followed by several longer screws that join several bones together including the navicular bone. Next Friday the cast comes off (yay) and I should be able to get new xrays on disc then. I'll post them then.

After dealing with the complications & all the pain, I've decided that this is the final operation for both feet. I don't think my body can handle another one. I'll just accept the outcome for the right foot and the left foot's bone pain will remain.

Speaking of the outcome for the right foot, I won't know if it helped until 2-3 months from now when I begin physical therapy.

Again, thank you for the prayers.
-Ed

As for the trial, it's now set to begin on June 13.
EchoDelta
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Hi everyone,

It's been nearly 2 months now since the April 27 operation to my right foot. As expected I begin physical therapy at a sports clinic tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. On June 10, I began some weightbearing with 45 lbs of my body weight in walking boot and crutches.

There's a schedule my doctor wants me to follow concerning weightbearing. Every 10 days, I add an extra 25% of my weight such that in 1 month (July 10), I'm able to take a step in a walking boot without the use of crutches. From past experience however, it usually takes 4-6 months to do this.

Since June 10, I've performed some PT on my own at home, which includes stretching the ankle and toes. Using the boot and crutches, I walk around the house for about 10 minutes or check the mail. That's enough as the pain increases rather quickly. As evening approaches the pain gets worse and continues on through the next day. As a result, I only walk every other day as I seriously need a day of rest. I have a recumbent bike at home. I tried riding it a week ago and could only muster riding for 1 minute due to pain and weakness. It's amazing how much muscle atrophy I lose within 2 months.

Pain remains an issue. It certainly makes it difficult to concentrate. I love to read but it's limited right now. With the operation I had in 2013, the pain from the surgery itself lasted almost 5 months. Though this operation wasn't as extensive, I'm still in the early stages of getting a handle on the pain.

I do have a specific prayer request for my foot. In the previous update, I wrote about how the 5th toe (smallest) is numb, pale, and would throb with pain. The symptoms remain. My doctor can only conclude the nerves are being blocked due to all the swelling. His only suggestion is to begin PT and put weight on the foot. If it continues to remain numb, the slightest bruise, cut, or ding, could result in healing complications. Yes I know, after all I've been through, all the operations, all the pain, and even having a toe amputated on my left foot, this numb toe is of great concern. Though some areas of my feet are slightly numb from the injury itself, I've never experienced a completely numb toe before and the way it became numb doesn't make sense. This toe was not part of the operation.

I finally have official xrays of the operation. I compiled 3 collages from different angles which consist of a before, before, and after of the right foot. The "bent rod" hardware installed that appear in the 3rd column of each of the collages serve as a spring to keep the bones compressed. Previously there were 3 plates and 19 screws. Now there's 4 plates and 22 screws. I also dug up some xrays from the 90s which display the foot in various stages of surgical operations. Those are in a 4th collage. I still have several xrays to scan for my left foot from the 90s. I'll provide links to those later.
Despite the toe issue, I continue to trust the Lord. He has sent little reminders throughout this current recovery that keeps my hope in Him. Thank you for the continued prayers,
Ed

As for testifying in court, the trial was postponed yet again. It's now set to occur next month.
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ccgr
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Will continue to pray for you, please keep us posted. Hope the trial goes smoothly.
EchoDelta
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Hi everyone. Well it's been a little over 2 months since my last update.

Unfortunately I don't have much good news to share. My right foot has not shown signs of improvement for about a month now. It's still swollen and hurts a lot. I can stand & walk unassisted in a walking boot for only a couple minutes at a time before the pain gets too much. After that, I need to sit or return to crutches. Sometimes I'll use a cane. At home, I'm still using a knee scooter. My doctor has refused to prescribe more pain killers. It seems like every doctor thinks a patient eventually abuses them. I've always been responsible with them.

Three-quarters of the bottom of the foot remains dull to touch. This is also the area that is swollen & is a source for significant pain. The fifth toe and part of the fourth toe remains pale, completely numb, and painful when standing. In seeing my doctor back in July, he said that a nerve may have been "stretched" when the heel was operated on, which consequently affected the bottom of the foot & toes. There's also this bruise by the ankle on the opposite side that has never gone away. He said it's just "wait and see" if feeling ever returns.

My foot remains crooked which makes walking even more difficult than before. The bone pain has been eliminated in the area that was a problem. However now there's bone pain in an unfused area of the navicular bone. I suspected this could happen and it did. If I step wrong or if the foot gets twisted in any way, my foot will spike with pain. I think I've discussed in the past that with each step I took, the entire foot would shift inward. Now it's much worse than before.

I think I can say that this last operation made my foot worse with possibly permanent drawbacks. My doctor will be in for a treat when I see him in October when I'll still be in crutches and a walking boot. I have a prescription for custom orthotics and shoes but I don't see the point with the foot still swollen.

I'll have more news soon about another operation I may need for my elbow. It hasn't improved either & currently waiting to get an MRI.

Faith remains strong. Satan is looking in the wrong place if he thinks I'll ever question the Lord.
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