I’ve had a lot going on, in the lives of family, friends and health. So, I have been more lurking, than anything, lately.
Back in 2013, I had foot surgery, to fix a hammertoe. It turned out to be a botched job, that went from one toe, to all five toes, and two bunions, that didn’t need fixing. That led to a total of six surgeries to fix the mess, but I still ended up with a mess, and vowed to never have surgery again.
When we moved to Texas, I began to have ankle pain, so went to a podiatrist, who gave me two prednisone shots, that didn’t work, so he told me the next step was an ankle joint replacement, due to bad arthritis in my right ankle. I refused to have surgery and left the office, resigning myself to a painful ankle.
After several years of increasing foot pain, this past summer, my pain was worse than it had ever been, especially after 2 or more hours on my feet, preparing for farmer’s market. This Winter, I kept thinking of all that pain, and wasn’t sure I could do a repeat this coming Summer.
So, I started rethinking a joint replacement, but got online to find a surgeon, who was the absolute BEST in the area. Truth be told, I didn’t trust the doctor who said he could do a joint replacement. He didn’t seem all that competent.
I ended up picking a Dr. John Priddy, in Tyler. After reading lots of 5 star reviews, I made an appointment to see him for a consult.
After looking at my X-rays, he joined me in the exam room, and said, “You don’t have any arthritis in that ankle!” I was shocked! “So why do I have so much pain?”
It turns out, I have a condition called Congenital Contracture of the Gastrocmineus Muscle. I was gifted large calf muscles by my father. Those big muscles tend to contract and shorten, pulling on the tendons attached to the foot. The subsequent injuriestthat are possible, are plantar faciitis (which I had a badcase of 15 years ago, shin splints, which my daughter (who also has large calf muscles) had when she ran track in high school, and pulled ankle tendons - which is what has been causing my ankle pain.a temporary/short term solution is to do stretches, but that doesn’t stop the pain long term.
The long term solution is surgery, in which the tendons are clipped to allow lengthening of the gastrocnemeus muscle.
Since I was going to havvee to go under anestheetic, I asked him about fixing the mess that the previous doctor had done. Most doctors are hesitant to acknowledge other doctors mistakes. And Dr. Priddy was no different (can’t say as I blame him), because they don’t want to have to testify in a lawsuit. I assurred him I’m not planning to sue, and he did acknowledge that my foot was a mess. He said he couldn’t make it perfect, but he could straighten the two toes that were at a 30 degree angle (to the right) more than they should be. So, I decided to go ahead and have the surgery. It turned out a good friend had him fix a bad surgery in HER foot, and she now considers her right foot her “good” foot.
So my surgery was last Monday. Only time will tell if my ankle pain goes away and if the metatarsalgia (bone pain) in my right foot will be gone next Summer, when I am working in my garden and doing farmer’s market.
Right now my fibromyalgia has flared, big time, and it is very painful to walk in the walking boot, that they put on after the surgery. It feels like one great big, tender bruise. However, I am finding that each day, the pain, when walking, is a little less.
For now, I am sitting in my recliner, with ice on my elevated foot. Putting pressure on my foot is still painful, so I am using our rolling desk chair to roll to the bathroom. I will be glad to be able to get up and walk around normally.
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Truly, if you took the name off, you could not tell these pots apart visually. So, will be checking $$ of pots and sizes to see if both are same and one offers the insert for less. Otherwise, eeh...use with care. 
