It has been a long time since I've updated. Quite a bit has happened since then.
The nerve damage caused my toes to curl (claw toes) and I had to have them straightened. That involved cutting out the middle knuckle of each toe, releasing the capsule at the bottom of the toe where it hits the foot, transferring tendons, and putting pins in so my toes heal straight. I knew going into it that the surgery would be tough but it was compounded by my pain doctor not showing up to manage my after surgery care at the hospital. I was in severe agony for about 5 hours before a different pain management group stepped in because they couldn't watch me suffer any longer. Needless to say, I changed pain management doctors immediately. Recovery was two months on crutches. Getting the pins out wasn't painful at all, I was really surprised. Barely felt it. I didn't realize that there aren't nerves in the bones so there really wasn't anything to cause it to hurt. My doctor told me to just slowly begin to walk again and everything will stretch out. Everything was going well for a few days and then my RSD went crazy. The pain was off the charts, my foot was bright red all the time and swollen. I ended up having to go on Methadone for a while. It was really effective but had some odd side effects. For me, the sex drive was completely gone. Anyway, after a few weeks, I was able to taper back down to my usual meds. Everything was going okay until I noticed a bump in the arch of my foot that was getting sore. More bad news.
The lump in my arch turns out to be a fibroma. Kind of like a tumor but it is a mass that is in the plantar fascia. For some people, they get really bad and have to be surgically removed. The risk there is an arch collapse and for me, upsetting my CRPS/RSD. The doc said we have two options. We can be conservative, redo the gastroc recession, and see if the additional mobility keeps it from getting worse. The other option is to cut it out. I chose the former which was a simple procedure followed by a few days in the hospital for pain control because of my condition. I spent two weeks recovering and then had to travel to Vegas for work. Swelling was pretty bad and so was pain but that was to be expected. The doctor said it was fine to try and walk normal. Well, a last minute trip came up and I had to go to Italy. While I was there, the pain and swelling were still bad but nothing crazy. Unfortunately, a few days after I got home, my ankle and heel became extremely painful and swollen. Completely out of control. I had to drive across the country for a new job and I thought this would allow it to calm down. I was wrong. Just having it down made it miserable. Since then, I have seen an orthopaedic surgeon, been to the ER, and scheduled a new pain doctor out here in San Francisco. If I keep my foot immobilized in a lace up brace and minimize movement when I walk, the swelling and pain stay within reason. If I don't wear the brace, all it takes is having my foot down and the pain goes crazy. So, now I'm waiting for an MRI and for all of my records to get transferred. I'm hoping that I will have better luck out here than I did in Michigan.
