Creepy feet

[cjsmith]

In these two photos taken during surgery, you can see how wide my toes are spread. It's clear that it's not just the toes, either -- the metatarsal bones, the long bones of the foot, are also spread apart.

That's not the gross part. Or, well, yeah, but it's nothing new.

There's a ligament that holds the heads of the metatarsals together, and for this surgery mine got cut. (Just between those two. The rest of my metatarsals are still stuck together.) That's why they could move like that. (They needed to move like that, too; the nerve bundle the surgeon had to reach lies at the bottom of the foot.)

That's not the gross part.

That ligament did not get stitched back together and it is not expected to heal. That change is permanent. So now I have feet whose inner bones can spread out more than normal. After I heal up maybe I will be able to take my foot in my hands and move it so it looks like that.

That's just plain creepy. But you can bet I'm going to be fascinated by this capability the instant it doesn't hurt to try.

Comments

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

Oh, what wonderful photos! You have inspired me, CJ! I don't need any surgery at this time -- thank goodness! -- but next time I do, my camera is coming with me!

What did the nurse and doctor say when you handed them the camera and asked them to take the pictures? Just so I'm prepared for the reaction....

On another subject altogether ... I [heart] your shower! It's gorgeous! I had a nice shower in my last house (the only house I ever really loved), but even that was nothing like yours! And now I have just a regular old bathtub and I hate climbing into and out of it to take my showers. Sometimes when one of my knees is stiff it doesn't bend as much as I'm expecting it to, and I end up whacking my toes on the edge of the shower door track. (Which brings up the question, Why are the doors on a bathtub called shower doors?! I know, for the same reason we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway. =sigh= )

And how on earth do you keep those glass doors so sparkling clean?!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I do so love photos! I asked my surgeon ahead of time and she said "Bring in a camera and give it to someone." So at the surgery center I kept trying to give it to everyone. "Hi, my doctor said I can give this to someone to take pictures during surgery; are you the right person?" One person said "I don't think we'll be able to do that." But I kept asking, and the OR nurse was the one who replied "Oh, that would be me."

We almost never use that shower. It's in the upstairs bedroom, which has light in it, so Rob won't go near it. It makes a lovely guest place though. I chose that room for my recuperation because that shower doen't have a tall side like the downstairs shower (bathtub) I normally use! :-)

Maybe they're "shower" doors (just like shower curtains) because we wouldn't need them for a bath?