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New pics start here. They're getting boring.
Again she unbandaged my feet, pronounced them good, and rebandaged them. This time she put a lot less gauze on them and didn't use any iodine. Less gauze feels good; my feet are closer to their normal shape!
She also said I can "start to get them wet" this weekend. She gave me some of the stretchy stick-to-itself bandage to rewrap them.
I asked a few questions.
Q: When can I get out of these funky recovery shoes?
A: When I see you again (in two weeks).
Q: Really??
A: All right, you can try next week. Go easy on them.
Q: When will the phantom pain/sensations go away?
A: They will diminish gradually and should be gone in a few months.
Q: Does the severed end of the nerve heal over or something?
A: It shrinks down into the muscle.
Q: So it's harder to stimulate?
A: Right.
Q: What can be done about the other damage shown by the MRI?
A: Orthotics, possibly physical therapy.
Q: Is that inflammation?
A: No, it looks more like thickening than inflammation.
Q: What caused it?
A: Likely something mechanical, just as with the neuroma. Sometimes tissues change in response to what the joint is doing.
(I didn't get clarification on that last vague phrase. The impression I got was that we don't know what it's going to look like or feel like after everything settles down with the neuroma gone.)
Q: Can I wear arch supports in the funky shoes?
A: Yes.
Q: Thank God.
Q: Can I take a damp Q-tip and "wash" the exposed parts of my foot?
A: Yes.
Q: Thank God.
Q: Can I drive a car as soon as I'm out of the funky shoes?
A: Give it a couple of days.
So it all sounds pretty positive, if a little bit frustrating for me because it's slow. I am, obviously, going to try to get into normal shoes before two weeks are up! :-)
Again she unbandaged my feet, pronounced them good, and rebandaged them. This time she put a lot less gauze on them and didn't use any iodine. Less gauze feels good; my feet are closer to their normal shape!
She also said I can "start to get them wet" this weekend. She gave me some of the stretchy stick-to-itself bandage to rewrap them.
I asked a few questions.
Q: When can I get out of these funky recovery shoes?
A: When I see you again (in two weeks).
Q: Really??
A: All right, you can try next week. Go easy on them.
Q: When will the phantom pain/sensations go away?
A: They will diminish gradually and should be gone in a few months.
Q: Does the severed end of the nerve heal over or something?
A: It shrinks down into the muscle.
Q: So it's harder to stimulate?
A: Right.
Q: What can be done about the other damage shown by the MRI?
A: Orthotics, possibly physical therapy.
Q: Is that inflammation?
A: No, it looks more like thickening than inflammation.
Q: What caused it?
A: Likely something mechanical, just as with the neuroma. Sometimes tissues change in response to what the joint is doing.
(I didn't get clarification on that last vague phrase. The impression I got was that we don't know what it's going to look like or feel like after everything settles down with the neuroma gone.)
Q: Can I wear arch supports in the funky shoes?
A: Yes.
Q: Thank God.
Q: Can I take a damp Q-tip and "wash" the exposed parts of my foot?
A: Yes.
Q: Thank God.
Q: Can I drive a car as soon as I'm out of the funky shoes?
A: Give it a couple of days.
So it all sounds pretty positive, if a little bit frustrating for me because it's slow. I am, obviously, going to try to get into normal shoes before two weeks are up! :-)
no subject
Even though the bruises often don't hurt, to me somehow seeing the purple (and blue and yellow and green and brown for me) always kinda disturbs me emotionally, like it means something's very wrong. Intellectually I know it's a sign of healing, I know things are fine, etc., but just seeing those loud colors on my body makes me feel a bit icky. (And on my pale skin the colors can be Really Loud!) Funny, 'cause I can handle other things like cuts or incisions or scratches or such wounds without that icky emotional reaction. People are so funny about what gets to them, and funny-colored bruises are one of mine. OK, now that was TMI. I hope your bruises keep mellowing and healing nicely.
no subject
Interesting -- needles are one of my ickies, but funny-colored bruises are just fine. At least on myself they are (and yeah, I too have pale skin and Really Loud colors).