New Shoes!

When I made this appointment for one day shy of a week post op I was told I'd never be able to do it. I take no perverse pleasure in proving people wrong. I just knew this was important and I could tough it out for the length of a fitting. There was a weird series of events that caused delivery of the devices I gave molds for in June to be delivered in September. I just knew recovering from back surgery would be easier if I was literally on my feet.

I'm so grateful to know the pronation issue is finally coming to a close. I was beginning to fear permanent damage. Getting to the appointment was half the battle. The other half was all the adjusting and walking and adjusting and walking and adjusting and walking...Getting the picture? I have to say I was so excited about how cute the shoes were! I couldn't get over it. I was totally expecting Church Lady ugly brown things. It's funny because the sticking point had been whether we could get shoes small enough and the first time we put everything on we were worried they were too small! After adjustments they fit fine. Woo hoo, woman's 5.

I have a UCB for each foot, it's a small supportive brace that fits in your shoe. They look like the bottom part of an AFO. They are named after the university that developed them. I got to go home with UCBs, adorable supportive shoes and high hopes. It was super frustrating because the left one was perfect and the right one had many issues. Good thing I'm a trooper. I have to slowly increase my time wearing them and get them checked next week. Too bad my expensive shoes can't be beautiful frivolous things like other woman.

Foot Fail Update!

I've been really suffering with the pronation issue as my shoes are now completely shot. I've been having crazy foot and ankle pain as well as spasms up my legs. It super sucks because I'm so busy right now and I can't afford to be in pain. This week inspiration hit: I would call a pediatric hospital and see where they send kids for this kind of thing! Duh, right? Honestly, I'm sure it occurred to me before but I didn't follow up because I had no idea what an impossible quest the whole thing was.

The pediatric hospital here is big and it took twenty minutes of menus, transfers and new phone numbers to get my question answered (which after a year of on again off again searching is pretty damn good). Next I hit up Google for their contact information and a general sense of who I dealing with. "This could work..." was my cautiously optimistic assessment based solely on the hospital's referral and their web presence. The receptionist assured me they work with children and order small shoes all the time and then let me talk to an orthotist. He also assured me small sizes were no problem and was sure a few inserts would have me all fixed up. Silly man, my orthopedic problems don't do simple. I set up an appointment.

I had to swing by my orthopedic's office for a new prescription because he wrote the old one LAST July (impossible quest). With the newer and shockingly more legible script in hand off I went. I was honestly beside myself with anxiety that they may not be able to help. As it turns out I am complicated, but not entirely hopeless. She even has a daughter with CP! So she was familiar on some level with my brand of complicated.

As you can see from the photo she made molds of my feet. I've been through this process quite literally thousands of times. I think I've worn every kind of brace ever invented at this point. So, when she began the cast saw spiel I interrupted and said "It's ok, I'm good. Go ahead. They run it along their hand to show it doesn't cut you, etc. They do overheat if handled improperly, but that's a whole other story.

She's going to consider the copious amounts of information I gave her and my feet for a while. The hope is that we can come to a solution that will help me without breaking the bank. The insurance clowns will pay for inserts, but not shoes. Even if they're medically necessary adults are on their own with shoes. Chronic orthopedic conditions and insurance companies don't play well together. So, here's hoping in the near future this whole issue will be behind me.

My feet are in your hands now.

Foot Fail

Tired of all the cute kid happenings and pictures? Good, I have an update on the used car of a body I'm working with. I am fairly certain the trouble started when the Ortho had the nerve to put my hip IN the socket after a lifetime of the ball and socket sitting demurely next to each other. Clearly, having the ball in the hip socket is best. That's where it is meant to be kept, but my body reacts strangely to everything. In my hip bone went to it's intended residence and off went my already wacky balance. Typically, I would distort my gait in any way needed to compensate, but my spine no long has the ability to be flexible. As you can imagine it's tricky. Nothing happens in a vacuum and this is the chain of events we'll follow to get to the next. The orthopedic spider web of cause and effect.

As a result of the elimination of my hip pain my feet started to pronate last year. I'd been having ankle pain off and on for a bit by the time I really took notice last February, in physical therapy of all places. My therapist answered that my shoes were collapsing inward because my feet were pronating. This was explained with as much concern as if he'd said my elbow itched because of a mosquito bite. Pronation is extremely common most people have a mild case at some point in their life. I was preparing for a wedding and had bigger fish to fry orthopedically so onto the back burner it went.

It was not until last summer that I even mentioned it to the Ortho. He wrote me a prescription for shoes and inserts to take to his "shoe guy." I tossed that into the black hole of my purse and, as any mother of two would have done, promptly put that errand on the end of the priority list. Soon after I got new sneakers and the problem got a lot easier to ignore. The new shoes had far less give than the old worn out ones and my feet were trapped in a more normal position.

Fast forward to this month when those same shoes are wore out and the problem is much harder to ignore. I tried anyway. There were other things to spend the time and money on. The tendon in my ankle now had a well established habit of swelling and preventing me from baring weight periodically. Usually it does this when I attempt to exit the car or get off the toilet after I've been on my feet a while, fun huh? I ignored it anyway. Until this week when two nights in a row the ankle pain gave way to spasms up both legs. The spasms went on for 6hrs the first time, over 24hrs the next and seemed unaffected by muscle relaxers.

Mike was scared and the internet only fueled his fears (MS, Cancers, etc...). I tried to tell him that it was my CP body's way of getting me to deal with the pronation issue after I'd overdone it once or twice. I still made no move to seek out the "shoe guy" for a day or two. It was a horrific nightmares while the spasms continued through the night that finally gave me a kick me in the butt. I called down and then raced over with Roo in tow that morning. I fully expected to write a check and walk out with some ugly shoes and slowly start to feel better.

As is often the case, I was wrong. The shoe guy was very nice, despite me bursting in the door and spilling my coffee. He simply explained he had nothing in my size and couldn't even order it. Sigh. He told me I needed rigid frame shoes with good heel support, not my usual sneakers. I was on my own to find them in my size, but once I did he could customize inserts for them easily. I had no idea how difficult a task he'd laid at my freakishly tiny feet.

Several diligent searches later and much hair pulling I've got nothing. A boot? I can't even tie a sneaker. Hmmm...orthopedic shoes for children? They start a size and a half bigger than my feet in most cases. Custom pediatric orthopedic shoes? We just tightened out belts for summer and it's not in the budget. Get a new pair of sneakers and hope it gets better for a while? Great plan except with the pain and spasms I'm beginning to fear permanent damage to my feet. AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! This was supposed to be the easy one to fix.