Just Being Real

This week I received a comment from Lynette with some very helpful advice for dealing with AVN without surgery. I have copied and re-posted her comment below. Thanks, Lynette, and good luck! Thank you for your blog. A year ago this was really helpful and I feel compelled to share with everyone my strategy over the past year of a conservative, non-surgical approach. Here are the things I believe to have worked: -Exogen 4000+ Bone Stimulator (2x/day) bought on ebay because of my high insurance deductible. I've also replaced the battery 3x because of the high volume of uses (over 475+ uses).  - Inferno Wrap 20 minutes per day -Custom Orthotics with a First Ray Cut out. Stiff shoes with lots of cushion to absorb the foot strike. I couldn't wear flip flops for almost 6 months, and bought incredibly nice house slippers (Haflinger) with a stiff cork sole to limit the big toe extension. If you are a female NO cute flats! not allowed.  -Activity Modification: absolutely no running. Cy

I don't typically like to engage in political discussion. I think it is oftentimes polarizing and can do more damage than good. I do, however, know that politics are important, and that government is capable of implementing policies for the good of our society. And with individualization becoming more and more of an issue, I am finding it increasingly important to develop my own viewpoints. On June 26, 2015, my husband and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary, and I couldn't be happier about it. We met almost 10 years ago, and I locked him down as soon as I could. He's the best there is. The morning of our anniversary, we had fun sharing pictures commemorating our times together with the world of social media, but why wasn't anyone "liking" them (insert gasp here)? Everyone's attention seemed to be elsewhere.  After scrolling through our newsfeed for 0.2 seconds, we soon realized that we would be sharing our anniversary with the legalization of

Hi everyone, Just wanted to let you know I will be moving all of my foot updates to a new blog dedicated specifically to this issue: taylorsfootstory.blogspot.com Please check it out and subscribe so you can get updates about my recovery, and as always, leave me a comment to let me know how I can help you!

My first post-op appointment after my sesamoidectomy went well.  Me and all of my scooter buddies in the waiting room.  I was so excited to go in to see how my foot was doing, but I was especially excited to take off all of the bandages and let my foot breathe for a little while! This is my foot after it was first unwrapped ~ 2 weeks after surgery. You can still see the faint purple marker lines from where I wrote "yes" before the surgery - as in, "yes, this is the right foot to slice open." Also, as you have probably noticed, the nurse said "It looks like you have skittles on your toes!" It was my attempt to get my notoriously dry doctor to chuckle before surgery, but instead he said - "What happened?" My foot still looked pretty swollen - especially my toes and ankle, but it felt really small to me. I can't explain it. I guess since it had been smashed under all of those bandages my foot looked a little slimmer than

Recovery seems to be going well. I am finally getting the hang of my knee scooter and have been off pain meds for about 5 days now. I added a little carrying pouch to my scooter so I could transport things more easily around my apartment. If I'm ever out in public, little kids seem to think my ride is pretty sweet. I can't WAIT to get to my post op appointment this Friday (in 3 days) to see how everything looks, and especially to get all of the bandages off for the first time. My foot is yearning for freedom! I noticed that the bandaging is keeping my foot turned inward, and it has been bothering me a lot. My uncle is a physical therapist and thinks it is probably purposeful and is keeping the distance that my tendons have to stretch smaller so they can heal faster. That sounds good to me. But still, it's annoying. I set my foot down very gently on the ground to check things out. I put the tiniest amount of pressure on my foot and was amazed at how different it feel

It's been one week since I had my lateral sesamoid removed. I am making a point of celebrating today, because it has been a challenging recovery - maybe more emotionally than physically. It is very hard to let others take care of you. I am making each week a big mile marker so that I have something to look forward to. I've been off my pain meds for about 48 hours, though I considered taking some yesterday when I accidentally slipped off my scooter and landed on my bandaged foot... OW. That hurt pretty bad - it felt like a shock wave rippled through my body up to my shoulders. The pain lasted for a few hours, but after sleeping it off I feel like I am in a good spot. I considered going in to get x-rays, but I'll be doing that any way at my first post-op appointment in one week, so I think it will be ok to wait. The pain meds still seem to be taking a little bit of a toll on me as my appetite is not back and my stomach is giving me a little bit of a hard time. My pain l