Re: Decided to have surgery - follow-up post

[Guest guest]

Rob,

Sounds like some MAJOR foot reconstruction work - you didn't mention

if this is on 1 foot or both. Did you ask if the toes can be done at

the same time, why/or why not? Factoring in the stress of surgery on

your body, moving bone around on the back bottom of the foot to help

roll over, straightening the arch/midfoot and moving tendons around,

there is going to be some MAJOR Pain in the recovery period.

Get used to being immobile.

Before surgery, stock up on items like paper towels, TP, dish soap,

etc. You won't be doing any shopping for awhile. Is there a market

that can deliver groceries to you? What about pharmacy delivery?

Your immobility in recovery is going to be KEY. Stock up on books,

magazines, puzzles, find a hobby you can do while being immobil, etc.

Do all your Christmas shopping now, before surgery.

You may want to look into arranging for nursing/or care services

while you are recovering. Also, in my experience with surgery, docs

always low ball the recovery period time frame. So figure a year on

this.

Are you SURE you don't want to get a few other opinions and perhaps

talk to patients who have had this done? Deciding to have the surgery

is one thing, but I hope you won't rush into this without thinking

EVERY ASPECT through - including the physical therapy afterwards, and

the stress of two surgeries on your entire body. I'd also ask Dr.

Brodsky for ideas on immobility. If you can't handle the immobility,

don't have surgery.

~ Gretchen

[Guest guest]

Hi Rob,

Gretchen's advice about getting more opinions before going ahead with this is

very sound. I have had many orthopedic surgeons

tell me they could do all sorts of wonderful things to reconstruct

my feet and they all fill me with hope until they speak to my

neurologist. After they have that chat with him all of them have told

me they cannot and will not do the surgery.

The reason is because of the period of immobility. The length of time that I

would not be using any muscles in my feet would be long enough to make them

atrophy to the point of no return. The CMT would prevent me from developing my

muscle strenght back in my feet. The result is that I would have fairly normal

looking feet that would not function at all.

I'm sure that you have looked into all of this and I do hope that your surgeon

is well aware of the nerve condition but when ever

I hear of this type of surgery it always comes with a red flag. Does

anyone else have thoughts on this?

Best of luck!

Jeff