On Thursday, Ben had a follow up appointment. The cast was removed and the doctor took a look at how things were healing. He explained more to us of what he found once he had made the incisions. We need a little background here to understand what the doctor explained to us. Humor me, as I attempt to share what I have learned about the toes of the human foot . . .
The metatarsal is the long bone on top of the foot. It has a rounded head that fits with the top of the toe bone (phalange) at the joint. The joint connecting these two bones is surrounded by a sac called the synovial membrane. Ben broke three metatarsals. The toes are numbered 1-5, the big toe being #1 and the little toe being #5. Ben broke #2, #3, and #4. Typically when a metatarsal is broken, the rounded head is broken off from the long narrow shaft into two pieces. The metatarsal associated with Ben's #4 toe, (the one next to the little toe), didn't just break into two pieces. The rounded head of the bone was actually crushed into bits. So to put the wire rod through the two "pieces" to hold them together to heal just wasn't going to work. He still placed the wire through the long piece of bone, then gathered the bits that he could and placed them back into the sac through which the wire was placed. It is his hope that the bits of bone will fuse back together into a solid piece which will heal to the other piece. Because of this process, the wire rods and beads on the ends of the toes will have to stay in place for several weeks instead of the usual two weeks they are left in. You can see in the picture that toe is a little crooked.
On a positive note, he doctor was able to get the wire rod through #2 and #3 by the same incision. Each incision was sewn up with 9 stitches, with 18 stitches in all. So at least he didn't have to make three incisions. And Ben pointed out that nothing happened to his little toe when that one could've been injured very badly. He's always finding something on the bright side!
The foot was redressed and Ben was given a walking boot-type brace upon promising not to walk on the foot. He still needs to use crutches and no weight bearing on the foot. The doctor pointed out that putting weight on the foot will bend and curve the wire rods, and that those will be coming out one way or another. The best way is if they are straight. I think we understand what that means. I'm pretty sure Ben wants those things to stay straight.
We will go back this Thursday to hopefully have the stitches removed and get the okay for getting his foot wet. For now, we still need to keep the incision dry, so we cover the foot with a plastic sack for showers. It's sure nice to have the brace and be able to take it off for showers and sleeping.
So for now, I clean and redress the incision area and stitches each day and help Ben with whatever I can. He keeps it elevated as much as possible and keeps an ice pack on it too. Despite all that, his foot is still swollen, but doing all right. He is doing really well at getting around. His left leg (the one with the hip replacement) is getting stronger having all the weight on it. He's been trying to rebuild the muscle in that leg for a long time, so that's the bright side of this part of the story.
Getting the cast and dressing removed.
You can see here how that 4th toe is a little crooked toward the little toe. Also the pen marking for the other incision that wasn't necessary.
That's mostly dried blood that we cleaned up later. But I was surprised at the bruising on the arch of the foot.
This is the doctor explaining about the crushed part of the bone. He is a great doctor, very patient with all my questions, and has a great sense of humor.
There's Ben making his funny face.
I was surprised again with the awful bruising. I guess it's from the way the foot got twisted and smashed under the scooter.
1 comment:
could not be a Dr. this just turns my stomach.
Post a Comment