Plantar Fasciotomy

Last Thursday my doc removed the stitches. I haven’t taken a picture yet.

I’m so glad that I had my appointment last Thursday because when I woke up that morning my heel really hurt. It’s the first time I felt any pain in the plantar fascia after the surgery. It made me nervous.

When I got to my appointment my doctor said that my heel was puffy and that there was scar tissue causing the pain. Getting the stitches removed wasn’t bad at all. I’ve never had any type of surgery or broken bones so I had no idea what to expect. I could feel the stitches coming out, but it was just like a little tugging, no pain.

I now have stretching exercises to do three times a day. These are similar to what I had to do when I was first diagnosed with plantar fasciitis. They are stretching exercises. I also have to do this torturous ice/heat routine (contrast bath) where I put my foot in ICE cold water for a few minutes then put it in warm water, three times each.

It’s hard to put my foot in the ice water the first time. We’re talking really cold water here with ice cubes floating around in it and everything. The good news is that the second time I put my foot in the ice water, after it’s been in the warm water for a few minutes, it’s not so bad.

The purpose of this torture is to cause expansion and constriction. Yesterday I did my stretches, then the ice/warm water and then rolled my foot over a frozen water bottle. Apparently that was too much to do at once and my heel got really swollen and hot. I laid down and elevated it and that did the trick. It wasn’t too long before my foot cooled off and the swelling went down. Lesson learned eh?

Today I did the stretches, ice/warm water and then about 30 minutes later took a shower. I still have a stool in the shower because I can’t really put weight on my foot. It’s too painful. After the shower I could see that the incision had opened a little and it was leaking fluid. I bandaged it up with some neosporin and promptly elevated it.

Today I’m at day 19 post op. The inside of my foot has some bruising, but the overall look of my foot is better… except for the incision area. It doesn’t look that great to me.

At night I wear a splint to keep my foot flexed. It’s easier to wear this time than the first time I had to wear it. The first time was several years ago in the early days of treatment.

Tuesday is a big day because I start physical therapy. Yay!! I’ll go twice a week for three weeks and I’m looking forward to it. I know they’ll end up giving me more exercises to do.

It seems the only thing that may possibly hold me back is the incision site on my foot. It doesn’t seem to me that it’s healing like it should. I’ll keep an eye on it though – as will my mom when she returns from church.

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Okay, I promised a picture and here it is. This is the incision made on my left foot. We held a ruler up to it so that you could see that the incision is less than one inch.

This picture was taken the day after my first post-op appointment where my doc removed all of the gauze. I apologize that it’s taken a few days for me to post it to the blog.

Surgical incision and stitches

It seems to be healing well. I’ll take another picture before and after my appointment on Thursday where my doc will remove the stitches.

Every day I pat a drop of liquid stabilized oxygen (O2 Plus) onto the incision to help it heal. I also add the oxygen drops to my water when I take my supplements twice a day. I’m doing everything I can to insure healing and a successful procedure.

So, looking at the picture it doesn’t look like that big of a deal, but I assure you that that little incision packs a wallop! I can’t imagine how painful a large incision would be.

From that pic you can also see that there’s no swelling. Awesome, huh!

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I’m pretty excited right now. It’s 7:35pm PDT and I haven’t had any pain medication all day. Usually in the evening I end up having to take a pain pill after making it through the day without any.

We have iced my foot three times today. It was hot today so the ice feels good and gives my foot a chance to breathe. I have to wear this big boot to keep my foot at a 90 degree angle so when I get a chance to set it free it feels really good.

Since the surgery I’ve been keeping my foot elevated to a good height to keep swelling down. Today we removed the larger pillow I was using so my foot isn’t elevated quite as much. It feels much better to my knee. Every once in a while my knee has been sore from being in one position so long and swinging my leg around with the extra weight of the boot.

It’s been a pretty good day today and I expect to sleep really well since my leg will be lower and in a more normal position.

In four days I head back to my doc’s to get the stitches removed. I’d have to say that so far the decision to have the plantar fasciitis surgery was a good one. I’m very optimistic that this time next year I’ll be hiking at Yosemite. I can’t wait!

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