Surgery!

I have to have surgery. The toe that I thought I had broken isn’t. Here’s what happened when I went to the doctor about it.

My right great toe has been painful for about 18 months, and I was pretty much trying to ignore the pain because I thought it was either arthritis, gout, or the fact that I weigh too darn much. But I tripped over a table leg a month ago and it went “CRACK!” And then every time I bent it, it clicked. I thought I’d broken it.

Since you can’t put a cast on a toe, I did what the doctors do. I buddy taped my great toe to the one next to it, and elevated, iced, rested. After a month, it was no better, so I went to my family doctor, who referred me to an orthopaedist.

I’d never seen this guy before, so I filled out all the intake paperwork, including the bit that asks if you are under another doctor’s care, and if so, what for. I put down sinusitis and post-concussion syndrome. Since PCS is not all that common, the doctor asked about it when he was reviewing the paperwork, and I just said “I was in a car wreck about three years ago.” We then chatted about the hellishness of chronic sinusitis.

After looking at the X-rays of my foot and examining the toe, the Ortho offered the opinion that the original injury may have been sustained in the accident. Apparently the X-ray shows an injury approximately 2-3 years old that was caused by jamming the toe from the front. That set up an arthritic condition that has steadily worsened in the ensuing months, creating “spurs” of bone around the joint. When I tripped and heard the toe crack, it was actually some of the spurs breaking off; they have now infiltrated the joint itself. Surgery is
now required to clean the bone fragments out of the joint.

When I asked why it would have taken so long to show up, he said that the arthritic condition would start off mild, and gradually get worse. Considering the neck pain and debilitating migraines from which I was suffering in the first year after the accident, he thinks that I simply didn’t notice the pain and stiffness in my toe. Once the neck and migraine issues were stabilized, I became more aware of other problems — including my aching toe.

So, surgery. Ugh.

Tags: Family Life, injuries, injury, medical issues, surgery, True Stories