It's annoying when people, who I don't even know, ask me "hey, what's wrong with your feet?" It makes me want to ask "What's wrong with your face?" You don't just ask someone that! If it's someone you know and they know you don't normally walk around with a limp like an old school pimp then okay, but usually they ask "Did you do something to your foot?" not...what's wrong with you!!!
So what IS wrong with me?
God made me special. haha No really... He really did. Doctors all the time say "it's not bad....it's just different...." everything about me. Ask me about it one day, I'll share some stories. Anyway back to my feet... here's the story.
Back on August 19th I threw a baby shower for a friend. My right foot starting hurting that day after the shower and I figured it was just from running around decorating, hosting, cleaning up, etc. The feeling was a dull pain, more like achy feet so I didn't think too much of it. The achiness lasted for a few weeks before it started to get worse. Depending on the type of shoes I would wear the pain could get better, so I just started wearing tennis shoes all the time. It was finally a month later that I decided it was time to see a doctor because this pain isn't going away on it's own. Something's wrong. At this point I'm thinking it's a stress fracture or a torn ligament. I make an appointment with my family doctor on September 16th.
My family doc says she doesn't know what it is, that I could be right about the torn ligament or a stress fracture so we better get it checked out further. Because I'm pregnant they didn't want me doing x-rays, which I appreciated, so instead they scheduled me for an ultrasound on both my feet. Of course they didn't label this ultrasound as "stat" so I have to wait until September 28th to go in. I called almost every day to see if I could get in sooner and told them if they had a cancellation to please call me because walking is becoming difficult. No such luck though, I had to wait the full two weeks before I was seen.
At the imaging center I was taken back by a nursing student who was still learning the ropes. She started my ultrasound, taking pictures of my ligament, bones, veins, everything. Then the doctor comes in and takes over. At one point he stops and goes "Huh..." and I ask what? He says nothing, it's fine and continues with the test. So now I'm sitting here thinking okay, what was all that about? The doctor then moves to the left foot and asks "does your left one hurt?" I say no. He says "are you sure?" I respond do you want it to?? He tells me, it would make this diagnosis much easier! Turns out he found two small cysts in both my feet. He thinks the right one is rubbing up against some ligaments and causing inflammation, but he can't understand why my right one hurts and my left one doesn't when they are in the same exact spot on both feet. He tells me he's going to take a few more pictures and really sit down and look through them and then follow up with my doctor, that I would get a call from her and she would have a game plan for me. I said ok and then my doctor asks his student to find a certain artery on me. She thinks about it for a minute and then takes the ultrasound wand and puts it on my right ankle. She says, I know it's somewhere here in the ankle. She looks for it for a few minutes before giving up and saying "I can't find it." The Doctor responds with that's because it doesn't exist on her. Both the student and I look at him in bewilderment. What do you mean it doesn't exist I say. He says your artery comes all the way down through your leg like normal and then stops just before your ankle where it splits and becomes a million veins and blood vessels (or something like that. He was really scientific, and I cannot remember exactly what he said). Most people have that artery run through and support the arch of their foot, I do not. Just another one of the ways God made me different. I eventually go home to wait for my results.
Time slowly ticks by and I'm starting to get impatient. Each day I'm walking around on these feet is time I feel I'm wasting. I just want to know the problem, come up with a game plan and get it done. Of course I consult with Dr. Google and start looking up ways to remove cysts while pregnant. Turns out you can freeze or use local anesthesia and suck that fluid right out. I'm ready! Let's get it done. What's two weeks of recovery if that means I'll be able to walk normal again without any pain, but my doctor never calls. I start calling the office about every other day for an update and each day is the same "the imaging center hasn't released your report yet." Well what are they waiting for! Finally when I call on this past Monday, October 16th... do they finally tell me "oh yes, I have a game plan for you. Rehab." I say rehab? Are you kidding me? I'm sorry but stretches and massages are not going to fix this issue. At that she suggested I go see a Podiatrist. Really, I waited more than a month for them to tell me to go see a foot doctor???
Luckily my boss has a Podiatrist that he really likes so I called his office and he was able to see me this past Thursday October 19th. This guys basically looks at my report, does a mini ultrasound and tells me he doesn't think it's cysts at all that's causing this pain. The movement in my feet (because now my left foot hurts too!) that's causing my pain isn't even touching my cysts. He tells me that God made me differently yet again and the 2nd toe on each foot has a bone that dips down lower than the rest of my toe bones. So when I walk I'm putting extra pressure on those specific bones, causing extreme inflammation making very difficult to walk. He said it was probably brought on by pregnancy and the slow addition of weight. I said well seeing that I'm only three months right now, and I'm only to grow larger and heavier what can we do? He said that unfortunately he cannot treat the cause of the problem until after the babies are born but for now he would wrap my feet to alleviate some of that pain caused when walking and that he would make me some orthotics to go in my shoes to hopefully help with that pressure issue.
I don't really know how I feel about this diagnosis. I guess I'm happy they don't have to stick a long needle in my foot but at the same time it looks like this issue won't be resolved any time soon and the pain is going to get worse first before it can get better. I could use a lot of prayers and well wishes during this time. I will never say this pregnancy has been a pain because I'm so in love with our babies and it has taken us a long time to get to this point. I don't take anything for granted, I just wish I could live it up and completely enjoy every moment of this pregnancy without the little pains. But alas this is my journey. Can't wait to meet our littles!! But yeah, so that's what is wrong with me feet... and on that note, please don't be offended if I try to hurry our conversation along if you stop me in the halls, or when I move the convo to a more comfy spot like a chair. My poor feet just can't take it. I went grocery shopping with my mom last Saturday, not even an hour and I had to tell her I would wait for her on a bench just because my feet were on fire. I'm afraid I'm going to be wheelchair bound before this pregnancy is over. I hope not but I've got six months to go and I can't do an hours worth of shopping...
So what IS wrong with me?
God made me special. haha No really... He really did. Doctors all the time say "it's not bad....it's just different...." everything about me. Ask me about it one day, I'll share some stories. Anyway back to my feet... here's the story.
Back on August 19th I threw a baby shower for a friend. My right foot starting hurting that day after the shower and I figured it was just from running around decorating, hosting, cleaning up, etc. The feeling was a dull pain, more like achy feet so I didn't think too much of it. The achiness lasted for a few weeks before it started to get worse. Depending on the type of shoes I would wear the pain could get better, so I just started wearing tennis shoes all the time. It was finally a month later that I decided it was time to see a doctor because this pain isn't going away on it's own. Something's wrong. At this point I'm thinking it's a stress fracture or a torn ligament. I make an appointment with my family doctor on September 16th.
My family doc says she doesn't know what it is, that I could be right about the torn ligament or a stress fracture so we better get it checked out further. Because I'm pregnant they didn't want me doing x-rays, which I appreciated, so instead they scheduled me for an ultrasound on both my feet. Of course they didn't label this ultrasound as "stat" so I have to wait until September 28th to go in. I called almost every day to see if I could get in sooner and told them if they had a cancellation to please call me because walking is becoming difficult. No such luck though, I had to wait the full two weeks before I was seen.
At the imaging center I was taken back by a nursing student who was still learning the ropes. She started my ultrasound, taking pictures of my ligament, bones, veins, everything. Then the doctor comes in and takes over. At one point he stops and goes "Huh..." and I ask what? He says nothing, it's fine and continues with the test. So now I'm sitting here thinking okay, what was all that about? The doctor then moves to the left foot and asks "does your left one hurt?" I say no. He says "are you sure?" I respond do you want it to?? He tells me, it would make this diagnosis much easier! Turns out he found two small cysts in both my feet. He thinks the right one is rubbing up against some ligaments and causing inflammation, but he can't understand why my right one hurts and my left one doesn't when they are in the same exact spot on both feet. He tells me he's going to take a few more pictures and really sit down and look through them and then follow up with my doctor, that I would get a call from her and she would have a game plan for me. I said ok and then my doctor asks his student to find a certain artery on me. She thinks about it for a minute and then takes the ultrasound wand and puts it on my right ankle. She says, I know it's somewhere here in the ankle. She looks for it for a few minutes before giving up and saying "I can't find it." The Doctor responds with that's because it doesn't exist on her. Both the student and I look at him in bewilderment. What do you mean it doesn't exist I say. He says your artery comes all the way down through your leg like normal and then stops just before your ankle where it splits and becomes a million veins and blood vessels (or something like that. He was really scientific, and I cannot remember exactly what he said). Most people have that artery run through and support the arch of their foot, I do not. Just another one of the ways God made me different. I eventually go home to wait for my results.
Time slowly ticks by and I'm starting to get impatient. Each day I'm walking around on these feet is time I feel I'm wasting. I just want to know the problem, come up with a game plan and get it done. Of course I consult with Dr. Google and start looking up ways to remove cysts while pregnant. Turns out you can freeze or use local anesthesia and suck that fluid right out. I'm ready! Let's get it done. What's two weeks of recovery if that means I'll be able to walk normal again without any pain, but my doctor never calls. I start calling the office about every other day for an update and each day is the same "the imaging center hasn't released your report yet." Well what are they waiting for! Finally when I call on this past Monday, October 16th... do they finally tell me "oh yes, I have a game plan for you. Rehab." I say rehab? Are you kidding me? I'm sorry but stretches and massages are not going to fix this issue. At that she suggested I go see a Podiatrist. Really, I waited more than a month for them to tell me to go see a foot doctor???
Luckily my boss has a Podiatrist that he really likes so I called his office and he was able to see me this past Thursday October 19th. This guys basically looks at my report, does a mini ultrasound and tells me he doesn't think it's cysts at all that's causing this pain. The movement in my feet (because now my left foot hurts too!) that's causing my pain isn't even touching my cysts. He tells me that God made me differently yet again and the 2nd toe on each foot has a bone that dips down lower than the rest of my toe bones. So when I walk I'm putting extra pressure on those specific bones, causing extreme inflammation making very difficult to walk. He said it was probably brought on by pregnancy and the slow addition of weight. I said well seeing that I'm only three months right now, and I'm only to grow larger and heavier what can we do? He said that unfortunately he cannot treat the cause of the problem until after the babies are born but for now he would wrap my feet to alleviate some of that pain caused when walking and that he would make me some orthotics to go in my shoes to hopefully help with that pressure issue.
I don't really know how I feel about this diagnosis. I guess I'm happy they don't have to stick a long needle in my foot but at the same time it looks like this issue won't be resolved any time soon and the pain is going to get worse first before it can get better. I could use a lot of prayers and well wishes during this time. I will never say this pregnancy has been a pain because I'm so in love with our babies and it has taken us a long time to get to this point. I don't take anything for granted, I just wish I could live it up and completely enjoy every moment of this pregnancy without the little pains. But alas this is my journey. Can't wait to meet our littles!! But yeah, so that's what is wrong with me feet... and on that note, please don't be offended if I try to hurry our conversation along if you stop me in the halls, or when I move the convo to a more comfy spot like a chair. My poor feet just can't take it. I went grocery shopping with my mom last Saturday, not even an hour and I had to tell her I would wait for her on a bench just because my feet were on fire. I'm afraid I'm going to be wheelchair bound before this pregnancy is over. I hope not but I've got six months to go and I can't do an hours worth of shopping...
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