Crohns, Cushings & Your Feet

kurt mad this on his etsy store- Piggy and Dirt. I call it the

"Ramses Star."

It is just cool and has to make an appearance on here often.

 

Okay, I saw a friend's son get some braces on his teeth and it inspired a blog.

 

First off, you don't have to have any of the illnesses above, have worn braces or a retainer, or have problem walking on your feet.

 

Because I have all of the above happen to me, I have done some research.

 

Why?

 

Cause I went to get fitted for my sleeker ankle brace and wearing kineasio tape is smaller than the boot, which helps me with blood circulation and stability when the boot was too bulky.

 

(Cute, huh? Mine doesn't even have this hinge..... insurance only covered the basic. In fact, while searching for a picture for this post, I found a bunch of braces at the braceshop.com, that would have helped much more. They wouldn't have caused the problem of trying to match my other foot to the height of the brace. Or make my walk a gaited sort of thing. WOW! Have I been in the dark. But I would have had to pay only half a grand for one....)

 

I got into the research after my P.T. put on KT brand tape on an ankle.

 

The brand KT (which is a kinesiology tape) fell off after two hours.

Initially, I thought this was brillaint! Save on tape!

 

I recalled Coach L. wrapping my poor shins EVERY day during track season. 

My shins suffered the worst pains while running. Thank you, thank you, for doing this for me~

 

either way....

 

She would spray tacky stuff on my leg, then wrap it in a gauze like tape then put on white tape that felt like a cast.

Oh, boy. Do I owe her! And she taught me how to tape ankle sprains, etc.

 

 So when P.T. used a pre-cut kineeosiology tape that helps blood flow to the area, I was impressed.

Until it only lasted a little while.

 

Darn.

 

Then I found some tape and reiews on Amazon:

 

theratape.com has a loto of info on how to tape different places- and this is a guy. I hope.

 

Rock Tape brand seemed to win out.

 

According to Amazon review and then I

Then I found some guy named Jon Vonhath who wrapped people's feet who were running marathons in the sweaty jungles of the Amazon and he said he felt Strength Tape won out over Rock Tape.

 

 

So I got Rock Tape. Trying it out all over my much needed injured body and will try Strength tape next. I will and give you Readers the results.

 

Here is an original post from some time back about all this and before my esophagus decided to set me back a bit........

 

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Since I had to go through the social torture of wearing head gear and then silver braces on my teeth, it should only follow that I have had big bulky 'braces' on my feet.

(Not one, but TWO at a points, Readers! )

My awesome Podiatrist finally had to give the all clear for a new, sleeker brace due to my situation.

Yes, the Crohns, Prednisone induced Cushings, and the Car incidents have left me with some problems with my feet.

 (i.e. arthritis, tendonitis, spurs, impingements, rolling them right and left, some muscle wasting...)

Some excruciating pain caused by the fasciia on the feet has been mingled in with a bunch of other things.  Boy, howdy. Planter fasciitis can hurt and I thought it would be temporary! Which it can be if you do stretches, wear your braces at night to straighten them out. Especially if bed ridden- you gotta have them stretched in those bulky boots!


I recalled my neighbor had a surgery to help her fasciitis so it could heal her feet and get rid of the pain.  and so I wondered if I could have that done.

Nope.

  Too high of a dose of prednisone to under go into a surgery the surgeon said to me. ????? Great!

My podiatrist said it could just tear on its own, that would save some money... and that would save a surgery. Was he kidding? I am not sure. Until it happened.

I thought it did a few months back when I had bruises on the bottom of both feet, within just a few days of each other. Chance? I have no idea.

I went to the Dr. and he said it was just tearing of the fasciia- it hadn't torn all the way through! And he let me feel the bumps on what felt like a string along the bottom of my foot.

Ugh! I still have to let it do it on its own!

 Auto-immune diseases attack everything. (Which is what Crohns is) Your gut. Which you and everyone else thought stopped at the stomach. Come to find it is all connected and even your brain gets to join in on the fun.

(Yes, brain. The research is there. And it's sobering, but boo- hoo, whatya do? Start a blog!) So it added to the plantar fasciia fun and I have impinged areas, areas needing to be debrided, and bone spurs.

It sounds like some rural, rancho jargon. So the podiatrist had me keep it steady by

wearing a big fat brace on the "unstable ankle for SIX weeks."

Six weeks, Readers!

The foot SURGEON also said it is "unstable" and, yes- you need to have surgery buuuuutttt are on prednisone. Soooooo we will have to wait until you're not on that much of it. He used words like impingement. And when I had an MRI done on it, it showed he was right.

I was near tears as they pushed it forward and stuck it in the small, high tech new MRI machine at Mountain View Hospital. Even the country music playing over my headphones didn't help. I had to re-schedule.

Me being off of prednisone is like trying to stop it from blowing in Idaho.

Well, another Dr. can't let me taper further down off it cause it will allow Crohns to crash in on my life. Like the two people who rear ended cars I was in the last few months. Crashes bite.

Too  much prednisone to go under anesthesia without huge risk of infection and you just may not wake up from it.  I am not risking that. I don't think I will even do the surgery because it isn't even a guarantee and they could mess up nerves, etc.

So that left me wearing the boot for awhile....... and then another one for a sprained ankle.

Readers, it's hard to get any sort of clothing that "goes" with a boot like that. Yeh, it's black and the color goes with everything... but that's it.

Just walking around makes me feel awkward in a world of people wearing normal shoes. I never thought I would miss my shoes so much. Or dread getting up, looking down at the things.

But I just thought of my little friend McKay who has worn braces on his legs for his whole life. He even had an injury that meant a brace OVER a brace. When I sub taught one week I helped him for a week.

A part of me wants to get the floating bone in the crink of my ankle out, the bone spur sanded down, and other times: to heck with maybe getting infections. I want to walk!

So guess what?

 

I'm goin' to Arizona!

 

 

Kidding. Actually I'm just getting "fitted" for what is called:

 

 "The Arizona brace."

 Which I have no clue what it is, really. And why it is called that. Proably cause it is hot to wear... And I'm already sweating like it is August. Thanks prednisone. And Cushings. Oh, and Crohns.
(all symptoms.)


I just barely looked online to find out what the story is on this brace named after a state.  The fitting looks easy enough. However it doesn't look like it will fit a lot of my shoes which I was under the impression it would be some Star Wars, sleek, brace that hinders my life in no shape or form.

Either way, Readers, I'm goin' to have it done this week!

(*Kidding I had to re-schedule due to Crohns rearing its ugly head and so it is actually later...... oh, boy.)

My unstable right ankle will be released soon into its new home in the Arizona brace.  I am anticipating some serious, life changing stuff here. For one, no more huge black moon boot.

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So these syndromes, illnesses, blah, blah, have meant I have stuck out like a sore ankle with a huge black boot on it. We haven't even been able to really get to any therapy for it since my whip lashed neck has been front and center at Physical Therapy.

It is amazing how it is all connected, and how bad some things can hurt. I haven't written about it until now because I was afraid, I guess.

 I have wanted- no I HAVE cried myself to sleep at night due to my neck and spine. I mean who has Crohns and cushings and then someone rear ends them? Twice?

  I am not looking forward to being married to this "piece of equipment" for the rest of my life.

But it is looking like I am going to. They could try to debride my ankle. - I just want the bone spur that is tearing at the tendon off- but it is pretty risky due to infection due to prednisone.
Which I am married to.

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Update: Well, I was fitted for a black leather brace. That is able to mold to the foot but requires a size bigger shoe. So it is still bulky.

I saw a man, who is an orthotist- he makes braces for people. The office had all sorts of examples of what I could have or use. And he has a huge collection of Mickey Mouse stuff. Probably to help kids not be afraid of having to wear a brace for life or something.


This Arizona one is an AFO. I forget the acronym. So I will see if this can help me find relief when I go to Wal-Mart

"This is just a tool."

 Bruce reassured me. "You don't wear it all the time. Only when you know you have that trip to Wal-Mart, etc."

What he doesn't know is that my feet hurt all the time- that I could trip at any moment. That I have drop foot that could cause me to trip on the stairs. So does that mean I wear that thing, use that tool for around the clock?

What do I do? Rock tape has to be the answer.

And Physical Therapy. I have fought through a lot of pain to make it through sessions that I wonder if they help or trigger my auto-immune problems.

They have helped my neck after the whip lashes from the wrecks. It is a loooooooong path to getting better. And I am so thankful for Padre being able to get me there. It seems meant to be.

There is a lot that needs fixing on my body. But I would like to walk without the burning and pain. And where it radiates.
This girl is becoming my Cushings Mascot.