Tomorrow E and I head to Shriner's Hospital for a look-see at her brace, foot and ankle. Why? Every since her aneurysm rupture in 2001, E has worn a brace on her left leg to support her ankle and assist with walking.
Two months ago she complained enough about a callous on the big toe on her brace side that I took her to the podiatrist. After doing a quick fix, the podiatrist strongly suggested we have E's brace evaluated because a callous usually doesn't form unless something's rubbing where it shouldn't rub. Made sense. A couple weeks later, we met with Bob, the brace guy, who confirmed that E needs a new brace, but that making one didn't make sense until someone--an orthopedic doc--looked at E's ankle.
E often complains after walking long distances. But I'd only every connected her complaints to her size and the amount of time and energy required to get somewhere, not to her foot and ankle.
Turns out that the muscles in and around her ankle have tightened to the point that her foot hasn't been sitting well in her brace. This has contributed to the formation of callouses (another one has formed since our list visit to the podiatrist), and has put the bones in her foot at risk of breaking down and calcifying because of the improper positioning of the foot in the brace.
Add an extra helping of mom guilt for missing this one.
Bob, the brace guy, says the solution could be as easy as setting E up with a physical therapy tune-up, or as involved as surgery.
Praying the solution will be an easy one.
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