Help Tammy Walk Again: Support Her Medical Journey

My story started in May of 2022. I’ve been a nurse for a long time and I started having pain in my left foot at work. I thought for weeks it was either my shoes or I had just worked too many shifts. After changing shoes and taking a few days off, I got up and could hardly stand on my left foot. I went in to be seen and found out my left foot was broken. I was put in a walking boot and took a week off. 

After working a month in the boot, my left foot got worse and my right foot started hurting. I finally went into Twin Cities Orthopedics to see what was going on. The surgeon looked at the X-rays and ordered a CT scan of the left foot. On the right foot, he ordered a Cortizone injection. A week later I had both done. The next day my right foot felt much better. Yet, two weeks later, I called them and explained that my right foot was hurting so bad and that I couldn’t stand the pain. They kept telling me I had to wait for the Cortizone shot to kick in so I waited another week and I called them and expressed that there was something wrong and I needed to be seen. 

So by this time, we are around the end of September 2022. I went in and they re-did the right foot x-ray. The physician's assistant came in and I could see on her face that there was something wrong. She said that the right foot was shattered into several pieces. The surgeon diagnosed it as Mueller Weiss disease; a rare condition in which the blood flow to the navicular bone dies therefore that’s why I had navicular fractures on both feet. I felt my heart and stomach drop out of my body. I was alone and supported myself financially so I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to work. They decided to put me in a boot, so now I am in two boots at this point, on both feet. I went back to work a week later and I finally got a CT scan of the right foot. The doctor called me in and said that the foot was obviated and that we needed to do surgery. The surgeon brought this case up to the medical board at TCO to discuss the cause. From all of this, I needed to apply for FMLA and disability through my job and that took a month to go through. 

Finally, on November 9th, 2022, I went in for reconstructive surgery on my right foot. A plate and 8 pins were placed. They had 3 surgeons in on the case due to the complexity. The surgery went great. Yet, he diagnosed my condition as Charcot which is another very rare disease and as a nurse, I had never heard of this. I went home the same day thankfully, and my son Dannon was able to help me. I was sent home in a cast, and I was having surgical pain that I could control but it just felt like there was something else wrong. The next week I went in and found out that the incision was infected, so they changed the cast, put me on antibiotics and sent me home. This happened twice before January. 

By mid-January of 2023, he ordered a CT scan of the right foot to check for bone growth and healing. The results showed that the hardware was in place in the bone, but the bone around it was not healing. I was then put on a bone growth stimulator for six more weeks. During this time, I told him that I was having a lot of pain on the top of my foot. The doctor then ordered an MRI of the right foot and ankle to make sure that I didn’t have Osteomyelitis which is an infection in the bone. Thankfully, I didn’t have Osteomyelitis but one of the pins came loose and was digging into a nerve so here I go back to surgery. We’re now in July of 2023 and healing was not going well. They continued to do wound care for several months in the meantime. 

In September of 2023, he did another MRI because there was constant pain and swelling in the ankle. MRI results showed a mass on the ankle of unknown origin that wasn’t there on the last MRI. So back to surgery, I go. Thankfully, the mass was nothing to be concerned about, it was just on top of a nerve. Yet, the wound on the ankle would not heal. We did wound care and acupuncture without success. We are now in January 2024. We started noticing that the left foot started dragging, also known as a Dropped Foot. I have been no weight-bearing since November of 2022, so this came by surprise. My surgeon now wanted me to go see a neurologist at the Mayo.

 

After four visits, a million tests, scans, and seeing the neurologist and a neurosurgeon they said that the damage was already done and there was not much else they could do so I went back to my orthopedic surgeon. He sent me to have a CT scan to check the bone growth and healing. The results showed that the plate and pins collapsed. I was and have been completely devastated! I was supposed to be back to work by February of 2023 and this was and has been extremely overwhelming!

Several options were discussed, and after consideration, there was no other choice, but to amputate my right leg below the knee. He said that he could fuse it at the ankle at 90° but with the poor wound healing, we’re not even guaranteed that the Charcot would be gone. We were just putting a bandaid on it at this point. 

I had discussed with him before I even did the first surgery back in November of 2022 that my mom had had her leg amputated and had too many surgeries to count. I told the doctor that if that’s where we were going to end up, I wanted to do the amputation right away. We did discuss that the left foot was and is currently still dragging. He ordered me to see a physical therapist for the 1st time since this had all started. We needed to see if I could support myself and ambulate with the left foot. 

The first meeting showed that the nerves and muscles were not firing properly. We decided to keep working with physical therapy and with a muscle stimulator. In the meantime, I was fitted for a VERY expensive AFO brace that will hopefully allow me to be supported and assist with walking after amputation. I saw the surgeon this afternoon, paperwork completed and the hospital will call me the date for the amputation

This whole journey has been terrible in every way! I lost my job which I LOVED, possibly my career, and my home that we had for 12 years. My mom just had an emergency amputation to her left leg because she was septic and it scares me to death that it can happen to me too. She passed away, unfortunately, this September. 

The surgeon has already said due to family history and poor wound healing in the past that this amputation recovery is going to take longer and keep it infection-free. I’ve used all of my savings, and my income went down to 1/4 of what I was making. I know that it has already been a long road but it has shown me two things. 1. Patience. 2. Not to take ANYTHING for granted; not even your feet. 

I’m hoping you will read this journey and not pity me but help me to get back to walking and living life. The money will be used for medical bills that have been piling up, transportation, scooter, prosthetics and supplies, and new shoes because none of them will fit the AFO for the left leg.

Thank you,

Tammy