Monthly Progress Report for Marie R

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This record is for Marie R treated by a Orthopedic Surgeon. The surgery was on 8-29-2000.
Email: palarin@email.com

First Entry: Date: 10/11/2001 . . . Pain Level: 9 . . . Activity Level: 4 . . . Satisfaction with surgery: 1

Date: 10/11/2001 . . . Pain Level: 9 . . . Activity Level: 4 . . . Satisfaction with surgery: 1
I had my surgery on both feet in August of 2000. Since then I have been living a nightmare. Let me bring you up to date on what has happened:

August 2000 - Endoscopic Surgery for Plantar Fascitis

October 2000 - Have been crawling around the house with knee pads because I am still very unstable. I went to the Dr for a follow-up because I was told that there would be a wheelchair for me. I came to find out that they did not have any and I had to crawl through the office. How humiliating! Over the next several weeks, I went from a walker, to crutches, to a cain.

Nov 7, 2000 - Started noticing a lot of swelling, burning pain, and electric shocks in my left foot. The Orthopedic doctor would not evaluate me and felt that his job was done. (BOY WAS HE WRONG!!!)

Nov 25, 2000 - Went to a Foot Specialist for a 2nd opinion. He was very disturbed at what I had been through. He put me in a cast for 2 weeks to try and stabilize the foot. He also scheduled another MRI & EMG study.

Dec 12, 2000 - My foot was getting worse as the days went on. It turned purplish red and would go from hot to cold. I was also having a lot of numbness at times. The foot specialist took off the cast and pushed up the date for my EMG study.

Dec 20, 2000 - I could hardly get through the EMG study. I screamed in pain as the test was being done. My pain level is off the scale and I can hardly walk.

Dec 26, 2000 - After trying a couple of treatments, I was diagnosed with RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy) I have never heard of this before and started researching immediately. It is a horrible debilitating disease.

Jan 3, 2001 - The foot specialist sent me to a Pain Mangement specialist to see what he thought about my situation. I was immediately put on large doses of sedative drugs to help control my discomfort and nervous system.

Jan-Feb 2001 - I went through 3 Spinal Blocks to see if it would help me. I felt a little better during the first day or so but then my pain level would go right back up.

Feb-Apr 2001 - Started more Physical Therapy. Try to do as much as possible but things were very hard for me.

April 2001 - Evaluated again by pain mangement specialist. Scheduled another series of spinal blocks for May. He said it may take several of these before I will be able to get to some sort of comfort level.

May 2001 - Spinal blocks were cancelled due to specialist having to take time off until August 1.

May-July 2001 - Horrible summer waiting around for someone to do something. My life has changed drastically and I can hardly get around. What I used to do, I can do no more. I can only stand to walk 30 ft or so because I must rest. The pain becomes unbearable. I contemplated cutting my foot off because I just could not stand it any longer.

August 2001 - Completed 2 more spinal blocks with very little comfort.

Sept 6, 2001 - Evaluated by foot specialist. Gave 3 options: 1. Go see a specialist in Baltimore, MD 2. Have a nerve stimulator implant or 3. Go through exploratory surgery to determine the cause. The office was to call me with the other doctor's info from Baltimore.

Sept 12, 2001 - Went to see pain management specialist again. He feels that I am an excellent candidate for the nerve stimulator. We can test it for a week to see if it will work or not and then perm. implant it. He also put me on more pain medications.

Sept 19, 2001 - Received a letter from pain management specialist that he had to take another leave of absence from his practice until Jan 2002.

Oct 8, 2001 - Was finally able to get back into the foot specialist and explained what happened with other doctor as well as the fact that his office never provided me with dr information from Baltimore. I asked if he had ever seen any patients that were diagnosed with PF and it was actually TTS? He said just about every day. He feels that I am dealing with TTS but wants to make sure before he puts me through surgery again. He said that the EMG studies were inconclusive and he could not see very much on my MRI due to severe scar tissue. I asked if he would send me to someone locally for the 2nd opinion. I am going to Cleveland Clinic on Oct 15. Wish me luck as my story continues. I just want my life back. I don't know how much more I can take. If I would have only known that it was going to be this bad, I would have rather of suffered.

Date: 10/28/2001 . . . Pain Level: 8 . . . Activity Level: 2 . . . Satisfaction with surgery: 1
10-22-01
I went to Cleveland Clinic on October 22 only to waste more of my time. The doctor basically told me that there was nothing that he could do for me. He suggested going to Baltimore, Maryland to see a Dr. Schone who is suppose to be experienced with RSD cases. I go back to my foot specialist on October 25 to see what he has to say about all of this.

10-25-01
I went to see my foot specialist who also agrees that we need to try to get into Dr. Schone. He also told me that he considered me to be seriously disabled at this point. I am having pain shoot out into my two larger toes as well as up to the back of my knee. There are times at which both feet are on fire with burning and throbbing pain. I also am experiencing a lot of muscle spasms. My back and hips are also hurting due to the way in which I walk because I have been limping for over a year now. I told him to set up the appointment and I will make all of the other arrangements. When his office tried to call Dr. Schone to schedule me an appointment, they were told that he no longer deals with RSD patients nor anything having to do with nerve damage.....Ughhhhhhh....I just want to scream!! My doctor is upset as well at the news we received. He is going to speak with a new pain management group that he has been working with to see what they think. It looks like we may go ahead and try the Spinal Cord Stimulator to see if we can get any results from it. I hope that he calls me back this week with some type of answer. All I have now is hope to live on.