topic Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot? in Wellness

Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

sfnative — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 04:50:40 GMT

First off, I don't want to scare away those who are looking forward to a total knee surgery. Go to it. Have it. I had to have mine because my left knee joint was turning inward and as I walked, it would occasionally collapse, without notice. At work, I'd go bashing into a wall, with an armful of surgical instrument trays. So dangerous. Or, I'd go crashing into cars in the parking lot. Just did not want to end up falling flat on my face.

So, I had the surgery in May 2014, had a decent sleep the first night with all the meds in me, wake up and decide to do a self-assessment.

As per usual, one starts at the bottom and works up. I didn't get far, as I couldn't move my left foot toes. I brought my right foot over to the left foot and rubbed my left foot: couldn't feel a thing. Pressed the call button, told the nurse to get the Charge Nurse in here STAT. She came in, then 2 more nurses, then 2 Residents, then the house Neuro. Within an hour the Anesthesiologist who was on my OP team came down to assess me. He did a decent job. Did not see my surgeon until Day 3. He hemmed and hawed. Never did commit anything to me verbally while I was in the hospital, but the Anesthesiologist returned the morning of Day 3 indicating he had spoken with my surgeon and the surgeon indicated surgical errors which included either device or instrument laceration of nerve or nerves unknown. He ordered an EMG. the Neuro who performed the EMG and nerve conduction study indicated she could not get a read from the tibial nerve. She tried many times and was frustrated. The read from the sural nerve was very weak. Docs don't usually share these test results - I know from experience.

This nerve damage, then, accounted for the paralysis and what I'm been feeling since as if someone is grabbing my foot inside and squeezing it painfully. Additionally, and my surgeon owns up to it, one of his surgical techs was "overly aggressive in retracting the ITB (band) near the knee" where it inserts into the tibia. This has caused 24/7 stabbing pain since the surgery, causing me to awaken from sleep I don't know how many times.

Present day paralyzed toes: I'm now 5 years out from the surgery and find that my toes are contracting a tic more, enough so that wearing a shoe is painful. I can only wear Sketchers Go-Walks as it is, so I'm dumbfounded.

Anyone else out there have issues with paralyzed toes?

Thanks in advance.

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

FancyPhillyshopper — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 05:12:23 GMT

I am so sorry to hear your story.

My mother is struggling with ongoing issues after her knee surgery.

I hope you were able to receive some type of settlement/ongoing medical support from the doctors due to all their errors.

I will keep you in my thoughts and wish you the best.

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

Desertdi — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 05:31:16 GMT

I am amazed the "doctors" admitted wrong-doing.

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

sfnative — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 05:43:57 GMT

@FancyPhillyshopper wrote:

I am so sorry to hear your story.

My mother is struggling with ongoing issues after her knee surgery.

I hope you were able to receive some type of settlement/ongoing medical support from the doctors due to all their errors.

I will keep you in my thoughts and wish you the best.

@FancyPhillyshopper

Sorry about that. I had nearly completed this reply, when my pinkie finger hit a key and my reply disappeared. At least I thought it had disappeared, so I started over.... See the real version in a different post.

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

sfnative — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 05:37:55 GMT

@FancyPhillyshopper

So sorry to hear about on-going issues which are troubling your mother. What first comes to mind is to ask whether her surgeon used Navigation in order to determine where to mark the bone and where to remove the necessary portion; or, perhaps her surgeon simply eyeballed it, as have thousands of surgeons for decades. This last is where a lazy surgeon can sometimes bring real suffering to the post-op patient.

Next step for your mother is to find out who in your area or region is the knee expert regarding "failed" knee replacements. It's time for a referral to that surgeon.

And, no, I've had nothing in terms of treatment or anything else regarding these surgical injuries. I've been told I don't rate it.

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

sfnative — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 05:39:39 GMT

@Desertdi wrote:
I am amazed the "doctors" admitted wrong-doing.

@Desertdi

Well, I was a VIP patient and he couldn't very well deny what had occurred. Nerves just don't lacerate themselves. Know what I mean?

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

Desertdi — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 05:56:51 GMT

@sfnative wrote:
@Desertdi wrote:
I am amazed the "doctors" admitted wrong-doing.
@Desertdi

Well, I was a VIP patient and he couldn't very well deny what had occurred. Nerves just don't lacerate themselves. Know what I mean?

@sfnative Yes, I do understand. I have a reconstructed ankle, and have limited mobility..........and I also know that trying to "fix it" might leave me worse off. I wish you well, and hope you find a solution. di

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

PamfromCT — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 11:32:49 GMT

@sfnative, What a horror story. I feel so sorry for you. No matter how hard we try, we are dependent upon caregivers to do a proper job. I’m amazed that a “mistake” was admitted.

Any surgeon could find themselves suddenly being a patient of another surgeon, right?

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

cherry — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 11:38:46 GMT

I wonder if a sandal, like a birki ,might give you some measure of comfort?

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

sfnative — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 17:13:18 GMT

@cherry wrote:
I wonder if a sandal, like a birki ,might give you some measure of comfort?

@cherry

Hi Cherry,

BTW, thank you for your comment the other day. I'm glad to be able to have the opportunity to tell you this.

Funny thing. I had about 5 pair of Birkenstocks and wore them all the time, except to work (had to wear duty shoes). When the post-op swelling, which always includes the foot, had receded, I went to slip on a pair of Arizonas and "Ouch!" With the paralysis, came some really spikey pain. I did seek out the counsel of a foot specialist about this bad pain and he said it is very typical, as will be the deterioration of foot muscles innervated by the 2 nerves. So, now the horizontal arch in my foot is completely flat and my toes are arching terribly. My present thought is to go back to this ortho foot specialist and ask if tendons can be clipped, as it appears my toes will never be of any use to me.

Hope I can still hear from someone who has paralyzed toes.

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

Mindy D — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 19:07:41 GMT

@sfnative wrote:
First off, I don't want to scare away those who are looking forward to a total knee surgery. Go to it. Have it. I had to have mine because my left knee joint was turning inward and as I walked, it would occasionally collapse, without notice. At work, I'd go bashing into a wall, with an armful of surgical instrument trays. So dangerous. Or, I'd go crashing into cars in the parking lot. Just did not want to end up falling flat on my face.

So, I had the surgery in May 2014, had a decent sleep the first night with all the meds in me, wake up and decide to do a self-assessment.

As per usual, one starts at the bottom and works up. I didn't get far, as I couldn't move my left foot toes. I brought my right foot over to the left foot and rubbed my left foot: couldn't feel a thing. Pressed the call button, told the nurse to get the Charge Nurse in here STAT. She came in, then 2 more nurses, then 2 Residents, then the house Neuro. Within an hour the Anesthesiologist who was on my OP team came down to assess me. He did a decent job. Did not see my surgeon until Day 3. He hemmed and hawed. Never did commit anything to me verbally while I was in the hospital, but the Anesthesiologist returned the morning of Day 3 indicating he had spoken with my surgeon and the surgeon indicated surgical errors which included either device or instrument laceration of nerve or nerves unknown. He ordered an EMG. the Neuro who performed the EMG and nerve conduction study indicated she could not get a read from the tibial nerve. She tried many times and was frustrated. The read from the sural nerve was very weak. Docs don't usually share these test results - I know from experience.

This nerve damage, then, accounted for the paralysis and what I'm been feeling since as if someone is grabbing my foot inside and squeezing it painfully. Additionally, and my surgeon owns up to it, one of his surgical techs was "overly aggressive in retracting the ITB (band) near the knee" where it inserts into the tibia. This has caused 24/7 stabbing pain since the surgery, causing me to awaken from sleep I don't know how many times.

Present day paralyzed toes: I'm now 5 years out from the surgery and find that my toes are contracting a tic more, enough so that wearing a shoe is painful. I can only wear Sketchers Go-Walks as it is, so I'm dumbfounded.

Anyone else out there have issues with paralyzed toes?

Thanks in advance.

You might want to read this.https://anesthesiology.pubs.asahq.org/article.aspx?articleid=1933823

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

SeaMaiden — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 19:30:11 GMT

@sfnative Sorry to hear about your poor outcome with your surgery. Did you ever get any compensation from the doctor or hospital? I suppose you would need to contact a lawyer who specializes in surgery errors such as yours. I know compensation does not give you back use of your foot....but it is at least SOMETHING for having to suffer so.

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

sfnative — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 02:35:54 GMT

@Mindy D

Thanks for including the link. Read the case study. This instance of post-op pain managment is not applicable to me. However, I do appreciate yiu taking the time to ferret out the article. Thanks so much!

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

sfnative — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 02:38:38 GMT

@SeaMaiden wrote:
@sfnative Sorry to hear about your poor outcome with your surgery. Did you ever get any compensation from the doctor or hospital? I suppose you would need to contact a lawyer who specializes in surgery errors such as yours. I know compensation does not give you back use of your foot....but it is at least SOMETHING for having to suffer so.

@SeaMaiden

No I didn't, but that's because I chose not to seek compensation at the time because I didn't know where this entire scope of surgical errors was going to take me.

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

SeaMaiden — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 15:05:49 GMT

@sfnative wrote:
@SeaMaiden wrote:
@sfnative Sorry to hear about your poor outcome with your surgery. Did you ever get any compensation from the doctor or hospital? I suppose you would need to contact a lawyer who specializes in surgery errors such as yours. I know compensation does not give you back use of your foot....but it is at least SOMETHING for having to suffer so.
@SeaMaiden

No I didn't, but that's because I chose not to seek compensation at the time because I didn't know where this entire scope of surgical errors was going to take me.

@sfnative go to a lawyer... see if you are still in the window for compensation... hopefully you have all the paper work and the doctors notes from your botched surgery.

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

sfnative — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 17:50:43 GMT

@SeaMaiden

I agree. That's where my head is at right now. Starting to look for one.

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

Maestra1 — Sat, 13 Jul 2019 11:53:48 GMT

@sfnative I'm sorry that you have had a surgical error performed on you! This is why I'm not going to havea posterior tibial nerve severed-heaven knows what elsemight happen.

I have tarsal tunnel syndronme (tarsal s correct). I suufered a fall and shattered my patella; as a result, my tibial nerve is irritated due to compression. I have numbness in sole of foot as well as 'pins and needles' in toes.

I am receiving PT 2x a week; I was dx by an ortho nerve specialist. I can move my toes and foot, but have loss of feeling. I now wear orthotics to help w/nerve compression and do PT exercises. No sandals or flip flops. Do PT exercises almost daily and swim.

I've been informed that I wont be 100% ever again but remain hopeful that I will regain some normalcy by the end of this year.

Re: Anyone here have paralyzed toes and foot?

sfnative — Sat, 13 Jul 2019 20:55:34 GMT

@Maestra1 wrote:
@sfnative I'm sorry that you have had a surgical error performed on you! This is why I'm not going to havea posterior tibial nerve severed-heaven knows what elsemight happen.

I have tarsal tunnel syndronme (tarsal s correct). I suufered a fall and shattered my patella; as a result, my tibial nerve is irritated due to compression. I have numbness in sole of foot as well as 'pins and needles' in toes.

I am receiving PT 2x a week; I was dx by an ortho nerve specialist. I can move my toes and foot, but have loss of feeling. I now wear orthotics to help w/nerve compression and do PT exercises. No sandals or flip flops. Do PT exercises almost daily and swim.

I've been informed that I wont be 100% ever again but remain hopeful that I will regain some normalcy by the end of this year.

@Maestra1

Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry to hear about your accident resulting in what you're living with. It's no fun at the beach, as we both know

My sole is completely numb, but that also includes the sides of my foot and the entire heel. Most of the top of my foot is numb, too. I don't get pins and needles, as much as I get huge nerve pain coursing through my foot. I believe this to originate from pressure on foot nerves, due to the loss of the horizontal arch near the toes (because muscles have lost tone, so structures are collapsing).

I get why you've chosen not to have the procedure done, as the ortho foot doc I consulted with indicated that when a tibial nerve is severed, the entire dynamics within the foot suffer greatly.

Question: Has the source of the initial compression been surgically relieved or does it remain? I would hope that even a small, localized incision to clear out the compression would be of benefit. That sort of surgery is comething I saw in the military.