Caring For Your Feet - Advice

This is going to be a fun, short little post. A lot of my recent posts have been rather lengthy. This isn't necessarily a bad thing because I have talked about some heavier topics and vented a lot about the bad news I got from my surgeon on Friday. But it is nice to write something a bit shorter. Plus I have been feeling pretty dopey and drowsy the last few days, as if the pain meds are catching up on me. And today they have definitely caught up. It feels like the inside of my head is spinning. So a short post is much more realistic than a long one.

Today I am going to talk about feet. Yes, feet!
It might seem like a silly topic. I mean, everybody has feet, and how much attention do they really need? But given my circumstances it is actually something that is pretty important.

After surgery in August to remove the infected section of my tibia, my leg was in a cast for two months. Each time that I saw my surgeon and my cast was replaced, my foot appeared a bit more dried out. When the final cast came off in October, there were large patches of dried out, flakey skin on my foot. I had experienced this before in 2006, but much worse, when my leg was in a cast for seven long torturous months. Another problem with the cast was being able to trim my toe nails - quite a challenge when the type of cast I had made it difficult to bend my leg and reach my toes and the cast actually extended over some of my toes! When I got home I spent a lot of time with my foot soaking in the bathtub and scrubbing off all that dead skin. It was pretty disgusting. I was also finally able to trim those toe nails! I felt so much better after being able to these things. In many ways, this can be related to the previous post - how physical changes can affect your self-esteem, confidence, and body image.

Fast forward six weeks and I was coming home with an external fixator. Let me tell you, that thing hurt! You might as well have been asking me to perform aerial acrobatics if I needed to trim my toe nails! And because I couldn't get my fixator and pin sites wet, the skin on my foot dried out pretty fast. Going out in public with dry flakey feet, cracked cuticles and long toe nails does not boost your self-esteem one bit. I take pride in looking clean and put together, so the foot situation felt horrible.

Over the months, I have figured out some ways to take care of my foot despite the fixator. In some ways, this has become a bit easier since the initial pain and trauma has subsided. All of the things I do make me feel a little bit more comfortable and better about myself. So here are my tips for caring for your feet despite a cumbersome external fixator:

1) Do your best to trim your toenails. If you can't, ask a loved one to do it for you. It might feel awkward, but it beats going in public with inch long toe nails. A plus is that this might not be as awkward a request as it seems. After all, your parents trimmed your nails for you as a child, right?

2) Even if you can't get your fixator wet, it might be possible to get just the bottom of your foot wet. You can do this in a number of ways: 1) sitting on a shower chair in your bath tub, fill the tub with nice warm water just high enough to immerse your foot in 2) likewise, you could find a bucket or container from the dollar store that is large enough to fit your foot in. Sit on a chair with a towel on the ground to prevent the floor from getting wet. Ask someone to fill the container with warm water and place it on the towel. Place your foot in it and relax. You could even add some bubble soap or body wash and have a bucket with clean water to rinse it off. Just remember to have a dry towel at hand to dry your foot off with once you are done 3) use a wet wash cloth to rinse your foot with. I find options one and two preferable to this, but sometimes it is all you can do and that is better than nothing at all.

3) When you are soaking your foot, use a loofah to get rid of all that dry flakey skin. Dead skin is less likely to flake off when you can't regularly wash your foot or use it which would allow the natural wear and tear of daily life to help slough of the dead skin. The loofah will help remedy this. Don't do anything that makes your pins sites hurt, e.g., pulling your foot to the side to reach part of your heel.

4) After you soak your foot, try to push your cuticles back a bit. Over time, they tend to creep forward over the nail, making your toenails appear smaller than they are. You should be able to find a small nifty tool at store selling cosmetic items. They are generally used on finger nails but could easily be used on toe nails as well. It is best to do this when the cuticles are wet because this makes them soft and supple.

5) Speaking about cuticles, you could try some cuticle cream. This will help keep your cuticles moisturized and prevent them from cracking. I get cuticle cream from Bert's Bees and it is absolutely lovely.

6) Use moisturizing cream on your foot - this will help keep the skin from drying out and generally just feels good to do!

7) Give your foot a message. If you are fortunate enough so have someone who is willing to do so, you can ask them to message your foot. Not only will this feel nice but it might relax your foot a bit and ease up some of the tension caused by the external fixator, not to mention muscle atrophy.

8) Paint your toes nails a fun colour! I haven't done this myself, but I have friends who have and they say it really cheered them up and helped them feel more normal =)

9) Wear nice cotton socks. These are soft on the skin and will help protect your foot from getting hurt. This is especially important if you have lost sensation in parts of your foot, like I have. A sock might offer some protection if you stub a toe or place a numb portion of the foot on something sharp. Find comfy big socks or slipper socks, perhaps made of wool or flannel, to keep your foot warm. I don't usually sleep with my foot under the covers because I find the pressure of blankets on the fixator unpleasant. Thick socks help to keep my foot warm at night. Furthermore, choose socks with bright colours or funky patterns just to cheer things up a bit. I have yet to meet a person who doesn't like fun socks!

10) Last but not least, try organizing a spa day at your house, focusing on feet. Have friend come over to watch movies and paint each other's toenails. Perhaps you could organize a sock exchange. Or everyone who comes over could bring their favorite moisturizers and cuticle creams and you could try whatever takes your fancy. You don't have to stick with just toes either. You could include nail polish, perfumes, ankle bracelets and rings, whatever will make the night fun! Not only will your feet feel pampered, but you will get to socialize a bit and hang out with friends, something that is quite difficult to do with something as cumbersome as an external fixator.

And that's that, my ten tips to care for your feet when you have an external fixator! Even doing one or two of these things will help your feet feel better and help boost your confidence and body-image despite the difficult situation you find yourself in. At the end of your day, you will have very happy feet! And happy feet makes for a happy you!