Evening all. Three weeks ago, I had surgery on my toe: what I thought was a broken toe was in fact dislocated, and it healed in place so I needed surgery to correct it. The medial phalange was overlapping the proximal phalange by a couple of mm, so the operation was to remove the joint and fuse the bones. A k-wire was inserted to keep everything in line, and it’s mostly been OK, but the wire is beginning to rotate in my toe and irritate the next toe along. I can swivel it back into place, but it moves around again.

Is this OK or is it a bad thing? I know I’m not supposed to get the wire wet to prevent water getting into the bone, but I don’t know if the rotation is expected, if it’s an indication that the bone is healing and it should come out, if it’s incredibly bad and it needs to be sorted now etc etc . Any constructive advice would be welcomed. Any pisstaking by non-medical types will be expected

Photos are available if required for medical purposes or for the purpose of freaking out piss takers

Piss-taking photos please, wonky toe.

That didn’t take long 🙂

Pics tomorrow when I’m at the pc and they’re easier to sort out than on the tablet I’m currently using

Generally not ideal if it’s moving that easily. Worth checking with a live doc in person. Arthodesis of a joint will usually take longer than 3 weeks. Metalwork usually comes out after 4-6 weeks so you may be ok if you are a quick healer.

Ps only do orthopaedics in cats and dogs but general principles are similar.

Thanks bruk. Will call the docs office first thing tomorrow

Spoke to the Duty nurse on ward this morning who put my mind at rest, it’s ok that the k-wire will move as long as it doesn’t come out. she suggested I might use a bit of tape to make sure it doesn’t move too much so I will dig out my tape later and tape it in place

pics as promised for those who like such things

Before:

X-Rays:
[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/42933793/toes/2016-04-05%2010.28.59.jpg[/img]

Post-op

Stitches about to come out

To the left:

To the right:

Step it up, step it up, it’s all right

Minging feet 😆

Surely they’re not human feet.
Man from Atlantis or Creature from Black Lagoon? 🙂

Worst. FootFetishWebsite. Ever.

[blackaddermodeon] “YOU HAVE A WOMANS FEET!” [/blackaddermodeoff]

AT size 7, I can get into a size 6 in clark’s so I do have kiddie size feet. I also have fewer problems finding bargains in the sales 🙂

I immediately regret asking for photos.

That looks like a cocktail stick. Were they short of proper things to put your feet back together?