After a trip to the ER I was referred to a specialist in Odessa, TX, Dr. OT Garza. This doctor was a riot. He was very blunt but very knowledgeable and many years of experience with feet. Dallas hit it off right away with Dr. Garza. His first words to me after seeing my x-rays were, “You broke the shit out of this bitch!”. I replied with, “Go big or go home, right?”. He kept anticipating surgery but with every visit he would be bummed out because he was realizing my bone was healing very well. But what he couldn’t see was the damage done to the joint because he was only doing x-rays and didn’t order a CT. Probably because I currently didn’t have insurance and was a self-pay patient. I spent 3 months in a cast, a purple one. After dealing with 2 years of the pain I made the choice to see another specialist after we moved to San Angelo to see if there was anything I could do to help relieve some of that pain. Dr. Joseph Zubak was great. He had me do x-rays at the beginning of my first office visit. He was able to see enough to order a CT to be done right away to see more in depth the injury. At my follow up he was able to explain in a way I would better understand in detail what was wrong and why I was still having so much pain. He informed Dallas & I that he retired from surgery and refers his patients to Baylor Scott & White in the Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX area. He gave us our options and told us to think about them and let him know. But in the meantime ordered a brace for my foot and told us this would be permanent unless I decided on surgery. We went to West Texas Rehab to be fitted for the brace. While there I asked her opinion on surgery as opposed to the brace and her response was simple but enough to scare me into not choosing surgery. She said “I’ve seen it go both ways, really. It could work great for you and you’d never have an issue. Or, it can end in amputation.” That scared the crap out of me enough to say no surgery, ever! 
In the meantime, Dallas and I made a day trip to Midland to see my girl, Shelbie, for an overdue update on this nappy hair I have. After that we made a visit to The Coker family to drop of a baby gift for baby Lane. Dallas and Coker talked for a while about trucks so Jennifer gave me a tour of the baby room and spare (Texas A& M) room. (Back story on The Coker family. I met Jennifer during Halliburton orientation. During which time she told me her husband already worked with the company but not his name. A few months later I would meet him, Richard, and didn’t even realize who he was. He then became my boss a year after that and my favorite boss, ever! But it still took months after that that I put two and two together and told him I knew his wife, Jennifer and he should bring her to the office sometime. The rest is history.) We discussed my foot, among many other things but she encouraged me to get another opinion, a third opinion if you will. And I’m glad I did! Shortly after that a longtime friend of mine broke her foot and when we talked about it she said something that made me realize I was being a big chicken. Sarah said “Our feet are too important not to take good care of them. I’m having surgery as soon as possible.” And she had only had her injury a few days but I waited almost 2 years. I researched the feet doctors Dr. Zubak referred me to but decided to go with one I found. He was also at Baylor Scot & White. And an appointment was made after having help from Hillary work over their insurance patient accounts to make sure my insurance was covered and I didn’t pay a dime! I had met my deductible in January thanks to my gigantic kidney stone.
Dr. Robert Probe is amazing! After seeing my x-rays and CT during or consultation he determined he could help relieve about 80-85% of pain but it’ll never be 100% pain free or normal. Arthritis set in from the instant the bone broke. The break had ruined the bottom of my ankle joint and basically smashed the heel bone outward, almost as if they were natural bone spurs. Therefore, a fusion was required for the bottom of the ankle joint. My main focus was not only on the pain but to get the shape of my foot back to my original shoe size again. Listen, as shallow as this may sound I have thousand of dollars in boots (and some shoes) that I just wasn’t ready to part with yet. Hence needing my shoe size back. His original plan was to use cadaver bone for the fusion. But when I mentioned getting the shape back he was able to come up with a different game plan. He decided he’d take a sliver out of the heel bone and use it for the fusion. This way, using my own bone had a better chance of the fusion working than possibly refusing the cadaver bone for the fusion.
Octerber 6, 2020 was surgery day in Temple, TX. We had to show up Friday to do a COVID test and as long as my results were negative we would proceed with the surgery. Thank goodness it was negative. Day of surgery I had to take a pregnancy test (even though I no longer had fallopian tubes to get pregnant) before they would even start an IV or the doctor would come talk with me. No surprise it was negative. As soon as that was negative they had me change into the gown and the anesthesiologist came in to ask if I wanted a nerve block. I had a little anxiety because I thought he meant it was that or put me completely under. He explained more and Dallas gave me a yes head nod I said “Yes, please.” The doctor came in and had me sign final paperwork. Like a swarm of bees, 2 nurses and 2 anesthesiologist’s hovered over me as I’m trying to ignore them and focus on what the doctor was talking about. They gave me an IV, an antibiotic shot in another arm, hooked me up to monitors while the main anesthesiologist snuck a cocktail into said IV. So much commotion going on in those few minutes it really happened so fast I didn’t see a lot of what happened. I started getting loopy and they started on the nerve block. They gave me a nerve block from mid thigh down after they gave me a lovely cocktail to knock me out so I didn’t feel all those needles going into my leg prior to surgery. Dallas said I kept talking with all of them but I don’t remember anything after the cocktail kicked in. He’s probably just teasing me, he does it all the time. I could not feel my leg or foot for 3 days afterward. The car ride home right after was fine, I slept the whole way. I now have 4 screws in my foot and a big scar to go with it. 
October 19, 2020 was the first follow up to take the splint off, stitches out and get the new cast. I can tell you when they took the stitches out of the bottom of the heel, I wanted to scream! The stitches on the side didn’t hurt at all, it was almost a satisfying feeling. A relief, if you will. And then came round 2 of a cast. This time I chose pink.
November 16, 2020 the cast comes off. We take x-rays and I get a walking boot to wear for another 6 weeks. But due to the holidays my last follow up is postponed another week.
January 6, 2020 was the last office visit and x-rays. Dr. probe was so pleased with the entire process that he says he’s mentioned it to all of his colleagues, taken a multitude of pictures and X-rays. At this visit he had a resident shadowing him. Who was also quite impressed with the surgery and the recovery. At this visit Dr. Probe said I needed to wait another 2 months before wearing boots or riding a horse but he doesn’t anticipate any issues at that point. Yes, Dallas made sure to ask when I could start wearing boots and riding horses again. I walked out of his office in tennis shoes, carrying the walking boot instead of wearing it!
And that, my friends, is my foot journey thus far. Whew!
