For those of you who have been to the studio over the last few months, you would have noticed I wasn’t there! I’ve been working remotely while recovering from a second foot surgery within the last year.
Even before this last surgery, you may have noticed I was in a boot for a very long time.
Why? Here it goes:
In 2020, I photographed a wedding and the next day, I couldn’t walk. My left ankle was super swollen and painful. I went to a doctor and long story short, was told my ankle had collapsed due to my extremely flat feet. A tendon had given out and would need to do an 8-10 week recovery time in a boot. After I healed from that, I still always had pain in both of my feet and wanted to take control of my health and try to understand why.
Fast forward to 2022, I found an orthopedic surgeon who explained that in order to fix my left foot and prevent the same issue and others from happening, I would need a reconstructive surgery done to rebuild my foot. Sounds like a Frankenstein situation right? Well it was!
In January of 2023, I had a flat foot reconstruction done where they did 7 different incisions, using screws, plates and wedges to straighten out my foot and fix the foundation! One of the procedures included putting a metal wedge in between two bones. This ended up being too big and caused me a world of pain for over a year. The wedge traveled through a joint, and prevented me from walking normally, which is why I wore a boot for so long! ( not because it was my favorite accessory )
After having a not so great experience with the surgeon and practice who did my first surgery, I went on a journey to find someone new to help me.
I found a great FEMALE surgeon ( holla if you need one ) and on May 28th 2024, I went in for surgery #2. She went back in, removed the wedge, bone, fused some stuff together and hopefully fixed my problem.
This surgery was another 10 week non weight bearing experience, so I have not been able to be in the studio as much as usual.
I’m in physical therapy now learning how to walk again and am getting stronger every week. This experience has not been easy, but it has taught me how strong I am.
Hopefully when I see most of you during the fall/holiday season, I will be walking normally and able to chase after your little ones again.
If any of you out there are going through something similar, or know someone who is, please reach out! Living with chronic pain is extremely lonely and isolating, and finding someone who understands is paramount.
I hope this was helpful to anyone going through something similar!
XOXOX Meghan
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