Conditions + Treatments
Foot Injury/Condition
I’ve had rheumatoid arthritis for 15 years along with fibromyalgia and osteoporosis. Over time, the combination of these three conditions made my feet turn and twist. It got so bad I couldn’t even wear shoes, instead wearing Crocs most of the time. For years, I felt like I was walking on rocks and oftentimes my pain level was a 10 out of 10.
In April of 2019, I had my first appointment with Dr. Norman Waldrop for him to remove a cyst from my foot. While evaluating my cyst, Dr. Waldrop commented that he was confident he could successfully perform surgery to fix my feet and make them straight. I was so excited. During my appointment, Dr. Waldrop went into great detail about the surgical procedure and thoroughly discussed the risks and benefits of the surgeries. I knew nothing could be as bad as the pain I was currently having, so right then and there, I made the decision to proceed with the initial surgery.
A week after my initial visit, Dr. Waldrop performed surgery on my left foot. During my surgery, Dr. Waldrop took the metatarsal head off, I had hammer toes and bunions, so he fused the big toes, broke my other toes, put the pins in them & took the metatarsal head out. The pins I had in went from the end of my toe to about 6 inches inside of my foot. He used these to straighten my toes since he had to break them during the surgery. Post-op was rough for the first couple of days, but it got better, and I was looking forward to having the surgery again on my other foot.
In September, Dr. Waldrop performed surgery on my right foot. Once again, the first few days were difficult and I was non-weight bearing for a number of weeks. During my recovery, from my second foot surgery, I had an experience with one of the pins in my foot turning. The next morning without calling or an appointment I showed up at Andrews to have the pin straightened. Dr. Waldrop came out of surgery to correct my issue right away. He said I couldn’t have made it another week with the way the pin was turned.
I have had surgeries (three different body parts and surgeons) at Andrews Sports Medicine in the past and my experience has always been exceptional. Drs. Benton Emblom, Kathleen McKeon and Waldrop treat each patient with so much care and compassion. I’ve just never seen anything like the way they treat their patients. People from all over the world come to see these doctors and they treat me and my husband like we’re just as important as anyone else who walks in. Everything is so personal, and they’re genuinely interested in your injury and making it right. They just have a lot of respect for every patient and treat us like family.
I came to Andrews Sports Medicine with the thought that I was just going to get a cyst on my foot removed. I left with the hope of knowing I could walk normally again. I thought that my rheumatoid arthritis had ultimately stopped me from living a normal life of just walking. Like I said, it was so bad that I couldn’t wear shoes unless they were slip-ons. Dr. Waldrop has changed my life. I’m on the way to a full recovery and my feet are almost completely straight. I recommend it to anyone. There is help for you even if you think you might be beyond repair.
