Thursday, October 1, 2009

My (Famous) Right Foot

Today I went to the neurologist for my annual check-up. This was my first follow-up since the foot surgery. Actually, it had been over a year and a half since my last visit and I had not consulted the neurologist before having the surgery.

The doctor was impressed with the results of the surgery. When he asked me what procedures I had done, I told him that I had 11 different procedures. He answered that he didn't know that there was 11 procedures that could be done on the foot. :)

It was very exciting to tell the doctor about the return of feeling in my feet and legs. He is not sure why it happened but is going to do some research. I showed him the "before" pictures of my foot and he said "oh, by the way, your foot is famous." He went online and showed me a picture he had taken at our last visit. You can find it at http://neuromuscular.wustl.edu/time/hmsn.html#II and here it is:


The foot on top is a picture of a "classic" CMT foot drawn by Dr. Duschenne in the late 1800's. On the bottom is my foot. (BTW, I know it looks like my left foot but it is actually my right foot. The doctor did photoshop or something to it.)
The other exciting thing that happened was that the doctor is doing some innovative research on CMT. He is taking skin samples and (through a long process) growing them into stem cells and neurons. By doing this, he will be able look directly at the neuron and see how it is functioning (or not). I agree to let him take a skin core off my butt (he said it was my hip but I just know that it is my butt that hurts) and he will grow it into 10 different samples to be tested. I am so grateful that I am able to participate in this important research and I will gladly put up with a tender rear if it means that someone down the road can be cured from CMT.
Thanks for reading and God bless,
Devin