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Poor foot

So....after that ER visit for my foot...it did not end up getting better.  I mean I can now wiggle my big toe a bit, but the patch of numbness is still there and mobility is still severely limited.  My doctor decided it would be best to get me to physical therapy quickly and also get me back up to my previous dose of neurological drugs (that I had worked hard to come off of because I haven't had seizure activity since December!) in the hopes that feeling will return.  This will take a week or two because you have to titrate the medicine slowly.

So I wanted to give an update about how the initial PT evaluation went the other day. The director of the clinic evaluated me and she was really kind and understanding about Lyme disease.

After a thorough evaluation of both legs and feet (my right one is still numb in a particular area and severely immobilized and very weak), she pointed out along the way and after, that everything was really "fitting" MS symptoms - the way my good foot would do a little double take when she asked me to push back against her restraint, etc. She did so many of these sort of tests on both legs/feet and explained scientifically what was happening.

She said most times when you get numbness in the area I have it in, it affects the mobility of the foot in a certain way, but my foot was NOT reacting how she would have thought it would and that made her think maybe it was something neurological COMBINED with an issue with my c-spine which all points to MS.

But at the same time she acknowledged it still could be some odd Lyme thing going on and maybe it would clear up. And her goal as a physical therapist was to strengthen and get my mobility back.

She seemed to puzzle over it a lot and test my feet and legs and hips and reflexes all different ways and even at one point said, "You know how some people are more immune compromised and they seem to get dumped on? I just wonder if you could have Lyme AND MS?"

She said because of the way my feet were reacting, it just wasn't following the normal "pinched nerve" symptoms, so she ruled that out and she thinks it may be a neurological issue and if my neurological meds DO help take the numbness away, that would be great because the longer it's numb, the greater chance for permanent nerve damage.

She's going to have me come in quite often for the next 4 weeks and then re-evaluate and if things haven't gotten better or they have gotten worse, that's when she would want me to see a doctor right away about MS again with all her notes in tow. If things are improving...even a little bit, then we would continue for another 4 weeks and hopefully see the most improvement after that.

So you can be praying that my foot will improve and the numbness will disappear very soon and that no permanent nerve damage will be done!