'My Feet Are Killing Me': Dr Ebonie helps Jacob get rid of his dreaded 'Frankenfoot'
Medical conditions rarely come with a warning. You can spend one day feeling perfectly fine, only for it to all go downhill the very next moment. This throws people's lives into a frenzy, and if these issues are not treated in the proper manner, they can prove to be rather debilitating. And if there is anyone who can vouch for that, it would be Jacob Ridgway.
TLC's 'My Feet Are Killing Me' has seen some extreme cases, such as webbed feet, Proteus Syndrome and even potentially cancerous growths. Despite this, doctors always find a way to help their patients. This week, Dr Ebonie helped Jacob stand back on his feet after years of pain and trauma.
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For Jacob, his entire life changed when he was 24. As he explains it, he woke up one morning and felt an intense pain in his right foot. His second toe was swollen and soon, the swelling spread across his foot. He was initially diagnosed with arthritis and since then, his feet have only gotten worse. Now, at 38, he feels like a 70-year-old every time he walks.
Over time, his toes have dislocated from their joints, causing severe deformation, leading him to nickname his right foot as 'Frankenfoot'. Jacob even added that his feet smell like a high school boy's locker room, but for him, it's not the smell that is the issue as the endless pain takes precedence.
Even Dr Ebonie noted that his feet were unique, seeing that his right foot's big toe was dislocated from the metatarsal bone to the point where it was forming a 90-degree angle. To her, the solution was surgery to fuse the joints and wire his toes back together. While the surgery was critical, Dr Ebonie pointed out that aftercare was just as, if not more important. She advised Jacob to be off his feet for four weeks so that his feet could heel correctly.
She warned him that any activity or pressure on his feet post the surgery could cause the wires in his feet to snap, which would reverse the effects of the surgery itself. Jacob wasn't too thrilled to hear that, but it made him realize just how essential his post care surgery was.
As the surgery took place, Dr Ebonie had quite the task ahead of her. First, she had to chip Jacob's big toes and put plates in place to align them upright. Then, when it came to the rest of the toes, she noted that she had to cut down on tendons and spoon the bone up to fuse the bones using k-wires. K-wires or Kirschner wires are thin metallic wires used to stabilize bone fragments. Although tough tissue in his toes made the procedure a tedious one, Dr Ebonie could realign all his toes. Jacob was extremely particular about his aftercare, going as far as to ensure that he didn't even stand on his feet until Dr Ebonie gave him the go-ahead. She was thrilled to see how well his feet healed and gave him her blessings to walk out freely.
Catch all-new episodes of 'My Feet Are Killing Me' on Wednesdays at 10 pm EST on TLC.