'My Feet Are Killing Me': Michele can now relive her ballerina dreams after successful foot reconstruction
Michele Martinez started dancing when she was five and at the age of 12, she found her love in ballet. While her love for dancing kept growing as she aged, it also opened doors of opportunities for her. Michele has performed with great singers such as Mariah Carey, Rihanna and others.
However, because of her feet, all these have become a distant memory. Michele confessed that she still misses dancing and would love to go back to it but is unable to turn back to dancing because of the constant pain she feels when she walks or performs.
Due to this pain, Michele decided to become a massage therapist but that still did not fill the longing she had for dancing. Michele decided to meet Dr Ebonie Vincent with the hopes that she would be able to help her.
When Dr Vincent examined Michele's feet, she realized that it was far more complicated than she had expected. Dr Vincent realized that Michele also had a hammertoe along with a bunion and would require a complete reconstruction of her foot. She suggested that Michele would require a Lapidus Bunionectomy, a surgery that involves getting the natural position for the big toe.
The surgery sees the fusion of two joints to make sure that the toe could be rotated and placed in the correct position. This is followed by a toe implant, which will ensure that the bones in the toe grow in the correct manner and the toe is able to attain its natural shape. Michele decided to undergo the surgery for both her feet at the same time.
She was ready to bear the pain and the healing time along with it. Dr Vincent agreed and got her ready for surgery. Dr Vincent cut the cartilage to insert a metal rod in the bone for the bones to grow perfectly. Meanwhile, to make sure that Michele's big toe is able to grow straight she inserts a plate that would help with the growth.
The next thing that she had to do was to fix the hammertoe. Dr Vincent tried to insert a rod but it was unsuccessful because there wasn't enough space for them to put one. Luckily, they had K wire, a wire made of metal that is used to keep everything in place. Dr Vincent was finally able to successfully insert the K wire.
The same procedure was repeated for her left foot. The surgery lasted for eight hours but t the end of it, Dr Vincent was happy with the result. Dr Vincent revealed now the only thing that remained was for Michele to handle the pain and earn how to balance and walk. Weeks after the surgery, Michele returned and was pleased with how her feet looked and was looking forward to seeing them healed completely.
'My Feet Are Killing Me' airs on Thursdays at 10 pm ET on TLC.