'My Feet Are Killing Me': Susan walks in with her 'Frankenstein's foot' but hopes to walk out without it
For 30 years Susan Gibbons has tried to live her life normally but the pain on her foot has stopped her every time. Now, things are slowly taking a turn for the worse as every step that Susan takes leaves her with pain rushing through her body. Susan recalled that when she first noticed her foot the way they are now, she thought it was just a bunion.
However, before she realized it, it became worse and slowly started affecting the other toes and it became a painful affair. Even the happiest day in Susan's life - her wedding - turned out to be a dreadful and painful walk down the aisle.
Instead of wearing shoes that would make her feel like a princess, Susan had to wear flipflops as she was not able to find any other shoe that would fit her perfectly. Over the years, Susan's foot has also affected her confidence. After her husband died five years ago, Susan has been having a hard time getting back into the dating life.
She has been worried that any man that she dates will not be happy to see her foot and might run away. Susan has been so embarrassed by her feet that she has even given it names like "little monster" while her sister called it "Frankenstein's foot". But years of living like this and hearing people call her a freak because of her foot, Susan wants to turn her life around.
But this is not the only problem that she faces. To make things worse, Susan has a problem wearing shoes as the foot tends to rub against them and the pain grows. After suffering for many years, Susan finally decided to do something about her foot as she booked an appointment with Dr Brad Schaeffer. When Dr Schaeffer first examined her feet, he admitted he was shocked as he had never seen a foot looking like that.
He was shocked to see how her foot jutted out at a 90-degree angle. However, he told Susan that it wasn't a problem that could not be fixed. Dr Schaeffer explained to Susan that the rest of her toes were bending along with the big toe because they were trying to give the body the support that it needed.
He wanted to make sure that the foot regains its shape so that Susan would no longer have a problem walking. He informed her she had a condition that was called skew foot - a condition in which the feet form a 'Z'. Luckily, surgery could help Susan get back the balance and painless foot that she has always wanted.
Once in the surgery, the first thing on Dr Schaeffer's list was to shift the bones and make sure they are aligned properly. He then tried to make the 90-degree angle straight to ensure that the foot is shaped perfectly.
During the first attempt, the plates did not fit perfectly and Dr Schaeffer had to replace the screw that he used with a longer screw in the hopes that they would be able to hold the bones properly. After the screws were inserted properly, he inserted the plates for the joints to grow evenly.
The same was repeated on the other toes. With four and a half hours into the surgery, things seemed complicated as the other toes would lose their shape if they tried to reshape another toe. However, Dr Schaeffer knew that he could not give up and with another attempt, he was able to get the results that he wanted.
After spending six and a half hours in surgery, he was happy with the results and wanted Susan to rest. After spending some time letting her feet heal, Susan was happy to see how her foot looked and was positive about starting her life over.
'My Feet Are Killing Me' airs on Thursdays at 10 pm ET on TLC.