The Beginning !!!!

One evening in February 2009, I guess the date doesn't matter only that there were no words to express the panic I felt inside my soul that night. I felt a lump in my foot !! It is my lump there are many like them but this one is mine. I didn't know yet where this little lump of mine would take me, but I sure wasn't prepared for the path of least resistance. My first thought was the C word (cancer). I had watched that 6 letter word, pick off family members as if it were playing red rover, red rover. So I did what any human would do, I went straight to bed that night and carried on like I hadn't just single handedly found the one thing that could and eventually would rip my world apart.  John Deere my terrific employer !! I love my job, my supervisor, and every other last detail of working there. And everything was looking and smelling like roses, or so I thought. It ended up it was rose colored glassed and that smell wasn't flowers it was Fibroma's in the air. So 6 months have gone by and now the little lump has decided to poke its little body of unknown cure or cause outside its little safety zone. I then was thinking, wow, what if my other foot has it. And there it was smack dab in the middle of my other arch. WHY ?? This time there was no ignoring either of them. The pain by July was excruciating and I am NOT a Wimp !! I decided to go and invest in orthotics, Dr. Scholl's was the winner. 30 days later I found myself sitting at the Podiatrist's office listening to him suggest Surgery. But we should also just wait for awhile first and watch them.  My feet are my bread and butter. I need them to walk, climb, and maneuver around the X-building at John Deere. I cannot go to work in this much pain. I left there upset, pissed off, angry and confused at this Plantar Fibroma Disease and the no Cure and the no known cause. WHAT ??? Are you serious here. In todays world of technology noone can figure out why, when, or how or even what this disease is all about.  I felt as if, on one foot I was glad I didnt get picked for red rover but on the other foot I felt abandoned by my world. 3 days later no end to the pain I called up angry, wanting to go to work but knowing full well I could not physically perform my duties without crying like a big baby with owwies in her wittle footsies. I called the Doctor and was scheduled for foot surgery in 3 weeks. September 25,2009, I thought was going to be the new beginning. The naughty lump in left foot would be forever a distant memory and the right one would be vacationing there for a few more months then it to would live out the rest of its days in a jar.  Surgery went well so I was told. But within a few weeks/months the Fibroma/Lump had returned right underneath my scar tissue. I felt like Lumpy had returned and was giving me and the Doc the raspberries. As if to say Ha Ha, you didn't get all of me so I'm BACK. I did know that this was a possibility, this recurrency of the Fibroma. But I thought, Not me, I'm young and healthy. Boy I was wrong. So over the next few months the Doctor did everything he could think of, Steroid shots and more time off of work. Then he told me he was sorry but that maybe I needed a second opinion, someone with maybe a fresher set of eyes.
So I checked out several doctors and heard great things about my second and current Doctor. Now during this chaotic time frame, I had to see my regular doctor due to lots of pain and swelling and not able to put shoes on and walk very far. So my reg. Doctor gave me a handicap paper so I didn't have to walk all over B.F.E. and tried many different combinations of pills and patches. I eventually went to a pain clinic.  I was placed on a higher dose of Hydrocodone ( makes me feel and walk floaty) and the pain clinic also placed me on Gabapentin and took me off of TramadolER. I don't think it ever really worked the greatest. I have also had physical therapy and bought ointments and creams and oils and shoes.Which leads me to today 2 and a half years later. I still live with my lovely lady lumps. There are several now that are filling up my right foot and one nice sized one in my left. They are very painful and keep me in a scooter or my electric lift chair most days. It is not Red Rover, but it does Yell out, RARE!!This Disease is Rare and I have a Painful Form and that to is Rare. And I do feel at times I wish I had a Disease that others would acknowledge or understand. I share with people about my disease and they look at me like, wow nice story tell another. PLANTAR FIBROMATOSIS IS RARE but it is real and it has various stages and various forms shapes and sizes just like any other disease. This one is like all the others it affects and effects everyone differently and in different ways. It doesn't have the same end result as RED ROVER  but that doesn't make it not have end results.  People with Plantar Fibromatosis, some of our results are dibilitating and depressing and lonely and others walk around and may not even know they have a fibroma or this disease at all. If you have a special someone or are that special somone please, please get in contact with me. I want others to know they are not alone.!!!! I believe we need a cure. I believe we need to support each other !! And Just know that I BELIEVE you !!!