Skip to main content

Background

 


Angle Grinder - Openclipart


In summer 2019 I dropped one of these bad boys (an axle grinder) on my 

Not the best use for it. Ouch! (the language was a little fruitier)

For a few weeks after it hurt at the bigger second joint, the metatarsophalangeal or MTP joint for short. I didn't bother going to the doc (it's just a toe, right?), and carried on walking this one:

My dog-walking buddies - all with various foot ailments of their own (well, we are all middle-aged and been round the block) - commiserated and speculated that it would right itself in time. 

Sure - just walk my way through it.

So I did - hobble - for the next couple of months. It wasn't getting better, but then - bang! - even worse was to come, I did my knee in. Same leg (right) and that took way more precedence. I couldn't walk at all for a few weeks, presented to the doc, strapped the knee and began rehabilitation. For the next couple of months, the knee was the thing. I forgot the toe (I could barely walk anyway). 

Then the unimaginable happened - Covid 19 pandemic. 

Two years (and two house moves later), the knee stronger and healthier, restrictions lifted and hospitals and GP surgeries getting back to normal, it was time to get the toe sorted....

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Cheilectomy 5 months

 As each month milestone approaches, it feels like the toe is worst than the month before, but when I read back, I can see that's a fallacy. I guess, as it gets better, I just measure its progress day by day, so some days it feels worse and some days it feels better. And that's kinda the lesson learned in this post.  For example, the last couple of weeks we've had a cold snap in the UK (temperatures down to -2 in the daytime), so I've had to swap the trainers to more suitable walking boots (something I couldn't wear last month). I've been in the walking boots every day now for a couple of weeks. It feels roomier than when I tried the boots last month, so that indicates the swelling (from Covid probably) has gone down. It's more comfortable to wear the boots now, so clearly that's progress. I've been doing around five miles in them, but do find that it's a matter of one day on, one day off. So if I do a five mile walk one day, I'm not up for a...

Cheilectomy Day 6

I woke up in the middle of the night in some discomfort. I think what must have happened was I inadvertently stretched the big toe where I had surgery in my sleep. It was pretty unpleasant, but it soon subsided and I went off to sleep again. This morning my spirits are pretty low, as I had planned a big day celebrating in friends from near and far and having a picnic then heading to a party this evening. As it is, I'm stuck home and all my friends are out celebrating without me. This is pretty difficult for me as the last couple of years have been incredibly isolating. My relationship broke down, we had endless lock-downs, I moved house a couple of times, and my dog has had cancer and surgery and is quite elderly now, my mum has been diagnosed with Alzheimers and I'm feeling like she's becoming less and less present. Some friends were coming from London and I was looking forward to being 'normal' again. Alas, it wasn't to be. But when I was offered the surgery, ...

July 2022 Cheilectomy Day 1 - the surgery

Day 1 - surgery Arrived for a midday appointment. It's important to make sure you have someone who can take you to (and more importantly) collect you from your appointment. You CANNOT (nor will you want to) drive after the surgery. And trust me, you ain't gonna be taking public transport either. I was advised that because I was having a local anaesthetic, I could eat and drink normally, to bring something to eat and drink and a pair of shorts to wear under the hospital gown and a dressing-gown to wear over the top. I changed and ate my lunch and drank my flask of tea and discussed the pain meds that I'll be taking for the first three days after surgery (my worse fear - way worse than the surgical procedure - and the point of all my questions). I do not get on with painkillers - namely, my stomach doesn't. I took ONE co-codamol tab for the knee when I did it in. OMG! The cramp in my stomach was abysmal. I took FOUR ibuprofens the following day, and by day three my inside...