Cheilectomy Day 10

Foot continues to improve. Icing a couple of times today continues to improve overall sense of 'tightness' in the foot.

Have discontinued the ibuprofen now, see how that goes.

I'm pretty much fending for myself now - though I did need to employ help to take out the rubbish/garbage, and did have my meal prepared for me last night.

This lunchtime I really fancied eggs, so I made myself an omelette. Strange how little moments of returned independence really boost the serotonin levels (or maybe that was just the food..!)

My work is normally mostly a desk job but I don't have any work at the moment, which is a kind of relief, because although I'd welcome the distraction (not to mention the money - luckily the NHS paid for my procedure), I think being able to keep the foot elevated these last few days has been really beneficial. Working on the laptop in a lying down position is fine for the purposes of writing this blog, but I wouldn't be able to do it for 8 hours a day. And to sit at a desk would make it difficult to look after the swelling.

Topping up the tan - now that the temperature has dropped.

TOP TIP

Make sure you plan to be off work if at all possible for at least 10 days (this may be shorter if you're getting just the cheilectomy, or having minimally invasive procedure). Get a sick-note from your doc if you are in employment.

Comments

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 14

Lots of mobility now - whizzing around doing everything for myself, except shopping and walking the dog. Can walk ok in the surgical shoe and do stuff like preparing meals and washing up, getting up and down stairs, walking to the car. Still icing the foot just to ward off any swelling, wiggling the toe and stretching it. Sometimes, without warning it has a sudden ache - similar but not as intense to the pain I'd experience often before surgery. Went out to the local tea rooms for a couple of hours with the Sunday papers, so feeling a little more normal. Looking forward to tomorrow when I have my post-op appointment back at the hospital, and to losing the surgical shoe and the bulky bandages.

Cheilectomy - Day 20-21

It's the 3 week mark and it's been a busy weekend - well, it's all relative. I've been able to get on a bike - lowering the saddle so I can easily put my foot down. It's been more a case of rolling along at walking pace than actually 'cycling' - the foot feels too fragile to go straight off out of the traps onto the road in case of any sudden mishaps that could mean mucking up the osteotomy before it's healed. On healing, the incision wound is finally sealing up and looking less angry. Still haven't gone swimming - still looks like it needs a little more time to scar properly before risking the water (submerging the skin, risk of tearing, and infection from sea water). Hope that changes this coming week. I can't feel the top of the toe near the incision at all - it's numb. Hoping that changes. Doing the exercises as directed - push and pull until it's uncomfortable twice a day for 5 minutes. I was able to walk the dog to the park and ba...

cheilectomy-diary

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