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.

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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 Week 8

As I go into week 8 from the date of the cheilectomy and osteotomy to treat hallux rigidus stage 2, I'm mindful that this is supposed to be a big turning point. In my notes that I was discharged with it states, "You should return to your normal daily activities (and stop the PT exercises) after 8 weeks, although exercising the joint from time to time may still help." Now I'm a bit literal, so I'm tempted to follow the guidance to the letter. But I actually think my PT has really only just begun. Maybe that's because I had the osteotomy, maybe the guidance is pretty good for cheilectomies on their own. And as for getting back to 'normal' activity, well, given that normal activity was much reduced due to the condition of hallux rigidus in the first place, this could be a little difficult to measure (and since I'm not a runner, and I'm in my mid fifties, it puts me a little at odds with the experiences of many in blog posts and discussions I&#

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-diary

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