Cheilectomy Day 11

Woke up in the middle of the night with cramp in the calf muscle of the leg where I've had the surgery. Not bad, but certainly an indication of the lack of walking/stretching over the last week and a half.

It didn't last, and I went back to sleep. But when I woke up this morning, the toe felt like I'd run a marathon. I think I recall as I was disturbed in my sleep, that the foot was pretty restless and I reckon I'd been doing quite a few involuntary stretches through the course of the night.

This 'restlessness' seems to be a burgeoning feature: from the incision site 'waking up', getting a little itchy (a good sign of wound healing), and the toe becoming quite wriggly - feeling the need to stretch it and move it (a good sign of bone healing?)

I didn't have any ibuprofen during the day yesterday, but I did end up taking some before bed, as the foot felt like it needed something - like there was a kind of bone ache.

Today, so far, I've not taken any more ibuprofen, but I am continuing icing.

Did some bed stretched today with the latex stretchy band to try to ward off cramp. My calf muscles are pretty tight generally and I've had a lot of issue with plantar fasciitis over the years (but in my left leg, not where I've had the cheilectomy/osteotomy). I wondered if I could use the band on the ball of the foot where the surgery was - assumed I wouldn't be able to (they say don't try to weight bear on the ball for a while), but I was happily surprised that it was fine and I could perform a good stretch into that calf for 30 seconds for a couple of times.

Meanwhile cabin fever is taking hold and I'm planning a trip tomorrow to stay over a friends for the weekend. Hope to get out and have a hobble somewhere, even if it's down to the communal gardens where they live.

Top Tip

Develop an exercise plan to stretch and move the legs to try to ward off cramps and help protect agains DVT (deep vein thrombosis). A simple stretch with a belt hooked around the ball of the foot and pulling the upper foot and toes towards the body gives a good stretch into the calf muscles.

Source: MichaelGeorge.com

Comments

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.

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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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