Cheilectomy - Day 19

Been to the beach last night and this afternoon, aided by a short car ride (someone else driving) and a short walk along the boardwalk to the sea. Decided against swimming just yet as the incision wound still isn't quite fixed. It looks a bit red and nasty in places and is still oozing a little, so I don't want to risk infection or soaking it too long.

Talking of which, when I shower, afterwards the foot looks nasty. It gets red and purple and puffy. It does settle down quite quickly and I've read in other blogs that some people experience this. I'll reduce the time and temperature of showers as much as possible. And afterwards, I elevate the leg and ice. Still, gonna keep an eye on that.

I've also noticed the skin is pretty scaly on this foot - possibly due to wearing compression sock for a period of time during the hottest temperatures on record (28 degrees at night) and an old tan coming off, as well as not walking, bathing and moisterising in my normal way.

The incision wound is clearly not settled down yet, with some dimpling and some abrasion as well as being very tender. I'm wondering if there are a couple of stitches there. I understood I'd be having dissolvable sutures, so need to keep an eye on this too.

Apart from that, I am walking around more. Not loads, just from the car to the beach and back. The foot felt a little more achy this morning probably because of the beach walk last night, but not enough to stop me repeating the walk this morning.

The only pair of shoes I'm comfortable in at the moment are the £10 investment pair of 'cheap' plimsols I got especially for the recovery. Seems like I made a good choice.

Doing my 'push-pull-em' exercises for 5 minutes, twice a day as directed and icing.

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.

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...

cheilectomy-diary

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