Cheilectomy Day 7

Yesterday, after a day without anyone around, it was a relief when friends turned up with dinner to cook for me. I was pretty low from being on my own and not being able to walk, get out, go swimming, do anything that requires being on your feet.

So a nice evening with friends, a couple of beers and food. The foot did feel pretty 'tight' by the time I got into bed, probably the tightest it's felt yet. Goes to show that REST is your best friend in the first couple of week. Foot UP, ELEVATED.

Give into it.

A mate stayed over, so I had tea and breakfast brought me this morning and the dog was walked. So she's happy.

Now I'm spending the rest of day with my foot up in the garden, doing some 'bed/chair' yoga and mainly adopting 'happy baby pose'.

Ananda Balasana (Happy chile Pose)

I'm still taking ibuprofen twice a day for anti-inflammatory purposes, and will probably start to reduce that over the next couple of days.

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.

May 2022 - MSK referral to podiatry surgeon

In May 2022 I saw a specialist who confirmed my diagnosis of arthritis of the big toe, hallux rigidus (stage 2). X-rays showed I had diminished joint space and osteophytes peri-articular, with a range of movement 20 degrees dorsiflexion (normally 50 degrees for a walking gait - 65 running) and 10 degrees plantar (sole) flexion. Usually for people in my age group (over 50's) the recommended course of treatment is destructive surgery, whereby the toe is fused rigid with plate and screws to stop it bending and creating more arthritis. The primary objective is pain elimination. A quick word on pain:- since the accident with the axle grinder two and half years earlier, I have experienced pain or discomfort in the foot at the big toe around 90% of the time (and that includes while in bed or at rest). The pain can be classified as between 0-10 on a scale (0 - no pain/ 10 - excruciating) in the following: 1. At rest/asleep - 5 - often I would be woken up by it in the middle of the night, ...

cheilectomy-diary

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