Cheilectomy Day 8

It's a week now since I had a cheilectomy and osteotomy to help restore some flex to my big toe. Which means today I get to take off the tubigrip and TED stocking. (TED stands for thrombo-embolud detergent.) Yay!

This is important in two ways. Firstly it's SO nice to have my legs bare again - the UK is experiencing unusual temperatures of over 100 degrees F. But more importantly it feels like a milestone in the recovery period. One small step for the overall recovery times for Cheilectomy surgery, but one big step for little old me.

The pain level is zero, but popped an ibuprofen this morning with breakfast just to keep on top of any swelling (though clearly the main route to avoiding the dreaded swelling I've read about is to keep the foot ELEVATED 23 hours a day).

The area around the incision is beginning to wake up and I guess the dressing may be stuck to it, so it pulls a bit from time to time and is beginning to itch a little. I've been advised NOT to remove the dressing until I go for my post-op assessment next week. I've read in some places that folk have a follow-up much sooner and have their dressing changed then. But apart from being super intrigued to unpack it and examine the incision, I've been persuaded by friends to LEAVE IT ALONE.

The Dog came by to check out the foot finally, gave the toes and the bandage a good sniffing over and retired again to flop on the cool wood floors. I'm taking the dog's nose as good enough indication that there's no rot or infection there. So that's good enough for me.

I'm able to do a bit more now, like prepare my own meals, tidy the kitchen, check the (state of the) fridge, fetch and carry and stuff like that. So my partner has moved back to their place and I'm pretty much on my own. It's really important to wear the hard soled surgical shoe at ALL times when I'm on my feet to protect the surgery from prematurely bending before the bone has healed and the toe from getting stubbed anywhere.

Now I've just got the little issues of how to top up that old sun-tan without getting burned, and who's gonna walk the pooch ...?

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.

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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