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Cheilectomy Day 2

I didn't sleep great - woke up every hour or so. Then I was woken around 3 a.m. with what I guess is best described as a very restless foot. It still felt numb although I could discern a finger nail when I dug it into the top of the four toes beside the big toe (the tip of which was still numb). 

As I began to find more awareness in the foot, it felt hot, under pressure (swelling I guess), some pins and needles and then bone pain.

I wondered if I could start my pain meds yet (I had been directed to start on day 2 with pain meds in the morning and then again at 12 hour intervals for 3 days). That probably meant starting at 7 a.m. But within the hour, I was sitting up, peeling a banana, and taking the first round of meds. After around twenty minutes I felt them kicking in - like the pain just draining away - and I was able to go off to sleep again.

I woke up and had some breakfast brought to me by my partner and then they headed off for the morning leaving me a flask of tea.

At this point, I had the tubigrip on the leg and large padded bandage on the foot, and the surgical stocking on the other leg. I had been advised to leave these in place for the next 7 days to reduce risk of DVT. I did a few exercises to help circulation in both legs (I'll post more about these in another episode). 

Finally, I couldn't put it off any longer - I needed to visit the loo. I put on my surgical boot - important to have that on all the time when you're moving around for the first couple of weeks - and swung my legs out of bed.

Immediately I felt  rush of throbbing blood into the foot that was quite unpleasant. When I put my foot down and began to apply weight, I had a sudden and pretty intense pain somewhere in that toe, it felt like underneath the foot near the surgery site. The bone where all the work had been done, no doubt. I tried several times to put the foot down and start applying weight, but it just was prohibitively painful. No way was I going to be able to walk to the bathroom.

My only option was to get down on all fours and crawl - not easy with a bad knee with meniscus problems one side, and a recovering knee from a fall a couple of months before on the other side, and on stripped wooden floorboards! Anyway, there was no other way, so off I went, gingerly, with the dog proving a shoulder-to-shoulder escort. (I later read in my notes that I should have been discharged with crutches!)

I made it! But only by utilising quite a few yoga moves in order to get up on my one good foot and then pirouetting around the bathroom door, then repeating the whole sequence getting back to the bedroom.

If you're interested, the yoga moves I made were downward dog and three-legged downward dog to get into and out of kneeling crawl.

Stretching: Downward-Facing Dog | Free SVG

I'll be honest, there were some tears. I had no idea it was going to be like this. Why the heck hadn't the hospital given me some crutches? A kamode? This couldn't go on. It almost killed me! The pain was pretty intense for around half an hour after the epic voyage to the bathroom. I lay back and bemoaned how I had ended up here. It's just a toe, isn't it??



I spent the rest of the day in bed, preparing myself for the next inevitable trips to the bathroom. I probably napped a bit and listened to radio and clock-watched for my next meds. Taking paracetemol between doses helped.

TOP TIP

Make sure you get a pair of crutches for the first day or so.
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