Referral - October 2021

Referral - October 2021 - Feb 2022

My GP* sent me for x-rays and referred me to the local MSK (musculoskeletal) partnership and finally in February 2022 I got an appointment for an examination.

A podiatry specialist took a look at the x-rays, asked me to walk back and forth, quizzed me on my conservative methods thus far (orthotics, anti-inflammatories etc.) and said surgery was now my best bet.

I have to say I was a bit shocked. At no point had I thought surgery would be an answer to this (in fact, I had assumed that even presenting at the GP wouldn't achieve anything - this thing would fix itself, right?)

The podiatrist briefly talked me through the surgical options - joint preserving, joint destructing, joint replacement, suggested it looked like joint destruction was best one for me, and put me down as a referral to see a specialist surgeon.

Gosh, so I was looking at getting my toe fused permanently. Yikes, I had really hoped it would be some physio and then all better. I had some thinking to do.

The range of movement in my right big toe compared with left before surgery.

*GP - in the UK the General Practitioner is the first gatekeeper in a rather cumbersone process of getting in front of a specialist (often also a surgeon) who can then move you along the treatment/rehabilitation pathway.

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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