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 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.

Cheilectomy - Day 20-21

It's the 3 week mark and it's been a busy weekend - well, it's all relative. I've been able to get on a bike - lowering the saddle so I can easily put my foot down. It's been more a case of rolling along at walking pace than actually 'cycling' - the foot feels too fragile to go straight off out of the traps onto the road in case of any sudden mishaps that could mean mucking up the osteotomy before it's healed. On healing, the incision wound is finally sealing up and looking less angry. Still haven't gone swimming - still looks like it needs a little more time to scar properly before risking the water (submerging the skin, risk of tearing, and infection from sea water). Hope that changes this coming week. I can't feel the top of the toe near the incision at all - it's numb. Hoping that changes. Doing the exercises as directed - push and pull until it's uncomfortable twice a day for 5 minutes. I was able to walk the dog to the park and ba...

cheilectomy-diary

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