Cheilectomy Week 7

Progress, progress, progress! Vacation week and I loaded the bike on the car ready for a week of driving, cycling, camping, kayaking and hopefully, walking.

Well, let's just say, I'm glad I packed the bike!

The good news is, I was pretty much able to enjoy my vacations (hols for the UK audience) without hinderance. The only bit I didn't manage was a walking trip. I can walk around all day pretty much without issue, but to actually go for a walk is - not ready for that yet.

It's been hot again, and I've been doing the exercises and icing a fair amount. I used the bike to do shops and get around. Kayaking was fine - before the op, I'd get burning pain from the spurs if I used my toes to anchor myself in the kayak, but there was also the pain of turning the toes downwards to accommodate the feet - remember, I have knee problems the same side as the foot, which prevents me being able to comfortably turn the leg outwards to allow the toes to sit sideways. But now with no pain from the spurs - which were removed in the cheilectomy, I was able to kayak to my heart's content (well until I burst the blisters on my hands from the paddling!).

I did manage to make the walk with the dog, probably around a couple of kilometers from where I was staying to the river and back. That's further than I've done before, so happy that this is notable progress.

I still feel like there's a big wedge of something plantar side of the toe when I'm walking, and I did some research into this (I also get a lot of pain when bending the toe downwards - plantar flexion - which I think is related to the osteotomy). There's some further information in the comments section of this post that is useful for comparisons. It's worth mentioning too that I have similar experience of the sensations/pain that others report here regarding the nights and sleeping.

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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