Cheilectomy week 9

Main things to report are continued exercise regime of walking and PT exercises (going up on the toe and 'bouncing' - this can be painful, but that's normal), scar care (I use Hustle Butter which is actually marketed for tattoo aftercare and contains shea, coconut, aloe, vitamin E and so on), and scar massaging using castor oil.

The walking gives some pain - mainly in the bone around the MTP joint (and the osteotomy site on the proximal phalanges) and all the way up the metatarsal bone along the foot. I'm guessing this is normal and I just need to ease off if it gets too much. It's a bit off-putting though because it feels like a burning pain much like I had before the operation (caused by the bone spurs). I do have a fair amount of diminished space between the proximal phalanges and first metatarsal due to loss of cartilage, so this may also be a factor (I will have to have a fusion at some point when this becomes too diminished).

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metatarsal_bones#/media/File:Ospied-en.svg

My post-op X-ray showing the proximal phalangectomy and diminished space where the cartilage has degraded.

My walking distances have definitely increased greatly as my stats show:

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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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