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 another one the next day. I think this is to do with wearing different boots, but assume it will get better (as it did with the trainers). I did a five mile walk earlier this week during which I noticed that perhaps for the first time since getting the injury that led to the surgery more than three years ago, I completed the whole walk with NO pain anywhere around that toe. Yay!! The next day, it was sore, but hey, onwards and up.
The pain (or discomfort) has changed. It feels more now like an ache in the toe joint rather than the burning pain and bone pain I associate with the bone spurs and surgery/osteotomy respectively. The toe is achy in the mornings these cold winter days but once I'd done the first walk of the day with the pooch (about a mile) it's warmed up and more flexible. I guess that's normal. Doing a few stretches before getting out of bed does seem to help with getting the joint moving and makes it less stiff on the first steps out of bed.
The area around the surgery site and the scar itself continues to gain more sensation. It's been pretty dead since the surgery (they had to give me another dose of anaesthesia in the surgery suite), and seems like it may now be coming alive again a bit more. In once sense that's good, but it means that the scar is quite tender now and sometimes I find myself throwing my boot off if it touch the scar in a weird way when attempting to pull it on. Nothing big, but a change worth mentioning.
I'm beginning to reconcile myself with the fact that I may just not be able to wear some of my leather soled Loakes and Doc Martens again. I'll give it until a year post-surgery to decide, but I may need to change my shoe wardrobe.
Until then, each month is still a milestone with changes and recovery. Next month will be the six-month mark. Noting that other blog posters talk about up to a year before you're fully recovered, and that my next post here will just be half way through that, I'm feeling optimistic.
Next month I hope to return to yoga and am feeling pretty nervous still about those lunges. It feels so out of reach at the moment, but only time will tell.
Onwards and up.
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