Nothing new. The recovery is now slow. The joint is still quite swollen, yet I was able to put on my normal running shoes when I went to the gym last Sunday. But nice formal shoes are still a no-no - very uncomfortable.
I swim every day, which helps improve my range of movement, albeit very slowly. But, overall, my daily functioning is practically normal - running is the only thing I cannot do.
05 June, 2012
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I am walking even better now, and beginning to push off with a bit with my big toe. I am much more stable going up and down the stairs, no more fear of falling. Every so often I feel a "zap" in my toe (even when not in use) which feels like the nerve endings waking up and coming back to life. A section of the toe is still numb, but I was told this is perfectly normal and will pass in time.
ReplyDeleteMy swimming-induced swelling subsided over the weekend. In fact, I was in the ocean on Sunday morning, swimming a mile and half, using a pull buoy and hand paddles and with my legs immobilized. No problems with that -- and walking is improving again. I will remember the agony of Thursday night (3.5 days ago) and avoid strenuous use of the foot.
ReplyDeleteI'm still supposed to be wearing the aircast boot for walking, but I've been cheating a bit when I'm at home. I can barely bend the toe upward, so it's actually a very cautious shuffle, but it's nice to get out of the boot to keep my ankle and foot from getting too stiff.
ReplyDeleteI had one little incident that made me value the boot, though. Today I didn't pay attention to where I was stepping and put my foot down with my toe on the edge of my son's flip-flop (about an inch high). It bent my toe up, immediately sending shooting pain through that joint. I felt like I'd stepped on a taser. Ouch. It took about an hour for the pain to settle down in the joint.
I went for a (slow) walk with my husband this evening for about half an hour. The boot feels heavy after a while, and my foot gets a little achy, but it's nice to be out in the world again. Despite the incident this afternoon, I can tell it's slowly getting better.
Day 23 was my first PT appointment. I almost cancelled because the inflammation has been so bad. I couldn't imagine moving my joint around at all. But I'm glad I went. She measured my range of motion, proved that I can still stand on one foot and raise myself to my toes, and that the pain is manageable. She did a deep tissue massage and icing, and my foot is finally starting to calm down.
ReplyDeleteI walked out with some light exercises - foot doming in the arch, toe scrunches, toe raises, seated calf raises, standing calf stretches, passive range of motion movement, and self joint distraction, which is when you pull the joint apart gently, so pull the toe straight forward away from the foot. She also said I should continue using my lacrosse ball on the bottom of my foot, which I've been doing to alleviate the continued muscle cramps.
So in spite of the backsliding I've done after the weekend of painting, I'm still optimistic about the future.
As others have,I thank you for this blog. It has helped me so much! There's another forum on chielectomy on the web that is full of negative and horror stories. I read it last night and wish I hadn't.
ReplyDeleteI'd surely love some people who have posted here to come back and report. I guess I've learned two things from reading: that recovery is long and that everyone is different. I'm 23 days since a right foot chielectomy. I've started PT; essentially they did some massage and gave me a print out of exercises to do at home. Some are things I can't do much of yet: ie. gathering a towel with the toes, raising first the big toe and then other toes independently of each other, but I'm trying. The toe bends up without much pain but there is pain bending it down. There's still a fair amount of swelling and some numbness in the surgery area and it appears obvious that the inability to flex the toe is at least partially caused by the swelling. Otherwise I am now attempting to walk short distances rolling through the entire foot and pushing off with the big toe. This is bearable for awhile, then hurts. I've been a little shocked at how I've lost muscle tone in the calf, ankle, etc of that leg in such a short time: they have me doing calf, balance, and strengthening exercises as well. The only "normal" shoes I'm in right now are a pair of Crocs with a very wide toe box. Due to the swelling nothing else fits.
Finally, I am perhaps most worried that the toe is listing to the right, crossing the second toe, and that in the surgery site there is now a sideways lump that looks like a bunion. I did not have these things before. I hope the bunion looking thing is just swelling that will go away. Meanwhile, I started wearing a toe spacer to try to train the big toe to straighten out. Did anyone have a similar experience?
I am an impatient patient.
It is good to read so many different responses. Most everyone talks about swelling. My surgery was 24 days ago. At a glance, you wouldn't immediately notice swelling, but on closer inspection, my right toe joint is bigger than the left. I have been told that it can take months for swelling to recede. I seem to have regained a lot of my range of motion when I pull my toe down, but when I push it up (PT exercise) I reach a limit in terms of range of motion and pain. Looks like it goes up only 20 degrees or so. You can read more about my experience so far, and view pictures of my foot, on my blog: bigtoeblues.blogspot.com. I wish everyone the best!
ReplyDeleteAfter 24 days, I am seeing that the rapid recovery phase is done, and I'm very slowly getting back to normal.
ReplyDeleteMy right toe is still stiff and numb/tingly, but very slowly improving. Sensation on the left toe is pretty much back to normal. One weird thing (which might be because I'm moving back into real shoes) is that the nerves are waking up. On my left foot, I get occasional stabbing pains, and if anything bumps the incision site, it's painful enough to make me sweat. Gotta be careful there...
Flexibility is definitely better on both sides than before, but still sore and stiff. I am walking like someone with sore feet, and slowly, but it's manageable for sure.
My feet aren't swelling up as much by the end of the day as they had been several days before, so that's definitely a welcome improvement.
I think I'm still on track to try a trial jog (jog-walk for a mile or less) next week. I also think I'll be sound enough to get back to riding my bike next week. Fingers crossed...
Eli, sounds like you're doing well. I'm at 11 days, stitches out tomorrow hopefully. I'm getting around a bit more walking flat footed in surgical shoe. I'm able to do some crunches with legs elevated and push ups on one toe with my bad foot on top of may ankle. I've been doing that for a year anyway to reduce any pressure on that joint. I still elevate most of the day. I had an issue with horrible blistering on the top of my foot from the bandage. It looks like second degree burns and is as painful as the incision and the surgical shoe strap hits the exact area. I'm re wrapping the strap to try to go around the back ankle and hope that helps and stays on my foot. It's not like I'm walking at my normal speed walking pace anyway.
DeleteI am looking forward to getting on my bike soon, if the weather warms up. Dreading physical therapy when it begins. The thought of it literally makes me queasy, but I know it's a must!
It sounds like you're getting right back into activity quickly - that is awesome. Once the stitches came out, recovery seemed a lot more certain, for lack of a better word, so I hope you had an uptick in mood after that.
DeletePT (at least at first) is so low impact it was not painful at all. I haven't had any of the later sessions, so maybe that changes...
Day 21-23 bilateral cheilectomies. Progress has slowed. Bruising mostly gone, swelling not noticeable until I try to put on regular shoes. Stiff and sore is the name of the game, especially first thing in the am. Does feel better after I get moving. Going down stairs is still not fun. Probably more pain than pre surgery, but that's because I was not in significant pain unless I was actively doing something that needed my big toe to flex. Obviously, there is still some surgical pain, often it is the incision (itching/burning) that is most bothersome.
ReplyDeleteMy surgeon is very happy with my recovery, and says that I am ahead of the game. My left toe incision looks awesome!!! Right toe, not so much....still puffy/lumpy...To continue doing rom exercises, especially pointing toes down!
Tried a basic Yoga class this week, was fine except for transitions.....too much toe bending, so I modified for the class, but will put that off for a few more weeks. Can bike, walk, eliptical and wts for the time being.....
Traveling for the holidays, not expecting too many problems...