18 June, 2012
Week 5 - Long haul flights
Very slow improvement. Working on the mobility of the big toe, still quite restricted - especially the (plantar) flexion. And still quite swollen. Swimming helps a lot. Survived a week's travel to Europe, eight flights, driving from one country to another. Seeing my orthopaedic surgeon this week, let's see what he says.
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Week 5 has me back on my exercise bike, albeit wearing my daughter's size 9 sneaker! (I wear a 6.5). I have no discomfort with my foot in the strap or with pedaling. For normal activities, I can only fit into one pair of my shoes-- my fur lined Crocs, otherwise I wear my orthopedic shoe, as I do find it the most comfortable. I went with my husband today to spectate while he ran a marathon (his 10th!). I was on my feet most of the time and perfectly fine. I still hobble when I walk but little by little, my big toe is gaining flexibility.
ReplyDeleteHi Denise, I am only on day 7 of my second foot surgery (had my right foot done 12 weeks ago). I felt so bad for you upon reading your posts on day 6 and 7 that I had to look ahead in hopes things got a lot better for you. Sure glad it did!!!!! I highly recommend getting the other foot done fairly soon, maybe at 12 weeks. It is so much easier for me on foot #2, since I know what to do and how to rehab the toe. My right foot still is a little sore, but it is enjoying the "feet up" from the second foot. I am very glad I had my surgeries. So happy you are better now! Keep sharing your rehab....I so relied on reading this blog the first time, that this time I am posting and "giving back".
DeleteWeek 5. Scabs are gone. Just some dry skin and purple scars. I can get into any flat shoe or boot. Haven't tried heels, even low ones. I don't think the swelling will let me. And I expect too much pain. Bending the foot is still quite painful. I can stand and walk on flat surfaces for as long as I please, doing housework, shopping, and even forget about the surgery for awhile. But when I walk down stairs, the amount of flexion required of the back foot caused much pain. Or walking in the yard with sturdy boots on uneven surfaces - also very painful.
ReplyDeleteI'm at 5-1/2 weeks right now and feeling really down about my lack of progress despite several PT sessions. But now I see I'm right in line with other commenters here.
ReplyDeleteWeek 5 and I am almost ready for my regular shoes, but not quite yet. I have a pair that are just a bit too big for me and I could wear them today instead of only Crocs. I teach little kiddos and they are constantly bumping into my foot or pushing their chairs into it. For that reason, my doctor recommended that I continue to wear RoboBoot at work, maybe even until the last day of school. There are three more weeks left. I don't put it on until right before they come in the room and I take it off right after they leave. If I worked in a different situation, I would not be wearing it at all. I love the weekends because I don't need it.
ReplyDeleteI went to the beach two weekends ago. I loved my barefoot walk on the wet sand. The dry sand was difficult and painful to walk on.
I was able to start driving last week.
Today was a great day. It's the weekend so I wasn't wearing RoboBoot all day. I was feeling wonderful about everything I was doing. I felt like I had made some great progress. Unfortunately, it swelled up quite a bit tonight, a "friendly" reminder that I am not completely healed, yet. I think I was hoping for more by now. It is helpful to read comments and see that my experience is similar to others.
I'm feeling like things have plateaued a bit, and it's frustrating. I'm back at yoga, the gym, still doing weights in my basement - squats mostly. And that's all good.
ReplyDeleteBut walking for any distance or any length of time is only really doable with my athletic shoes on. I've switched to other shoes a few times now, and they don't have the arch support so the big toe joint is loaded when I step. And it hurts. In regular shoes, walking is slow and painful, and I limp.
My dogs regularly step on my incision, and the pain remains startling when it happens. I had hoped that would dull a bit, as their presence around my feet is a pretty regular thing. They're 25 and 34 pounds, so not huge, but enough that if they jump up and land on my joint, it's incredibly painful.
The joint is now red most of the time. The incision has healed except for one part that still has a scab, and that is almost healed. The redness goes along with the reality that it hurts most of the time. On rare occasions, I even wake up in the morning because it hurts.
I don't think I've slid backwards. I'm obviously using it more. And also growing impatient so I notice the pain more. I can feel stiffness in my whole foot now, probably owing to all the limping and adjustments I make to take load off the joint. So PT is focusing on loosening up not just the joint, but also the rest of the foot.
My physical therapist said that when she flexes my toe back, I'm at 40-something degrees now, which is apparently good. But I can't do that without help, and it does hurt.
I also get sharp stabs of pain if I pivot and put weight on the inside of the ball of the foot, near the arch. I can't even think of dancing tango until that is gone because when I pivot. most of the weight is right there on the inside of the ball of the foot under the big toe. This is frustrating, but I am trying to learn patience.
Hi Marsupial. I was hoping to find some more posts from you beyond this week five post so I know if and when it got better for you. . I am at week five now. And I am having your exact symptoms that you had at week five…"I also get sharp stabs of pain if I pivot and put weight on the inside of the ball of the foot, near the arch. I'm afraid I'll never play golf again because I cannot push off.
DeleteI'm 5 weeks post surgery. I'm sharing many of the experiences that are expressed above. I have strange tingling, heat, arch pain that runs into my ankle, etc. most of it seems to come and go. I cut a section off the top of my tennis shoe to accommodate my incision area and have been using the elliptical, stair master, and cycling without any discomfort during the activity. Bayer aspirin twice a day has been very helpful for any discomfort afterwards. I use hot baths to really manipulate the toe. The hot water helps loosen it up. I'm told to bend it both ways to the point of pain 4-5 times a day. Progress seems so slow!! It's cold and snowy here (Ohio) I'm wearing a Birkenstock sandal with a heavy sock. I'm also having prescription orthodontics made for both feet to use in hiking, gym and golf shoes. I plan to take much better care of my feet going forward!! Good luck to everyone! ❤️
ReplyDeleteUnknown, I am also in week five. I'm going to try to play golf for the first time next Friday. I will be at 6.5 weeks at that point. I'm going to try to play in a simulator. Let's not say 'never play golf agin' yikes! It's early! I've been told by my golfing friends that had this surgery that week 12 is key. Let's stay hopeful. Good luck to you!!
ReplyDeleteHi unknown, I too am in week five. I'm going to try to play golf next Friday on a simulator. My friends that have had this surgery say week 12 was key. Stay hopeful and good luck!!
ReplyDeleteI just had my second post-op visit, and the doctor was very pleased with progress. The glue he used to seal my incision, and his absolute insistence that I leave the dressing on for the full two weeks post-op, seem to have paid off. My incision scars are not bad at all - nowhere near what I expected.
ReplyDeleteI've had two rounds of PT, but these were not very helpful. Basically, I am told to use my hand (with the other hand to brace the knuckle at the base of the toe) to wiggle my toes as far up and then as far down as I can tolerate comfortably. Then I do the same for the knuckle further up. And I massage lotion into the wound site often to keep the itching and scaliness of skin down. I haven't met my annual deductible yet, so the PT sessions are out of pocket costs, and I think I'm going to discontinue them.
I have no more doctor-imposed limitations on activity, but was advised to just be prudent. Running is probably still a few weeks or a month out, but bicycling should be OK now, which means that as of next week I should be almost normal.
I'm walking a lot now - two miles this morning (through rain and then snow, unfortunately). My gait is mostly normal, but my feet (toes, balls of feet) are "end of a long day on my feet" sore all the time, and the toe bending is achy. Mobility is much better than before, and swelling is periodic but getting better all the time.
Odd impressions so far that I'll keep an eye on:
When I stretch and point my feet downward, I get a stabbing pain right under the skin on the left foot. The doctor wasn't concerned, and I'm waiting for it to resolve.
I have lingering tingling/numbness in the right toe. This was also normal and should resolve slowly over months.
The tips of my toes bent a little inward toward other toes. Apparently, this is not uncommon. Mine aren't overlapping or creating problems, but I could feel the difference.
Just entering week six post-op after my cheilectomy and Cartiva implant surgery. Have been in shoes for a couple of weeks and actually got my cycling shoes on yesterday and did 45 minutes on my indoor bike trainer. That was the first time I'd put consistent weight on the joint and although I could feel it, the pain was only about a 1 out of 10. Doc wouldn't do bilateral surgery, so I'm still looking forward to getting my right foot done.
ReplyDeleteI am posting my five week follow-up after a cheilecomy/osteotomy. I haven't posted in a while, but I got to move back to normal shoes at week 3, and I have been going to PT twice a week. I just finished my sixth PT session (ultrasonic and electro therapy), and I'm hopeful that I don't need to do any more. My toe has remained somewhat swollen (especially around the joint) and has limited mobilty, but my calf was the big suprise. It had a surprising amount of "pull" after I went back to shoes, but I think it is because I hadn't used those tendons in years due to the injury. That has now gone back to unnoticeable, and the toe swelling gets a bit better every day. My incision is fairly small, and the nurse said that I healed quite well. Pain (except when being too mobile) is not an issue.
ReplyDeleteI have somewhat mixed feelings on how it is going with recovery, but I'm quite aligned with everyone else on symptoms this far out it seems. Range of motion is around 40% dorsal flexion (by my estimation), but I have to push my toe manually to get to that. I can move my toes in both directions on my own, and it's not much worse than my "good" toe which also has hallux limitus (less the pain). I'm hoping I can get to the 50-60 range.
I am back at the gym and doing cardio on the bike, but my doctor has not cleared me to run yet. I'm hopeful that I will get the green light at my six week appointment, but I'm not sure I can reasonably do much running on the toe yet to be honest. My big goal is to get back to playing tennis regularly. The toe still has sensation when bending, and it swells/gets some minor pain if I push it. The toe is clearly not quite as durable as before the surgery (probably due to swelling), but it gets better each day.
On a random note, my toe now looks to bend a bit more inward (toward the 2nd metatarsal) than before. Did anyone else have this with their surgery and is it normal? I may ask my doctor at my six week post op appointment if that is normal.
mid week 5 and today i wore normal shoes - slight improvements but not much to report otherwise
ReplyDeleteDay 28.
ReplyDeleteBack to work for the last 4 days. I struggled with the foot being down for 12 hrs or so. Only a few moments to raise. I was totally wiped out.
Last night pus started oozing out of my incision scar, and much more this morning. However, pain is now better and my foot is moving more comfortably. On Co amoxi-clav for 7 days.
Fingers crossed things keep improving as they have done since the discharge this morning.
Day31
ReplyDeleteSurgeon thinks that the pus (a fair bit) was due to a suture. It’s miraculously improved now. I’m pretty happy. No swimming though, for a bit.
Once I’m in the pool, I’ll be on the road to normality.
Luciole reporting at about 4.5 weeks post op. Bruising is gone, incisions look good. I’m waiting for the steristrips to fall off, which should happen very soon. (My ortho’s physician associate said to leave them on until they come off, which should be 7-10 days.) I will then start massaging the scars a couple times a day and wearing silicone scar sheets the rest of the time. I’m wearing tennis shoes, Birkenstocks and Tevas most of the time, and am back in my Ugg boots. I can walk fine, but I do get more swelling when I wear sneakers, which is totally normal at this stage. I started physical therapy yesterday to ensure I get maximum flexion and to help strengthen and improve my gate. It’s a lot of calf stretching, toe pulling and stretching, exercises on the Pilates reformer, etc. I have to wait for the final (small) scan to fall off (doctor’s orders) and then I will start soaking my foot in epsom salts 2x a day.
ReplyDeleteWeek 5 and I am off on a 4hour flight to Tenerife. I found two pairs of sandals that fit with adjustable Velcro straps and a good box of plasters. The airports were a challenge with the walking and queuing but we took our time. The flights were fine and I was able to rest my foot without it hurting. The heat made my foot swell a lot by the end of each day but by mornings it was fine again. I probably did a lot more walking than I would have attempted at home but I think this helped get me going on my foot. I stayed out of the sea and pools as my scab was still healing over and I did not want to risk any infection. By the end of the week the scab had fallen off and I travelled home with a small scar. The holiday was just what I had needed.
ReplyDeleteMy week 5:
ReplyDelete-Transitioned from Roboboot into Hoka sneakers starting right after the end of Week 4. The first time attempt to get the Hokas on was pretty painful, but each successive attempt has felt a little easier. Not sure if that's a result of improving flexibility, decreasing inflammation, or both, but I'll take it!
-Also started showering without the bag right at the end of Week 4. That's definitely been a nice change!
-Though my op foot will sometimes still swell after I'm on my feet for bit, I'd say I'm also noticing a bit less pain when walking. Kind of getting to the point where pushing off on my toe gives me a weird tingling sensation, but not always with pain. Gait's not back to normal, but it's improving.
-Some progress on toe mobility though it's still going slowly. The biggest thing is that I can actually SEE the toe wiggling a bit instead of just feeling as if I'm moving it. I was also pleasantly surprised to discover I could lift/bend my heel off the floor with the toe remaining on the ground. Active dorsal flexion is approaching what it was pre-surgery (which was... not much); plantar flexion is taking a while to return. (So reading your week 5 post helped a LOT, Parsifal--thank you! I think I just need to be patient and reasonably diligent.)
-Still doing stretching/non-weightbearing core exercises a few times a week. Glad I've been doing this.