Thought it was about time that I updated. Anyone who has had this surgery done will know that its a lot of "no news" at this stage, hence the lack of posting.
I had the MRI done to check out what was causing the pain that I was experiencing. Although I still havent had an appointment with the consultant about the results, when I attended the physiotherapist last week, she was able to give me a bit if info.
First of all I will do as I did before!! A few bulletpoints!
- Im going to talk in terms of months now rather than weeks - so we are at 5 months post op.
- Ive had 3 physio appointments so far since the last post. Im not sure if she or I can see much improvement but I will be totally honest. Im fairly shite at doing my physio. Yes, Im ashamed to say that. You'd think being in pain would make me more focused on doing it, but heres the thing - it freaking hurts. She has urged me strongly to do more pool work - ie non weight bearing - which makes sense as I AM overweight - (something which she pointed out to me at our last session - no shit sherlock). I know for a fact that my weight doesnt help my feet - but I am making a good effort to lose the weight, and have told her this. I seem to get a lot of pain in my big toe when doing tippy toe exercises... and just the whole foot and leg feels so weak.
- The nervy feeling has really abated thank goodness. I now sleep sockless, and it really doesnt bother me. Its not totally free of the nervy sensation but it really is more than bearable.
- The foot still looks like it has "fallen" in. What was I expecting? Beautiful arched feet? Well, quite frankly yes.... I still look like I have flat feet, which makes me feel sad, but on the other hand, going by my right foot (Feb 2015 so nearly 2 years on), although I havent got beautiful feet, it will give me back a quality of mostly pain free life that I havent had for at least 5 years.
- The physio told me that the MRI results show a lot of swelling in the marrow of the bone that had the surgery done, and went on to tell me that in all fairness, Im not even half way through healing yet. It may all look fine and dandy on the outside, but there is still a lot of healing going on in the inside. She gave out to me for doing too much, but lordy, its difficult not to. Too much is doing a supermarket shop and tidying around my small house - then Ive over done it... thats what doing too much is. It is so very frustrating. At this stage, expectations from everyone, including myself are high - too high.
Here are a few pictures to show what I mean.
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| front view |
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| See! Not a pretty foot!!! |
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| Tendon transfer site - Really great healing though - you can barely see the scar! |
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| So you can see - the tendon from the big toe joint looks a bit odd. |
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| Calcaneal Osteotomy site scar. |
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| As you can see - they still look pronated, but the left one looks worse. |
- Am I happy so far?? Yes, definitely. I am very lucky that I have the time and space into healing. I really dont know what I would have done if I had had to go back to work.
If you have ANY questions please do not hesitate to contact me. Leave a message and I will try and answer as best as possible.
Very glad to find your blog! I just got my hard cast off yesterday and into the boot, allowed to bear weight. My foot and ankle are saying NO THANKS! That's a bit scary! I can only walk if I'm using a walker to relieve some of the pressure, if that makes sense. So apparently it's still a long road? Reading your story helps...thanks!
ReplyDeleteI just read your entire blog about your foot surgery. . I have the same problems with my foot. And my dr wants to do the same procedures as you had plus fix the bunion . I have been thru do much with pain in my feet being in pt and have cortisone shots for severe plantar fasciitis and been I. And out if boots for years. . I am petrified to have this surgery. Not only because of the extremely long recovery process and possibly losing my job but also I feel like it’s not s miracle cure and I will still have problems and pain in my feet . I am just so depressed about it ! Uggh
ReplyDeleteWell just like all the others I have been reading your blog and found it to be just about to the point. I had the PTTD surgery on June 19th 2019 and am still home here recovering SLOWLY, I'm on my 9th week here so I've gotten the BOOT. I can put lite weight on it but can only walk on it for short periods of time as I'm taking it on and off all day just so I can sit in my recliner and give it a long break. I have started Physical Therapy 2 weeks now and it just seem to be strengthing and flexibility not much walking until I see my surgeon next month. Still have my scooter which I use around the house while not wearing my boot. One strange fact that I'm going to mention is that I for some unnatural human reason I did not have any pain from the surgery. I did receive a nerve block but that was only for 24 hrs. I did take a couple of pain killers the night of as I was psyching myself up for the pain to arrive to which it never did, so to my luck I only used ibuprofen for pain relief. And at the moment only taking ibuprofen on occasion. From what I can see I'm probably looking at a month and a half away from going back to work but I really don't know what my timeframe is looking at things right now. Well hope that you are totally healed now and things are going good for you. Take care Bob
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