Had my first official viewing of the whole foot since the surgery and was almost as upset as last time. If you glance back to the 1.5 days P.O. photos you will notice the foot hasn't really had a chance to swell. Over the past two weeks it's definitely caught up on that front!
As you can see, the toes are most definitely stuck together with puffiness, in fact toes two and three are quietly oozing after their pin removal - yuck!
Love this set of stitching down the inside of the foot - very cool!
Stitch removal largely painless but incredibly dull. There's a lot of stitches here so it takes about an hour all in with dressing removal and clean up. Stitch in toe number 4 was AGONY but I'm not really sure why, and it was only agony for a very brief period. Skin condition on toes 2 and 3 slightly concerning but I've still not had a proper clean up and moisturize so when that's done I shall show you more decent pics!
On the progress side I am now tentatively weight bearing (now I know wounds aren't going to burst inside my cast). This largely involves leaning on the crutch closest to the leg and doing a little hobble. My subconscious is still not happy with me putting any more weight on it because if I'm too far away from a seat my body will currently throw its arms out rather than put the foot down but I suspect I will grow out of this with practice! Handily the removal of the stitches not only means I can get on with my cleaning and BioOil routine but also means I can start some range of movement exercises. To start off I found the following helpful:
- Opening the top of the cast only and pulling it back slightly on your leg, i.e. away from your body. This tightens up the angle of your ankle and stretches your calf muscle. After two weeks of inactivity it feels WONDERFUL!
- As a follow on to this exercise, once the cast is off I've found it helpful to place my foot on something relatively low (a footstool when you're on a sofa, or a box when you're on a chair, or anything where you're foot is supported) and just do some non-weight bearing calf raises. Just lifting the heel and lowering it back again really helps get everything moving.
- Finally, once I've moved the calf and leg around sufficiently it's nice to bring the calf up across the opposite knee (so you're sitting cross legged, man-style) hold the foot and gently rotate the ankle. Again, because of the tendon moves and the inactivity this will feel lovely and as the days pass you can remove your hand and just use your own muscles to do the rotating.
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