I'd just like to preface this entry with my last foot experience. 3-4 weeks post op last time I was happily stumping around weight bearing and by the end of week 4 my pins were working their own way out of my toes. Week 5 I popped in and had the pins whipped out, an incredibly quick and surprisingly painless process.
This time, unfortunately, the toes that had pins whipped out have been problematic. After the stitch removal they managed to swell up in an impressive manner and then from nowhere in particular, burst. I was quite happy to dress them myself but after 5 days of serous fluid soaking into two bandages a day, lots of skin sloughing and finally a little bleeding I thought it was probably time to consult a professional. I have nothing against local practice nurses but I thought this needed a bit of a professional eye so I rang the hospital, expecting awkwardness but was met by a lovely woman who told me to come in first thing the next day (Friday) and Mr Cooke would squeeze me in.
I turned up at 8.30 having warned work I would be a little late...this became an understatement. I was expecting to be redressed, told I was being silly and sent on my way. As it was there was some tooth sucking noises, some tutting and finally a 'I think we'll take those pins out and then re-admit you....do you have your stuff with you?' Erm....no. Funnily I thought I was going back to work after this. I was promptly found a bed (solo this time so I could watch TV into the night) and abandoned across the bank holiday weekend. It was basically enforced bed rest with compulsory antibiotics (the toes were really quite red and unhappy - indicating infection of some kind), as much as I tried to rest at work and at home you have to get up to get food and various other bits and pieces whereas in hospital you can stay in bed and not move for 6 days, which is essentially what I did. Over this time my toes gradually dried up and on Wednesday I was released into the world with the instructions to keep them out in the air as much as possible.
Since then I have been airing them under my desk at work and as much as possible at home. The tops now look much less like they're dissolving and while the bottoms are still scabbing they're considerably neater than they were about 4 days ago. The benefit of this is of course that while I am technically supposed to still be wearing my cast this doesn't necessarily apply at home where I have something my other half affectionately refers to as my polar bear slipper, something that's nice and soft under foot and allows me to gingerly weight bear.
I'm now comfortably going one-crutched in the house, its slow as a method of progress but I'm getting better. The main problem with re-learning to walk on the newly constructed foot is the issue of having had it fixed at 90 degrees for 3 weeks and its consequently unwilling to bend to a more acute angle which, if you think about it, is necessary for walking. My knees and hip have also got used to lifting everything on the right of me up slightly and it now feels slightly odd to be standing level once more. This has facilitated more stretching exercises which keep me occupied in the evenings.
I've got a check up on my newly scabbed toes next Friday but will do my best to include some up to date pics in between.
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