It seemed fitting to give a little update on how I am doing with recovering from my operation today, as yesterday was exactly 2 months since I had the surgery. In my original post (which you can read here) I talked about the reason why I had this operation and said I would leave recovery until I was fully mobile again. However, that is not why I am writing this post - I am still not walking properly. Instead, I am writing this post in case anyone else has had this operation or is going to have this operation and wants to know exactly what it is like afterwards - the things the doctors don't tell you.
I have spent ages looking online for advice, but it appears that not many people have shared their experiences with this type of operation, so that is what I am going to do.
A quick summary of what I have experienced up until now is 2 weeks in what they call a 'back slab' cast, a further 4 weeks in a light weight cast (all of which was non-weight bearing) and
I am currently in an air cast boot, which I have had for 2 and a half weeks weight bearing as and when I can. I will be doing a post on my whole experience once I am fully recovered which will have a lot more detail, but for now understanding where I am at is enough.
I had my cast removed on the 11th August where I was then fitted with an air cast boot to help me transition to full weight bearing. I only have to wear this boot for walking which means times like this when I am sat in bed, or watching TV I don't need to wear it. It also means that I have finally been able to have baths again which was something I missed for the 6 weeks I was in plaster.
When my cast was first removed I was sent for x-rays and saw the specialist where we discovered that I had some desensitisation on the outside of my foot. When he touched that side of my foot it sent a weird feeling that I can only describe as painful pins and needles down my foot. When I signed the consent forms I was told this was a risk however, the doctors said I may loose feeling on some parts of my skin due to nerve damage, not that I wouldn't be able to feel certain parts of my foot at all. For example, when I place my foot flat on the floor I have to look at it to check the outside of my foot is actually touching the floor because I cannot feel it myself. It also means that I can't feel my baby toe or move it like I used to be able to.
Another thing I wasn't warned about was the fact I would lose all the muscle on my calf whilst in plaster. The first I heard any mention of this was when I went for my 2 week cast change where the doctor said I was already starting to lose muscle. However, as you can see from the picture below I have no muscle left at all which is making it very hard for my to try and walk because everything pulls and feels like it's going to tear or snap.
Something else I have also struggled with, which is related to the fact I have no muscle left and all the tendons have become stiff is moving my foot. To begin with I could not move it at all, but I can now move it up and down slowly - nowhere near as much as I can on my left foot though. However, no matter how hard to try I cannot move my foot from side to side using just my ankle, the only time it moves is when I used my knee to rotate it. As for doing circles with my ankle that's pretty much mission impossible,
I have searched for ways to strengthen and loosen my tendons and muscles, but a lot of them are for people who have broken their ankles, rather than had an operation that alters the shape of their foot, so they are able to do things such as circle their foot and stand on their tip toes with no problem.
I move to university in just over 3 weeks and I still cannot walk unaided which is starting to worry me a little bit now, as I won't have anyone to help me with things I cannot do. I also have a hospital appointment the day before I move which is my 12 week x-rays where they want to take the air cast boot away from me which means that in the next 3 weeks I need to not only learn how to walk in the boot without crutches, but I also need to learn to walk without the boot which is going to be extremely difficult as walking with crutches is still very painful at times.
I have decided that starting from today I am going to go on two walks a day - only around the block to try and strengthen my ankle and get used to walking on it. I am also going to try and do some of the exercises I have found online multiple times a day in an attempt to be walking by myself in 3 weeks time.
If anyone else has experienced a similar operation and knows of anything I can do to help please let me know in the comments.
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