Day 2: cheilectomy recovery

I woke up on day 2 to great pain... despite having been taking the maximum amount of pain medication prescribed to me. It was very demoralizing.

I slept poorly night 1 into day 2, probably in part because I wore the immobilizer boot in bed. It protected my toe but made middle of the night moving around highly clunky and difficult. (Think sleeping in a ski boot.) I didn’t sleep for the first 4-5 hours of the night... maybe a bit of dozing but nothing deep. I did sleep a little more deeply for a couple of spells in the last half of the evening. So, upon waking up I was not only in pain but very, very tired. As a result, I slept off and on for the entirety of day 2. The good news was that the pain, which was much worse than anything I expected, was horrible in the morning but eased up as the day went on. By the time I went to bed on day 2, I felt like I could deal with the situation. I even decided to take a slightly lesser amount of pain medication overnight from day 2 into day 3. I also (with some trepidation) removed the immobilizer boot, leaving only the bandage. This helped tremendously with sleeping on day 2; though I didn’t have the protection of the firm boot around my wound, I also did not have an enormous ski boot type thing in bed with me. Made sleeping much easier.

My doctor told me I wouldn’t need crutches, but I borrowed a pair from a friend anyway... just to have options. Thank goodness I did. according to my doctor I was supposed to be bearing weight on my foot to go to the restroom or kitchen, but I couldn’t even comprehend the thought of this. When I sort of tried, it felt like my leg would collapse due to the intense pain shooting up from my foot. As a result, I used crutches exclusively for my limited times up and about (really only to the restroom). Thank goodness for the crutches! I would have had to crawl in pain otherwise. There is no way I could’ve been walking on my operated-on foot, and that is with the maximum prescribed amount of painkillers!! I should note that by the end of day 2, as the edge came off my pain, I could begin to entertain the idea of bearing weight on my foot. I decided this was something I’d try on day 3.

My pain medication made me sleepy, unfocused, not very hungry, and slightly nauseous. I spent almost all of today in bed and much of that time asleep or dozing. I could not have cared for myself in terms of easily getting food or drink. It was important to have a full time caregiver for myself on day 2.

My bandaged foot.

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All about my feet... and, why I started this blog

This week I turned 39. I will have a cheilectomy on my right foot (the foot I use to drive) in one month. In the years during college, and more than a decade afterward, I lived in Chicago. I love fashion and wore a lot of high heeled footwear. Given that I lived in a large city, I walked almost everywhere I went - a block to the grocery, several blocks to the train station, a couple miles during a day of shopping and fun with friends. I loved city life and I loved walking. I realized quickly, upon moving to a big city where my walking would total miles each day, that high quality footwear was important, so I did not skimp on inexpensive, poorly made shoes. I invested in well-made shoes. I say this for no other reason than to dispute one idea put forth as a cause of foot problems - that poorly made or ill-fitting shoes are to blame. That was not the cause in my case. Following the birth of my first child at age 31, I started to notice that I was not able to walk comfortably in high...

Day 18: cheilectomy recovery

I’m really starting to round the bend in terms of feeling normal again. Don’t get me wrong, I am a long way off from walking normally in shoes, but with the boot I can move through life and do almost anything I need to do… Well, anything one can do in a giant ski boot type thing. This weekend I spent a lot of time on my feet - playing with my children, potty training one of said children (oy), doing laundry, in the kitchen. I drove on the interstate, and in some busy traffic, and felt fairly confident. It’s not normal driving conditions for me but I know how to work within my parameters and it’s going ok. I noticed this evening that I was walking more comfortably around my house in flip-flops. Whereas the last few days I’ve tried flip-flops, but have had to walk by kind of rolling each step on the right side of my foot (to protect the left side of my foot where the surgery occurred), today I find that I can kind of bear weight evenly on my foot and even push off on it a little bit. T...

Day 27: cheilectomy recovery

I’ve pretty much resumed normal life. I can live life normally, so to speak, on the immobilizer boot. It makes walking supremely comfortable on my right foot. It also makes life supremely cumbersome in that I have to remove it to drove, put it back in at each destination, etc... so a three errand trip involves removing or putting the boot on a lovely 6 times. It slows things down. My life is already slow and cumbersome with two kids in tow, so at least I’m sort of used to the patience aspect. What I’m impatient about is that I cannot live life normally without the boot. Wearing regular shoes is not comfortable for walking any distance. I’m starting to try and imagine what sort of footwear I will wear once the doctor says to be done with the boot (another week or two, not sure?)... and I’m perplexed on that. I wear comfy moccasin slippers around my house in the evening once the kids are in bed and I’m no longer on full time cook/chauffeur/maid/referee/laundress duties... those work ...

Notes on a Cheilectomy

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