Day 42 - Six Weeks - Look who's walking!

I genuinely never thought this day would come - I can WALK!! I am so unbelievably happy! I said to my husband in the car on the way home from the hospital that I honestly feel like the old me has stepped back into my body (pun intended)

The consultant was really pleased with my progress and also my range of motion in the joint, a testament to the hours and hours of exercises I was doing on my toes and shows that the initial pain of it really is worth it. I had found after a few days that I rally had to push my toes to the limit in order to feel pain so tips for those just starting on the exercises to really push through the pain in those first few days as it is so worth it!!

Was a bit of a giggle as when I went to the hospital I was immediately taken round to get X-rays done. I walked into the room and the radiographer asked me to remove my heel boots and then walk over to the X-ray pad (whatever it's called) - I was like "err.. I haven't walked for six weeks and you're expecting me to just hop over to you are you?" (Slightly more politely than that obviously) - it was so strange, I felt as though the floor was rotating under me, not easy to begin with!!

I then went round to the consultants room and he was so enthusiastic about my recovery so far, said my feet looked good and that I can walk/drive/cartwheel/dance/climb a mountain if I feel comfortable!! He did grab my toes and wiggle them a lot to check the range of motion which I was expecting to hurt but was just uncomfortable more than anything. I was so happy - this is the moment I'd been waiting for for all those six miserable weeks!

My X-rays:

My left foot

Right foot

I think it's really cool to see the hardware in my feet.

I was told I can wear any shoes that are comfortable for me, however one piece of advice I would give from the 19 hours since my appointment, is to wear something supportive. I find barefoot really quite uncomfortable/painful so am keeping my Skechers trainers on most of the time for now.

Feet on the ground

Have to remember to walk how a normal person walks and not stay on my heels as I have done for the past six weeks - this is tricky but again needs to be done to get back to normal ASAP.

The only thing I have really struggled with since walking is the stairs - these are not my friend at the moment. I just can't remember how a normal person walks up and down the stairs and it's mega painful if I try it too quickly - I need to work on this.

I'm so cheery and upbeat - just feel so different to how I've felt for the last six weeks.

I have found the last six weeks to be incredibly difficult. I have been in some pain, but harder than that I think is the debilitating effect of immobility - this really played havoc on me mentally and emotionally and I was not prepared for it. I found my muscles atrophied a lot and I've put on weight, although this wasn't something I particularly worried about during my recovery as I found that boredom just leads to me eating more and I can easily fix this once I'm active again. I would urge anyone thinking of having this surgery to prepare yourself for it being difficult. Not everyone will experience what I did, some may enjoy the time off wth feet up, but just be prepared that you may not enjoy it. However the feeling is almost euphoric when you go and get told that you've recovered really well and by resting and doing what the doctor says you have improved your recovery.

Is it all worth it? Well it's too early to say 100% as I'm still experiencing some discomfort and it's still relatively early days and I'm not going to run before I can walk - what I would say is my feet look so much better than before, even with the major swelling my feet fit into shoes much more easily and I'm feeling so positive about when the swelling goes down and I can really make most of them.

The consultant asked me how I found having both done together and would I do it that way in hindsight - my answer was absolutely! I think if I had done one at a time, I'm not really sure I'd have been able to go back and have the second done - although given how happy I am now maybe I would have - people generally forget pain don't they, that's why some people go back and have more children as they forget how bad childbirth is. It's definitely been harder having both done, but I can now say it's over with and can look forward to my recovery fully coming to an end soon and not worrying about doing this all again. If you do both together it's so important to have a good network surrounding you.

So that's the end of that chapter of my recovery and on to the next part which is learning to walk again and taking it easy - I need to remember this. Walking is uncomfortable and so I need to make sure I don't rush things!