Roughly 4 months Post-Op: Finally out of Casts but still cautious

Sorry for the delayed post, but with Chinese New Year this past week, Dr. Wu's office was closed for the holidays so I was not able to hear from him until very recently. I took another set of X-Rays on 2/9/2016 as requested by Dr. Wu. Below are the last two X-Rays.

Before I sent the X-Ray to Dr. Wu, I noticed another slight change in the gap, and I was disheartened to see that difference. One of the challenges about this surgery is that I need a tremendous amount of patience for the process, and also, not have my expectations be that everything will proceed perfectly as described. My sister helped me re-shift my perspective when she said "it is still much better than what is was." SO true!  

Dr. Wu reviewed my X-Ray and explained everything is still looking well despite seeing another slight change. He once again said this change was normal and to be expected. My feet are still slightly over-corrected and will probably shift again over time, until the ligaments gain their full strength. I've been very cautious about not walking too much on my feet, but this can also be a detriment if I don't walk enough. If I refrain from walking, I will not be able to build the muscles needed and can experience more bone loss. 

So how do I find the balance? I am not so sure, but will take it slowly and gradually to start. Dr. Wu gave me the option to stay in my casts for another week if I wanted to be extra careful, or I could take the casts off now. I decided to go with the latter option and completely removed my casts on a Friday night, so I could use the weekend to slowly adjust back to walking. Below is a picture of my feet without the casts and I cannot tell you how nice it felt to finally wet my feet! Obviously, it was not a pretty site when the casts came off and the skin was sensitive after thoroughly cleaning the feet to remove old skin (very gross!). But it definitely feels nice to not have that hard, protective cast anymore.

Right before I left Hong Kong, Dr. Wu explained that it would be beneficial to tape my feet with surgical tape, initially right after I removed my casts. This is to provide additional support for the foot to prevent stress fracture and also help prevent more loosening of the ligaments. The instruction sheet recommends to use this tape for at least 2 weeks, which will also help me slowly adjust back to normal walking. See below for a video that I took of Dr. Wu explaining how to apply the tape. I also included a picture of my first attempt at applying the athletic tape I had. I applied it in the evening and did so very tightly (as per instructions), but found I could not sleep well with them as they cut off my circulation and made it painful. Oops!! I probably should apply them in the morning and walk in them a little more to loosen them a bit before going to sleep. It may also be that athletic tape is too strong so I will try both surgical and athletic tape to see what works best.

For outdoor walking, I can transition back into sneakers but I have to use the inserts that Dr. Wu provided. The picture below shows my old black inserts (left) and the new tan-colored inserts (right) provided by Dr. Wu. Looks like Dr. Wu's inserts are more sturdy and hopefully more helpful for my feet. Dr. Wu had sized these inserts to my feet before I left Hong Kong. 

When I tried placing my feet in my sneakers, including these inserts, the fit felt tighter than normal. I imagine this is to be expected since my feet haven't been in normal shoes for quite some time. I also don't know if the surgery has caused my shoe size to change since the big toe is now straight. I will check to see if more loose fitting shoes is better to start with initially. I will gradually return to normal walking and definitely not speed up my pace, otherwise this can cause a stress fracture. I need to also continue my big toe-pressing exercises for the next few months if not more. Since I am now out of my casts, I won't need to use the book anymore for these toe exercises. 

When I asked Dr. Wu about driving, he said that the actual driving is not so much a problem now. It is just how comfortable my feet would feel if I needed to emergently slam on the brake. It's true in that right now, my feet feel weak to even pull my car in/out of my driveway. I drive a manual transmission, so besides the brake, I have to shift quite often. I rather not risk driving for now, and see how things progress over time. 

My next X-Ray is scheduled about 1 month from now and Dr. Wu said I should feel almost back to normal by then. Let's hope everything will continue to progress as expected. I will try to post another blog in a couple weeks.