Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Past 6 months Post-Op!

It is now past 6 months post-op! I can't believe how time flies. I apologize for the delay in posting. I was waiting to hear back from Dr. Wu about my last X-Ray and I've also been busy watching the exciting NBA basketball this season. :-)

I took my last X-Ray on April 14th and it looks like some more spacing has appeared since the last X-Ray. I cannot say how accurate Dr. Wu's measurements are as in my opinion, the quality of the X-Ray image can slightly skew the measurements. When I compared the other X-Rays, I noticed that when some are more "zoomed in", it can make the spacing look larger than it is. I have not noticed any major change in how my feet look, so I'm hoping the change in spacing is really very minor. Dr. Wu's main focus is that I am still within the normal range and has not commented much on the variations in the measurements. Below is my X-Ray from April 14th:


As far as how my feet feel overall - my walking speed is practically back to normal, but the amount of pressure I can put on my feet can be sensitive at times. The sensitivity is not so much pain, but feels like the joints or tendons feel a little strained or tired. This could be associated with the type of shoe I'm wearing and how much cushion is present. At this point, I can wear any type of shoe as long as the shoes can accommodate my inserts. So, I wear sneakers and casual work shoes/flats. No heels yet, as I want my feet to be 100% before I attempt to wear heels. But I noticed that when I wear shoes with a harder base, my feet feel more tired and/or strained at the end of the day. I then transition to wearing sneakers the next day and that seems to help lessen the strain/tiredness.

I haven't done any strenuous exercise that involves high impact on my feet (ex. running, jumping jacks, etc) and will slowly build my tolerance before I attempt anything. At the moment, I am trying yoga and more low impact exercises. I feel improvement every week and hope that in the coming months, my feet will soon feel 100% normal. They are at about 90% now, which is quite good and does not limit my activities much. I believe I'm also a bit hesitant to challenge my feet further, since I've spent so many months trying to stay off them. In terms of skin appearance, I've continued to use scar-reducing strips, and can say that my scars have greatly diminished. My feet have not felt any swelling for quite some time, so that is definitely a plus. Here is a picture of how my feet look today:


Below is a summary of my Pre and Post X-Rays over time (with the exception of the December X-Ray as that X-Ray did not show both feet together).





Now that my 6 months have passed, people may be wondering how I feel, overall, about going through this surgery. I believe I made the right choice in undergoing this non-bone breaking surgery over the bone-breaking one. The overall experience was not difficult and definitely not very painful. I had not needed to take any pain killers for my feet since the day of my surgery. The recovery process can be tedious, but as long as you know what to expect and have lots of patience, the time flies by quickly. The only minor disappointment was that the toes cannot be completely straight. It is important to note that Dr. Wu never guaranteed the feet would be completely straight, but when I first saw how straight my feet were right after my surgery, I became hopeful. But as this recovery involves soft tissue being re-built, there will be a natural shift of the bone over time, as we saw during my recovery. Still, my feet definitely look better than before my surgery and hopefully will stabilize very soon. 

My next X-Ray is scheduled around my 1 year anniversary, which I hope to go back to Hong Kong to see Dr. Wu. I will continue my blog (hopefully posting once every 1-2 months), updating everyone on my progress. Thank you for following my experience so far and I hope you have found it helpful. Enjoy the springtime and upcoming summer!