Yesterday was a bit of a set back after I got the stitches out. My foot was tender and achy and I was very hesitant in my walking. It was a nauseous kind of pain that just made my whole body feel off. Last night I was doing my toe bending exercises and in the middle of a good but not overly ambitious upward stretch, a pain so sharp that it brought tears to my eyes shot through my toes and foot. It took a good 10 minutes for me to get re-centered and for the intense pain to subside. I took a couple of tylenols and went to bed more than a little apprehensive about what I would be met with in the morning.
I slept through the night, unaware of anything going on with my foot. When I woke up it felt stiff but not sore. I did my 10 reps each of up and down stretches laying in bed and using my other foot to help apply a little pressure. I could feel a pull but it wasn't painful. Got up and carefully slid on my fitflops since I was too tired to mess with the velcro on my other sandals. The fitflops worked fine and provided a nice cushion under my foot. They have a high enough cut on the strap over my foot that it didn't bother my incision any more than the other sandals.
I was still very tentative in my walking. I did another set of stretches this time using my hands after breakfast. Then set off to feed the neighbors' cats and go to the grocery store(s). I put the velcro strap sandals on that I wore yesterday. My gait was slow and off but I wasn't in pain. I found that by walking slowly I could focus more on keeping my foot straight and not rolling outward like I had been doing before the surgery since my toe couldn't bend. Holding onto the grocery cart helped.
Got home, not feeling much like walking anymore. The sandals were rubbing on the top of my foot and it was feeling a little irritated. After lunch, I did some foot massage and then more sets of toe stretches again using my hands to push a little beyond what my foot could do on its own. Felt pretty good about the up stretches. To my eyes it looked like I could get my toe to 45 degrees without too much pain. Curling the toe down was much harder since that pulled on the incision on the top of my foot. But I did the best I could and it did improve a little by the 6 or 7th rep. Sometimes my foot is a little sore after the exercises but it is definitely more flexible.
In spite of that, I still didn't feel much like walking this afternoon. By about e 3pm my husband lured me out to the garden saying he needed me to "supervise" what I wanted him to harvest. I didn't want to have to walk in the dirt in my good sandals. It did motivate though to go through my shoes and see what I could get into. I could get my foot into my very soft, old topsiders but they felt too tight to walk comfortably which was strange since they fit so loose usually. No luck even getting my foot into any of my shoes with ties. But I did have a pair of New Balance slip ons. They are very soft but normally fit snugly so I was surprised when I was able to put my foot all the way in without pain. I think the soft padding on top and the open back made them easier to get on. I figured these would keep the incision clean and since they are black could survive a foray into the garden. Amazingly, they worked great. Once I got out there, I not only harvested but was able to pull out some overgrown kale and lettuce and do some clean up. I left them on while I cooked dinner. No problems.
What I noticed today is that when I was in the garden or cooking, my gait seemed more normal. Maybe I was still rolling my foot outward but it didn't seem like it.
Lessons from today: Do the exercises as often as I can. They really help. And get engaged in something that requires movement but also puts attention on something other than my foot.
I'm actually quite pleasantly surprised at how well my foot is doing tonight given where it was last night.
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