Week Eight Roundup

Following the removal of the wires, I waited 48 hours and then had a shower. I had been so looking forward to finally having a shower but I have to admit that it was not the victorious return I had been hoping for. My feet were quite sore, especially on the soles. I was still not really used to bearing my weight on the front of my feet and I also still had some hard skin which was painful to stand on. I managed a short shower though and then my husband helped me to thoroughly soak the dressings before we removed them.

It was lovely to see my feet, although the scabs were still very prominent and dark. Revealing my feet fully meant that we could now start to peel away all the dry skin from my feet, although we were very careful to stay away from the scabs as we did not want to pull them off prematurely. Following from the less-than-wonderful showering experience, we started washing my feet daily by soaking them in water or using a flannel to wipe them down. As walking barefoot is still quite painful, I have been wearing some sandals that my mum has lent me, with socks to protect the scabs and delicate skin.

Sandals and socks - a good look!

We returned to the plaster room on Monday so that they could look again at the overgranulation and the slightly irritated wound on my left big toe. The technician picked away a lot of the scabs and improved the look of my feet significantly. She picked away the scab on the overgranulation and was very pleased with how it looked. She applied some more silver nitrate to cauterise the bleb and then was happy with it. She also looked at the scab on my left big toe and thought it still looked a little inflamed. She explained that a stitch in my tissue may not have dissolved properly and could be causing irritation. She did not think that it was infected but put some inodine on the scab and asked us to return on Thursday to check it again.

Then I was able to visit my school for sports day. It was so lovely to see everyone and also to sit out in the sunshine and the fresh air, although I did manage to sunburn my leg (yes, just one of them - don't cross your legs if you want your sunburn to be even!). My class were pleased to see me and I was really glad to be able to see them too.

Today, we returned to the plaster room bright and early to have a last check on the big toe wound. We went in especially early so that if there were signs of an infection we could call on my surgeon before she went into theatre and get her to prescribe me some antibiotics. Luckily, when the technician removed the dressing, she was very pleased with the way the scab was looking. She could see some wetness but not a lot of oozing and she was confident that it was not infected. She applied a dry dressing and asked me to keep it on until next Tuesday when I could take it off and hopefully the wound would have completely dried up. She also checked on my overgranulation and was happy with that too. She asked me to keep my eye on the big toe scab and if it got very wet, or sore to the touch, or if I felt ill in myself to get in touch with her as these could be signs of infection. Otherwise, I was done with the check-ups!

To celebrate my final appointment I gave the plaster room team a card and box of chocolates as a thank you for all the great care they have provided. They have been so reassuring and knowledgeable and willing to explain things three times when I didn't understand them! They are the people I have seen most through this whole process and I feel like I got to know them quite well. It's been very comforting to know that they were on the end of the phone with advice if I needed it too.

Above are my feet today, exactly eight weeks post surgery. I think they are looking pretty good - with the dark scabs gone, they look especially nice now. You can also spot the sunburn on my right leg!

From now on I am going to try and post once a week, on a Thursday, to show the progress made during this next part of the healing process. I hope these photographs will really show the improvements to my feet. They feel so much more comfortable now and this morning when we got back from the plaster room I even walked a little way barefoot and didn't feel any pain. I'm very pleased with the results from the surgery so far and am really glad I went through with it!

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