My Final Post-op

Day 56

  No more post-ops needed!  Dr. Brunet was very pleased with my progress to date.  I explained to him that within the last 3 days, I was getting some sharp, intense pain on the ball of my foot.  He assured me that this was normal and it was caused from sore muscles. Truthfully, I broke his rules and have been standing or walking over his permitted 15 minutes.  
  I've noticed a hard bump on the top of my foot.  Could it be a screw?  Yup. Dr. Brunet confirmed it. No matter what size your foot is, whether you're 5ft2 " (like me) or 6ft1", the same size screws are used for everyone.  When the swelling decreases, it may become more noticeable when I'm wearing tight running shoes or strappy sandals.  Problematic? I'm not sure yet.

Head of screw

Going forward, these are my post-op instructions:

1) Take the next  7-10 days to transition from the air cast to a shoe.

2) Start walking on the treadmill/elliptical for about 20 minutes.  Today I did 30 min on the recumbent bike and 20 min on the elliptical.  I assumed that since the recumbent bike isn't standing, I could get away with it. My operated foot felt good throughout, my other foot had that same old "hot feeling".

3) Spin classes are okay without resistance or climbing.  (I guess it's just peddling on a bike then).

4) Continue toe exercises.  Squeeze a towel with my toe and press with my thumb on the bottom toe joint.
5) No physio needed!I
6) Expect in 2-3 months to go back to normal activities. It will be a slow transition!

Notice my tan is gone!

  When am I going to get my right foot done?  When my left foot gets strong enough to compensate.  Dr. Brunet said that I could wait until next year but he cautioned that I will notice that I have two different feet.  In my opinion, the sooner the better but I'm not going to jump the gun here.  It's best to make sure I'm fully recovered and satisfied and not make any hasty decisions.