So when I saw my podiatrist a few days ago, he asked me if I was still wrapping my toes, and I said, "yes". He told me to stop! But the thing is that I still wrap them because when I don't, I have pain in the forth toe of both feet and the bone gets very swollen and tender and it hurts like all hell! Anyway, he gave me these toe compressors to try instead. They work pretty well as far as keeping the forth toes compressed enough in order to prevent swelling in the first place. Well, the Dr. also gave me 2 extra compressors. So I decided to see what would happen if I put them over both 2nd toes in regards to bringing the swelling in the bone down. According to my Dr.'s claims, he said that the bone swelling is why I still "appear" to have hammer toe. It's only been a couple of days, but already I've seen some positive results! The top of the toe, where the bump is, is a lot flatter! It's not perfect yet, but I'm so glad that I'm starting to see some improvement, though it is veeeeeeeery slow!
P.S.: I'm still doing my scar treatments 3x's a day, and they are getting flatter and lighter with the passing weeks.
So I found this at Target the other day, and decided to try it. I still struggle with a lot of pain when I walk for longer than an hour. My Podiatrist told me that it's because I've been "babying" my feet too much. He suggested that the more active I am, the faster my feet will heal and get used to the stress of walking normally again. Anyway, this is just another tool I am trying that is supposed to help relax my feet and take away pain after a "hard day". I've just started to incorporate it into my daily regimen. I wear them on both feet for 5 mins. at the end of the day after I've done my scar treatment.
This is how my feet look after the gel toe-separators have been removed. They leave my toes evenly spread out.
So, I went to see my Dr. yesterday. He told me that he wanted me to stop wrapping my toes with the bandages! Hmmmmm! Originally, he told me that I should wrap them until I get sick of it! I expected to be wrapping for a lot longer than the 2 months ! Anyhow, I'm gonna go out today and look for some "soft" boots to wear. I'm still not ready to show my toes: I still have corns and the scars on my toes are still very visible. I really hope that my feet are not done transforming yet. *sigh
So it's been a couple days since I've been using the foot spa. I do see a little difference as far as the corns "blending in" or "falling off". They are starting to look a bit better. But my scars are very prominent now. I haven't seen any change with the amount of swelling yet. I expect that that would take a lot more time. Here are some updated pics from earlier today:
I'm starting to see less and less of the appearance of corns on both feet:
Right foot - You can really see the scaring here:
Right Foot:
Left Foot:
So, two days ago I was really starting to freak out!!! I felt like I was not progressing was as quickly as a lot of other people! I finally decided to call the Dr.'s office and schedule an appt. A.S.A.P. so I could voice my concerns to my podiatrist. When I made it to the Dr.'s earlier today, I explained to the nurse and Dr. why I was so worried. I had broken into tears, I was so distraught!! I told her that I have wanted this surgery since high school and have had the hammertoe problem since I was a child. I was concerned that my scars were starting to look like they were beginning to keloid. Both she and the Dr. assured me that my' feet look great for being 2 months along' and that within another month, my feet will start to look more like how I want them to look. The Dr., again, reassured me that if for any reason I don't like the results, he would go back in and fix it free of charge. So here I am, playing the waiting game, again!
So my Dr. says that by 3 months, I should feel a whole lot better! I must say that I'm a little skeptical. This has been such a slow process for me! When I say my Dr. 2 wks ago, I told him that I was concerned about the fact that I still have corns. When he performed the surgery, he didn't excise the corns. His reasoning behind that was that they would fall off on their own....Now don't get me wrong, the corns are getting smaller.....on SOME toes. But I'm starting to get nervous and impatient! I feel like I should see a much larger improvement by now. Dr. said, before my surgery, that if there is something I'm not satisfied with, he would go back in and fix it free of charge. I thought that sounded good at the time, but now that I feel that there is a real possibility that I may need to take him up on that offer, who the hell wants to go through surgery again?!?!? I thought that I was doing the right thing, that it would minimize the scaring, but trust me, the scaring is only temporary. My scars have diminished drastically! I wish I would have gone to someone who would have excised all the corns at the time of surgery. I wish I would have opted for a Dr. who used pins after surgery! At least that way, I could have avoided floppy toe. My toes would have been stronger, faster, and I would have been wearing regular shoes by now.
I'm able to move around better, little by little. I still use my one crutch when I leave the house. I've been trying to walk for as far as I can while holding the crutch, but without actually using it. Then I get tired or start to feel pain because of the strain, I use the crutch. I'm trying to ween myself off of the crutch at this point. I'm still wearing the post op shoe when I leave the house and sometimes around the house. I just can't bare the thought of taking the chance of bumping my feet anywhere! My doctor gave me the ok to wear whatever shoes that feel comfortable, but since my toes are still healing, I don't want to enclose them in shoes. And I'd still wrapping my toes, so I'm not yet ready to show then off yet.
So when I saw my podiatrist a few days ago, he asked me if I was still wrapping my toes, and I said, "yes". He told me to stop! But the thing is that I still wrap them because when I don't, I have pain in the forth toe of both feet and the bone gets very swollen and tender and it hurts like all hell! Anyway, he gave me these toe compressors to try instead. They work pretty well as far as keeping the forth toes compressed enough in order to prevent swelling in the first place. Well, the Dr. also gave me 2 extra compressors. So I decided to see what would happen if I put them over both 2nd toes in regards to bringing the swelling in the bone down. According to my Dr.'s claims, he said that the bone swelling is why I still "appear" to have hammer toe. It's only been a couple of days, but already I've seen some positive results! The top of the toe, where the bump is, is a lot flatter! It's not perfect yet, but I'm so glad that I'm starting to see some improvement, though it is veeeeeeeery slow!
