Help! Toes look like a balloon!
Hi Everyone! I will be six weeks post-op in two days and am supposed to start PWB on Friday. I am still in full fibreglass and will be for another 4 weeks when I go to the boot. The last few days I have been putting my foot down while I crutch around with no weight on it. The problem is that the swelling and discomfort have increased dramatically, and my toes turn dark blue within 2 minutes of being upright. This is making it very difficult for me to contemplate my graduation to PWB in two days. I have found that wiggling my toes while my foot is down helps some. Any suggestions?? I have been keeping my foot elevated at all times that I am not up and about (which still isn’t much). Am I elevating my foot too much?? Or is this incredible swelling and discomfort normal when you first start putting your foot on the floor?? P.S. I just got up to go to the washroom, lost my balance and put ALOT of weight on my bad foot. It hurt like hell, and now I am worried that I have caused some damage. I don’t think I reruptured, but my incision hurts like hell. How do I know if it opened up if I am wearing a cast??
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First, you can NEVER elevate too much. Second, I found wiggling my toes as much as I could helped a lot. The more you can get the blood circulating, the better it is for the swelling. In terms of your pain, if you are in doubt, go in to see the doc and have him saw the cast off - not worth worrying about. If the pain subsides within a day, its probably ok…
Hang in there - its always hard to contemplate the next stage but somehow we all manage to move on!
Ed
I too put my foot down hard by accident twice when I was less than 6 weeks pot-op, and it did hurt a lot - I was scared I had hurt myself too. The pain settled down after a few moments though, and everything was alright. My guess would be that you didn’t open your incision. If your pain continues though, you may want to get it checked out.My toes and foot continued to swell a lot after 6 weeks. I would try to put it up, especially at night. I am 11 weeks and still swell a lot when my foot is down all day, but the swelling is usually down by the morning. I was really scared to start PWB. It took me two weeks to put much weight on it. Take your time, and do what is comfortable for you.
Take care,
Jen
i am at 7 weeks this friday and still in a cast i get the final move next week and back into a plaster cast for another 6 weeks, my doctor here in thailand said i cant go into a boot because he is worried (dont tell me why) just something to do with my muscle wastage is think. I fell over the other day when getting from a to b and put all the weight down on my bad leg, i elevated it again for a day but like you it seems to make no difference when i go to the bathroom i get blue toes. I am have trouble wiggling my toes though and dont have very much feeling when you touch them even when the doctor squeezed them it felt like he was just stroking them, he said there is a lot of nerve damage.
Get your doctor to cut an inspection hatch in the back of your cast to have a look at the incision just to make sure you havent done anything.
Rest and take care
Karen
Hi, I am 5 weeks post operation, and like you I have tried very hard to keep my foot elevated. When I go to the bathroom, on crutches, as I put my foot down, not on the floor, it feels as if the blood is rushing to my toes. I can only leave my foot down, for say four to five minuets tops. Otherwise my toes go a shade of purple. Also, my AT still hurts, also with pains from my calf occasional. but it is getting better. I am seeing my consultant next week. I can not even think about FWB or physiotherapy, it scares the hell out of me. Keep resting, see if you can get to your doctor or consultant. Good luck.
From my experience the purple toe thing is totally normal. Even after two weeks FWB my foot still goes a lovely red color first thing in the morning. Although it now quickly regains a normal colour. Wiggling the toes definitely helps and so does slowly increasing the amount of time each day that you have your foot in a normal position.
I think once you start PWB/FWB the increased usage of the foot tends to help the blood flow and lots of these issues clear up pretty quickly.
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