Surgery for Morton’s Neuroma.
January 20th 2016
I decided to go ahead with the Neuroma
Excision on my left foot. The discomfort has gone on for years and it seemed
like it was time to try and fix it. The surgery is not guaranteed to work and
the problem can return but I figured that it was worth trying. I arrived at
Wrightington Hospital near Wigan for 715am as instructed on the 19th
January – then a long day of waiting around followed. I had read my book by
11am and I have to admit I was struggling with the lack of food and drink in my
tummy. Fasting from midnight the night before as I was having to have a General
Anesthetic – so whilst the ladies around me were having tea and toast I was
just watching with envy.
I knew that I was last on the list and that
my surgery would be in the afternoon but I was thankful that the appointment
had come through so early so I wasn’t too worried about the wait. The Blood
Pressure and other checks had all been carried out and then at 4.00pm the
anesthetic nurse arrived to take me to theatre. I was prepped for surgery and
given a pain killing injection, I don’t know what it was but I instantly went
dizzy and lightheaded and then the anesthetic was injected. The next thing I
know was waking up in recovery feeling fine and was then taken back to the ward
for sandwiches and a cup of tea. My checks were all done, given a special shoe
to walk in when I need it, painkillers, sick note and an appointment in two
weeks to have the stitches out and then 6 weeks to see the Surgeon Mr Clough,
who I hope has done a good job!
By 8.45pm I was at home with my foot
elevated.
I have tried to elevate my foot all the
time as instructed for the first two weeks no walking on the foot. I took painkillers
for three days – codeine was amazing and really helped me sleep! To be honest
if I sat still it wasn’t really painful but moving was.
The stitches came out 16 days after the
surgery and the wound wasn’t fully closed so I kept the dressings on for a few
more days. Walking putting pressure on the front of the foot wasn’t really an
option – still too painful. So heel hobbling all the way.
After seeing the ridiculous way my calf had
shrunk in two weeks of no exercise I bought a little toy to help me! A Compex
Sport Elite EMS device. Absolutely amazing. After a week of use my calf was
much improved and my legs were battered. I actually struggled to get out of bed
because my legs were so sore, they felt like I had run a 30 miler the day
before. I will be using this to help my training and recovery in the
future.
At the three week point I decided to have a
little go on the turbo and this felt ok – I didn’t clip in and didn’t put a lot
of pressure through the foot but it didn’t swell afterwards although I did get
strange electrical type shocks through the foot which is probably due to the
nerve being cut. Over week three I have done a few mins further on the bike
each day and also had my first physio session with Duncan at Preston Physio
clinic. He stretched my toes out – which was sore, they felt very tight but
this really helped and they actually were starting to touch the floor again
after Duncan’s help. I also went on the fab gym there and used the arm bike,
the elliptical trainer and the watt bike – I didn’t do loads but it was nice to
get my heart rate up a bit and get sweaty!
I have six weeks off work due to the
walking and standing involved in my job. I can’t do stairs very well at the
moment. But the scar is healing pretty well and I am hoping I will be able to
start to walk on it more. I know for sure that a run is not on the horizon yet.
**************
Over the last couple of weeks the foot
healed brilliantly and I have been able to bike, aqua jog and event started
running again. This was built up very slowly and at 6 weeks post op I was able
to run 16 minutes with no reaction.
I have been running on the Alter G at
Preston Physio too which has been really helpful in my rehab and I will
continue this building up to one hour at a reduced body weight to assist my
recovery. I have also been having physio with Duncan at Athlete Matters and he
is doing a great job of looking after me as always.
Training has consisted of Cross training and
swimming mainly and building up to running at jog and walk intervals. I have a
love hate relationship with Aqua Jogging! I kinda like it but it is really hard
work. I tend to do sessions like speed work and people in the pool think I am
bonkers and chat to me all the time and ask things like “Why don’t you just run
outside!” Er, I’ll get back to you about that one.
I saw my surgeon six weeks post op and he
was really pleased with how it looked and the progress that had been made and
so I was discharged. This was on the Thursday, I woke up on the Sunday morning
and my foot felt a bit sore. I was unsure why as I hadn’t done anything
particularly strenuous. I continued as normal throughout the day and iced the
foot to see if this would help. By Sunday evening I was becoming increasingly
worried as the foot seemed swollen and hot and the scar had become very red. I
decided to go to the Walk in Centre and get it checked but the walk in was full
and so A and E it was. I just knew that if I left until Monday morning the foot
would have swollen up and I wouldn’t be able to drive or go to work.
Blackburn A and E was an experience but
within two hours I had seen Triage and a doctor who was concerned that the foot
was showing signs of infection. He prescribed antibiotics and said to carry on
as normal but contact the surgeon just to double check.
I couldn’t sleep Sunday night as the foot
was just throbbing and burning. I woke up Monday morning and had to go to work
despite the foot being really sore, I couldn’t stay off after being off for six
weeks already! I had decided to contact my surgeon and his team and send them
some photos. They were really helpful and said I needed to see them and an
appointment had been arranged for Thursday. Despite taking the medication the
foot seemed to get worse and the scar seemed to be opening and horrible yellow
stuff seemed to be accumulating – GROSS.
Another sleepless night and I contacted the
team at Wrightington again. They were really helpful and asked if I could go in
straight away so that they could check it. I arrived an hour later and was seen
by Tariq who was brilliant and gave me two different types of antibiotics to
work as the others didn’t seem to be helping. An appointment has also been made
for a weeks’ time to check.
It is so annoying and frustrating and so
painful too. I can’t walk properly and am taking painkillers especially in a
morning as it is terribly sore! Hopefully the medication will work and I can
get back to it. It is a skin infection rather than something more problematic
and the thing may burst apparently – yuk. I did ask and it was not something
that could have been avoided, hasn’t been caused by doing too much or by swimming
or running which was my concern. They said that it was likely just something
under the skin that has taken a long time to come out but it would have
happened anyway.
I have lots of grim photos! I decided not
to attach them to my blog though…….Probably for the best! If anyone is
desperate for them then let me know.
