| 5 1/2 months post-flat foot reconstruction
I haven't been on the boards in a long time, but thought I'd post an udpate. I know when I was reading up on this surgery, I couldn't find much on what to expect in the months after surgery. Thought this may be helpful for anyone considering the surgery or who recently had it.
In early December, I had an FDL tendon transfer, gastroc recession, calcaneal osteotomy and lateral column lengthening. This puts me about 5 1/2 months out now, and I feel I am relatively back to "nomal", but I certainly still have some time to go. At the 5 month mark, my doctor released me, and I "graduated" from PT. My PT told me I was a few months ahead of where they would expect me to be, and there wasn't anything else they could to help my progress, it's really a matter of time and continuing to use it at this point. I am back to working out, the only thing I have not attempted yet is running, my PT suggested I try around 6 months, so maybe in another few weeks.
I still have a small amount of swelling on the outside of my foot, if I'm on my feet all day it's definitely worse at teh end of the day. I have custom orthotics, but I really think they hurt my foot more than help, I need to go back to have them adjusted to see if it helps. I wear flip flops most days, if I'm not going to be on my feet a lot, and my foot feels great. If I'm on my feet a lot, I wear my ugly sneakers.
Up until about two weeks ago, I had a fair amount of pain on the outside of my foot, near where the bone graft is. My PT and doctor both said it's related to swelling, and to give it time. That pain is all of a sudden gone. The only pain I ever have is first thing in the morning or if I've been sitting for a while, it's very tight when I first start walking on it, but even that is better than it was just a few weeks ago.
My doctor was very clear that this surgery takes a year to fully recover, and fully recovering will probably never be 100%, but I can say not quite halfway to the year mark, I feel really good, and can honestly say this surgery was worth it for me, as I am already in less pain than I was before surgery and am able to engage in many activities I couldn't do prior to surgery.
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