There is some improvement

[cjsmith]

After thinking about it, I realize that my day to day life (walking around my office building) IS better now than it was before the surgery. Also, walking a little this morning after dancing last night, I notice I'm not "paying for" last night's dancing with horrendous aches this morning. So there is improvement, even if the pain isn't totally gone.

That might be just because I've had a long break. But it might be actual improvement.

I probably won't be able to run/hike/backpack again unless something else changes; I can't square dance without pain unless something else changes; but it's not AS bad as it was. That's something.

(Wonder if I can find a doctor somewhere who will give up on conservative treatments and do a permanent nerve block. It's been tried but it didn't take, and maybe a second attempt would work.)

Comments

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

I'd just note this and see if it gets better with practice and time (can you practice a little dancing at home)? Or perhaps some shoe tweaking?

I'd think you have a better chance of hiking or backpacking than running simply because you'd be on natural ground and can go at your own pace.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yep, it's time to start charting "how good a day is this" again. And yeah, both hiking and backpacking are much lower impact than running.

[firecat]

You're not fully healed from the surgery yet, so now is not the time to be gauging the amount of pain you'll be when you're fully healed six months from now.

That said, I'm glad that you could square dance without multiple days of pain!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It's almost as if the two sets of pain are completely independent -- the post-op phantom pain (correlated with amount of scar tissue) is a very distinct and unmistakable sensation, like electricity, and the other is a deep ache. Still, the surgery DID apparently have some effect, so it's worth realizing that that effect could settle in as healing progresses.

I do ache today but not nearly as much as I used to after dancing. *sigh* It's something.

[abenn.livejournal.com]

Well, glad to hear that there's improvement, anyway. Hope that trend continues.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Something tells me there's another basic problem here (besides the now-gone neuromas), and that that basic thing is a root cause of the tendon and ligament damage. If so, no one has figured that one out yet.

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Well, yay for progress. Keep in mind that it actually hasn't been all THAT long yet. For my completely unrelated surgery in 1990, it was a year before I got back to zero, and another year before I saw the full results. You may experience quite a lot of improvement yet.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Could be. I could imagine improvement from four sources:

1) Neuroma removal = no pain from neuroma. Done; no further improvement expected.

2) No nerve = no pain in the Neutral Zone. Done; no further improvement expected (except phantom pain fading).

3) Improved gait due to no longer compensating for pain #1 and #2. Possible further improvement here, *if* my gait causes the other pain.

4) Two of my metatarsal heads ride very low and have essentially no padding underneath. This is where it hurts. Because my surgeon cut the ligament holding those together, it's possible that over time they will now "float" upward in the foot and allow the accumulation of a bit more fat pad below. (Or it's possible that nothing of the kind will happen unless the ligaments on the other sides are cut.) So this one, maybe / maybe not.

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

For me I think it was as much about the tenderness around the scar fading as anything else. You can get some improvement there for quite a while.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

That's cool! My scar's up on top, and most of it is not served by a nerve any more -- weeeeeeeirdest thing. :)

What was your surgery? I'm not remembering, if I ever knew. (No need to reply if you don't want to.)

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Heh. Well, I had a ganglion removed from my hand in 1993 (I think). And it is true that it took quite a long time to heal. I sold my doumbeq years ago because I thought I couldn't ever play it--I kept hitting the scar RIGHT on the edge of the drum. Ouch! I think I probably could play now, though, as I don't experience pain there at all in normal circumstances.

But that wasn't the surgery I was thinking of when I wrote. If you really want to know, e-mail me privately. :^)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ow! :-( I'm glad it's healed up now. Maybe you'll get a chance to play doumbeq again one day.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I thought about that, too (dancing being pretty high-impact and your surgery not having been too long ago in the grand scheme of things). Baby steps (no pun intended). :-) *hugs*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Dancing is surprisingly harder on my feet than walking -- surprising because it's square dancing, which is essentially walking in twisty little paths. I guess the pivoting is a little rough. (I suppose I also don't usually walk for two hours at a go, not since 2003.)

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Hoo yeah. I know how my feet feel after two hours of contra dance, which is similar movement for the feet. Even though it's walking, it's precision walking, which is more effort I think.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'd expect contra would be even tougher for ball-of-foot pain what with the swinging. I recently tried *ONE* square dance with a swing-your-partner in it, and I didn't recover for DAYS. That was horrible.

[rampling.livejournal.com]

Have you been able to get wider shoes yet? I imagine that too-narrow shoes will keep annoying your feet too.

Meanwhile, more *HUGS* for you.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I have a pair of Chaco sandals which are wide enough and only a bit too long. They're adjustable, which really rocks my socks.

[rampling.livejournal.com]

Oh, you wear socks with them?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I do for now, because I still have Coban wrapped around the feet and that crap sticks to EVERYTHING. Socks also give me a tinch more padding, for comfort.

[rampling.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, makes sense. Hope your regular walking around isn't hurting too much now.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Nah, not too much (although a bit worse than yesterday due to dancing). I suspect lotsnlots of cushion might be a thing for me to try soon.

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

Just echoing the others:
Give it some more time
Try different shoes again, things have changed after surgery
You might want to try the nerve block again, later

All that said, I hope you feel better soon. Constant pain sucks always.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Time -- I seem to have given the impression that I was about to take my feet back to the factory tomorrow morning and demand a refund. Not that I wouldn't if I could, I suppose!

The whole shoe thing is a can of worms. By the end of the month I expect to be close to my new permanent shoe size, so I can go look for new shoes. Goodwill is going to have some really interesting things show up on their doorstep pretty soon. Those thigh-high heeled leather boots.... :-) ah, my younger days!

And yeah, the nerve block is something I could ask my doc about once I've settled down after surgery. She'd know whether it'd be worth trying.