Modified Brostrom Recovery Blog – 10 Days Out

Surgery was 10 days ago.  The thing that has been most surprising is the complete lack of pain.  The post-op med routine was Naproxen (big dose of Aleve) for inflammation, over the coutner Tylenol for pain and Oxycodone “as needed”.  I took Oxycodone the day after surgery then tried it with just Tylenol – no problems.   After three days, I checked with the surgery office and confirmed it as okay to stop Naproxen and the Tylenol.   The only drug that is required is aspirin to prevent blood clots.  This floors me. Given a three inch incision and a metal brace attached to the bone, I was expecting to be in a lot of pain for a long time.   Besides the fact that I have a plaster splint on it, my foot feels completely normal.

If I go for a long walk on the crutches (100 yards is long), it will swell and I can see my toes changing color.  When I put it up for just a couple of minutes, the swelling goes away.  I’m able to do leg stretches and do light upper body workouts using exercise bands.  This is leaps and bounds above where I expected to be.  I’m really surprised at the lack of pain.

I was told I should do some slight toe wiggling to start to work the joint.  I can move all my toes in a full range of motion with no pain.  Mobility is good.  The scooter lets me get around the first floor of the house with no issues. I even made some homemade pizza last night.

5 days to my first follow up with the surgeon.  At that appointment, they’ll remove the plaster splint  and the sutures and fit me with a hard cast – very curious what that will be like.   Looking forward to actually seeing my foot for the first time (I think).