So lets recap. Sometime in the late 90's or so, I broke my big toe doing some summer circus flips off a diving board. Too much torque and my toe must have overextended. I remember feeling and hearing a pop. The next days the entire joint where my big toe met my foot turned black and swollen. So I did what most 30 year old guys would. Nothing.
Eventually it felt better. But was never quite the same. And while the bruising went away, a weird lump grew - and never went away.
Exhibit A - the lump:
And my toe has not been-pain free since. Frankly it has gotten worse and worse, until I could not really even walk without favoring it. So you can imagine what all the Crossfitting has felt like. Walking lunge - how about I do all on one leg? Box jump, double under, or burpee - it hurt to jump. Running, who hasn't passed me?
So I set a date and had surgery. From what I understand, they shaved off a bunch of extra bone (and spur) and inserted two screws to create space between the foot and the big toe. I felt nothing and came home wearing this.
Early recovery meant sitting in bed on drugs. (Pretty much like my summer of '85). Wed-Fri was an Oxycodone blur. My keepers fed me all kinds of non-paleo foods. But what was I to do.
By the weekend I was feeling better. And on Monday I returned to the doc for a follow up. He laughed about how little I remember. I think he said I was a cheap drunk. But he also said what a mess my foot was. "Like an arthritic 60+ year old man." Doc then proceeded to cut away and I was scared. Not sure what it was going to look like. Other than a long red incision under some steri-strips, it looked like my foot - but without the bump. He then grabbed my toe and started flexing it up and down. I was in shock. It was only 5 days since he operated. I had no idea it would move at all. But it moved well and was mostly pain free. He then xrayed, and pronounced me ready for my walking boot, and told me to do exercises to flex the toe 3x a day.
And each day I feel better and better. I am not following docs orders much. I am a terrible patient. I am walking in the boot mostly without the crutches already. But at the same time I am not putting any body weight on the toe. But considering that it has been less than a week since surgery, this is amazing. At this rate, I will be the world record holding sprinter by Labor Day!
Just kidding. My goal is to progress as quickly as possible without incurring a setback. But I feel great. I plan to make it back to Crossfit soon to attack the various parts of me that do not put my toe at risk. I promise to be careful.
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