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purple colour foot that tightens when weight bearing

Posted , 7 users are following.

gilly96144
gilly96144

I do so apologise once again for so many questions but every day brings something different to this recovery stage.  For the past two days one foot which only had bunion removal is great... so happy with it, still tender and sore but ok... the other foot which also had bunion removed and hammer toe correction and still has pin in has become really uncomfortable... when im resting its ok ish.... but as soon as i put stand up or even sit up in chair position it becomes tight and my toe with pin in feels tight and stretchy.... its also swells up and gives me pain... but as soon as i put my feet up again its like i can feel the blood floaty away from it and it eases slightly... but i want to get walking again... im five weeks post op and thought this would not happen.... as the other foot is quite good.... its only been the last two days it has felt like this.... has anyone else felt this.... my skin tone seems to change to a purple colour but goes back to normal skin tone when its raised.... i do thank everyone that answers my questions..... iv not had any surgery for 20 odd years so all this recovery is new to me and does worry me somewhat x thank you

1 like, 15 replies

15 Replies

  • shona66112
    shona66112 gilly96144

    Posted

    Hi Gilly,i have had both feet done the first on 30th Jan and that foot looked a very odd colour for a long time almost until just recently iread from other people this seems normal when it was down it felt like it was going to explode and raising did bring relief. saying that my other foot nearly 3 weeks post-op is an okay colour but i had mis surgery don't know if it makes a difference but colour ok but still same exploding feeling when down ! Maybe call surgeon to seeiff this is okay put your mind at rest .
    • gilly96144
      gilly96144 shona66112

      Posted

      hi shona thank you so much for reply.... i am due to see surgeon on 30th so lots of questions for him.... what you discribe sounds so much like what i am going through, mine is only five weeks post op i had the surgery on 11th May so maybe early days still, i think i just want to recover to quickly and this sort of surgery wont let that happen... plus with the pin still in dont help.... roll on the 30th !!! thank you once again for reply which is so appreciated x
  • john69167
    john69167 gilly96144

    Posted

    Hi gilly yes my foot is like that. In the mornings it looks alright and swelling vastly reduced but as the day goes on and I put weight on it it goes all tight and purple/dark blue. I came out of the walker boot today after 5 and a half weeks and into a tennis shoie. Foot still feels stiff and like a ball underneath it plus where my second toe doesn't touch the floor it feels weird. I am limping quite a lot at first. I hope it gets better than this as I was quite a walker before surgery. Oh dear here I go again getting all impatient again!. I do so hate being incapacitated. Anyway I think the purple fat foot syndrome is normal!
    • gilly96144
      gilly96144 john69167

      Posted

      hi john..... ohooo i thank you yet again.. you have put my mind at rest again, i was starting to think something was wrong, what you have said john is mirror image to mine... in the morning fine.. i look and think now if it stays like that i will be ok.. but after going to bathroom and kitchen even with crutches or slowly taking steps its back the swelling purple foot appears yet again.... and i try to put my foot in normal walking position but the feeling underneath the ball feeling and the tightness almost like a pulling feeling comes back, also john i have had like a hot feeling on my nail bed but i know the nail bed has lots of nerve endings so again maybe normal... john can i ask you does your big toe still feel numb... tender to touch almost like if i touch it its like electric shock feeling....? my other toe is still alittle numb but better than the foot with the pin still present, thanks john for your help with this, i am sure this will not be the last you will hear from me lol
    • john69167
      john69167 gilly96144

      Posted

      Hi gilly yes it is good to have someone at around the same stage in post op recovery. I for one am a terrible worrier and the foot seems to have acquired a massive significance in my life that it never before had. Anyway yes my big toe does feel tender and sort of numb. I am a bit scared of putting weight on it. I think that you and I are very early in recovery (though it feels like these past five and a half weeks have been a lifertime!). Keep asking Gilly and let us look forward to getting further down the healing/recovery line!!
    • gilly96144
      gilly96144 john69167

      Posted

      arrhhhh bless ya john, me too my feet seem to be a thorn in my side too at present last thing i look at at night and first thing i look at in the morning, right getting on my nerves if im honest... same here john the thought of putting weight on that big toe makes my stomach go over, i have been saying all day here today... ohoooo never again, and i did say to my sister today this five and half weeks seems like a life time, plus i live in a small old victorian flat in central london but has no garden, plenty of life outside though i have just been looking out of the window like a sad woman lol... realising that life is good when you have your health, when i have a day out john i am walking for at least five hours if not more and you do take it for granted until its not there... but god will i be out when i have recovered... thank you john again reading your message back always makes me feel yes this is normal and i thank you for that !!! so heres to the next question lol... cheers john :-)
    • john69167
      john69167 gilly96144

      Posted

      Hi gilly yes I totally know what you mean about being stuck indoors and life going on out there. I live in Crystal Palace and it is busy outside but most of the time I felt cut off from it as I have been so much stuck in the flat with  only the flippin foot for company with it's aches and numbness and horrible swellings!! AArgh! Yes it all does make one realise how much one has taken for granted. I now realise when I am people watching that I now notice people's feet first not their faces! And I am really envious of their ease of gait and fluent mobility! If I see someone with a stick or crutches or walkerboot I feel an enormous rush of sympathy and compassion towards them! Like you I am looking forward to being able to wander freely through the streets or countryside again. I love walking and really miss it
    • gilly96144
      gilly96144 john69167

      Posted

      we will get there john just a slow process of healing... right no more feeling sad... its onwards and upwards for us now.... as from tomorrow sad days over (if possible) lol and positive ones only.. we will walk in comfort when this is all over and soon our messages will be of what a nightmare we have been through and hopefully have a laugh about it all... ohooo well until my next negative message, have a good evening john, im sitting here with foot up, foot down, foot sideways, every way i can think... lol motto for tomorrow... Happiness is knowing we can and will walk again soon !!! cheers john
    • john69167
      john69167 gilly96144

      Posted

      Cheers Gilly yes no more sad days!!. . until I greet my poor foot in the morning!. I  literally open my eyes in the morning and before I have even woken up I am examining my foot and checking to see if it has improved a bit! I think I am so used to putting my foot up that I even do it on the train or bus etc Goodnight Gilly and pleasant dreams of painless mobility for all fellow sufferers!
  • den_2000
    den_2000 gilly96144

    Posted

    Hi Gilly and John, My foot was done on May 8th, as you know I have posted about recovery, but today, I seem to be walking eaiser, albeit in the surgical shoe. I still cant get my own shoes on. Socks usually feel like a compression bandage, causing terrible tightness, today this hasn't happened. My big toe did feel like a numb shock on touching, today it doesn't. I don't know whats happened, but hopefully it will only progress rather than regress. I cannot believe the difference, so theres hope for all of us. I too am obsessed with feet and looking at images of 'normal' feet on google. 
    • john69167
      john69167 den_2000

      Posted

      Hi Den Good to hear your foot feels better today. May your recovery continue in leaps and bounds (literally!). I seem to spend my life thinking about feet or my foot. Is this what they call foot fetishism?
  • den_2000
    den_2000 gilly96144

    Posted

    Im completely preoccupied by feet, never had such an obsession, I have the other done next week. We hopefully will be laughing about it this time next year. My family are being supportive, but I think they  secretly have had enough of the foot talk, keep in touch
  • barbara00055
    barbara00055 gilly96144

    Posted

    You are to eager to get into activities on your feet, you're only 5 weeks!  I had hammer toe pinned and think this makes your recovery longer, don't do too much on that foot, I've heard that you can bend the pin and it takes longer to remove.   Once removed it will take a while to recover.  I am 12 weeks my hammer toe still hurts, and my bunion op foot is a different colour to my other foot.  You could sometimes describe it as purple I suppose.  The tightness and pain you're getting is probably due to swelling, keep that foot raised if you want to have a speedier recovery.   I am pleased to say this week my swelling has gone down but I am expecting at least a six month recovery, which means I am only halfway there!  Hang on there, you did have both feet done!  Sent with respect and a friendly warning, which I must add I needed at 5 weeks from someone on this forumwink
    • gilly96144
      gilly96144 barbara00055

      Posted

      hi barbara, thank you so much again for your support and advice which i so take on board, and yes your so right with trying to do too much too soon.... i also think people around you just think you have had a cosmetic sort of surgery and that you should be up and about in no time.... no way would i had had this done for cosmetic reasons, mine was purely pain and discomfort in walking, plus my mum and all her sisters have these, i do find barbara even if i have rested quite a bit its in the evening that the foot with the pin still in starts to swell even more and produces a stinging pain... even when rested, but i think you are right i am expecting too much too soon as i am only five half weeks post surgery... i am not expecting to be back to any normality for quite some time so one day at a time for me i think, best wishes to you barbara and heres to happy feet again for us both x
  • smab97
    smab97 gilly96144

    Posted

    Don't worry my foot was purple and throbbed extremely badly to begin with, it will gradually subside. I agree with everyone above I am still obsessed with my foot and giving envious glances to those who are not emcumbed by crutches, boot walker or sticks! I think I am particularly fed up as I felt after going back to a phased return at 12 weeks and getting my life back I am now in a boot walker due to a fracture in the osteotomy site on my metatarsal. I was so careful and did exactly as I was told. The surgeon thinks it may never have healed and that I could have been walking around with a fracture from the begining! Now in boot walker and am coming to terms with a 6 week sit out 2 and 1/2 weeks in so almost half way there! I am never going to take walking for granted ever again.
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