12 Weeks After Surgery

I am offering my experience for anyone who might need it. I think I read every single post on this site, especially in the days just after surgery. The site has helped me so much and I'd like to do my part to share my experience. I am just about 12 weeks from double bunionectomy, double tailor's bunion removal, and correction of 4 hammertoes. It was a ton of work that I had put off for many years and I knew I had to do it or risk having permanently damaged feet that would limit and erode my mobility. The surgery was done minimally invasive with no long incisions, no pins, no plates, no hardware of any kind. Still, it was a major procedure. Both feet were done at the same time.

A few lessons I learned so far: I am still recovering and know I have a long way to go before I'm 100%. Patience and accepting slow and steady progress is much needed in my case. It's been tough, especially since I was accustomed to living a very active lifestyle.

No matter how much I prepared for this, read tons of materials in advance, watched as many recovery online videos as I could, asked my surgeon a million questions, it was still a shock to my system once I emerged from surgery and was living the recovery. I realize now there was so much I didn't know or anticipate.

The recovery period is long, even with minimally invasive procedures, it takes a while to properly heal. Some days the pain and swelling are bad, other days, manageable. 

Sleeping remains a challenge but it's getting better. I had to learn how to sleep with my feet elevated, which I have been doing the entire time each night so far. 

I was able to finally wear sneakers for a short time during Week 11. Even though my feet do not look swollen, it is still challenging to get my feet into a sneaker (even though the large bunions are gone!). I thought once the bunions disappeared my shoes would be too large. Not true at all.

Physio sessions have been very important. The therapist is able to manipulate the toes and feet to help me maximize movement and I also learned key strengthening exercises that I can do on my own. Once I was able to move on my own, it was important to do something each day to contribute towards my recovery, even if only for a few minutes.

Taping my toes daily has proven CRITICAL. This is especially important to keep the now-corrected hammertoes in their corrected positions. I'm seeing slow improvement each week but without the tape my toes slowly drift back towards their pre-surgical positions. My surgeon told me I will see improvement over time, so I am keeping at it with taping.

Some items I found useful: 1/2 inch cloth surgical tape, a wedge pillow for elevation, ace bandage wraps for compression, rubber foot and leg coverings for showering, arnica lotion for swelling, recovery slide open toe shoes with velcro closure flap (worn when I was done with the bulky surgical shoes). I tried many other items I thought might ease recovery, but most did not help all that much. 

I did not like asking people for help but there were times I had to. I was not able to drive for 8 weeks and had to rely on others to bring things to me or order things via delivery service. 

I did not use any walking assistance devices or crutches. I learned to (very) slowly walk on my heels from day one until I was able to start bearing weight on the whole foot (around Week 8). I can now put most of my weight on my feet but I am still not 100% weight bearing for more than a little while at a time. 

Wearing socks is very difficult. Same with covering feet with a blanket. I see improvement and increased tolerance but sometimes it's still too uncomfortable.

That's where things are right now. Almost three months have passed. Some days it feels like the time went by quickly and other days, feels like a lifetime.

Good luck and best recovery for those of you going through the process now. 

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