6 weeks after bunion/hammertoe surgery - foot quite swollen
Posted , 23 users are following.
So, yesterday I was 6 weeks after bunion and hammertoe surgery. My doctor said that I could walk in soft wide tennis shoes. Well, I tried with wide, large sneakers and then wide Lem shoes and my foot does not fit into anything. It is swollen and frozen. Also the skin on top of my foot and also sole, toes is very thick and hardened and now peels like crazy. I am limping along still in my neoprene surgical sandal. I know that it does not offer enough support but there is no shoe of any kind that I can put my foot into. My doctor said that I could drive when I can wear normal shoes. But I cannot wear even wide, soft sneakers. So, I am still elevating my foot a lot. It helps but not much. I know that swelling is normal and it will last quite a while. But I am worried that I cannot wear even wide soft athletic shoes. Have you experienced this? What did you do? I know there is light at the end of the tunnel but how long is this tunnel? Thank you!
1 like, 63 replies
miss28506 simona2019
Posted
From the UK and 8 Post op. My left foot is still swollon and I've had to take the shoe lace from trainer for me wear. My doctor said to walk straight away too. I've had a few baths since having plaster boot off and big toe and the one next to it is still quite tender. X
Hope everyone has a good Christmas x
simona2019
Posted
Tomorrow it will be 8 weeks since my surgery. It was bunion plus hammer toe on 2nd toe on right foot. With the exception of my three doctor's visits (2 week, 4 week and 6 week) I have not been out of the house. I am walking indoors but my foot swells and hurts. My former bunion area is still red, it has not crusted completely. I have experimented with various shoeware and I cannot say that I am comfortable in anything. I got a pair of neoprene shoes which open all the way and close with velcro. They are not bad but my feet sweat in them. I also got a pair of shearling slippers, open toed, also on the same principle of opening all the way and closing with velcro. They would be great but they are too warm to wear indoors. I tried the Furoshiki shies which wrap around your foot. My foot feels ok in them but then it gets swollen. Of course I've tried sneakers, Keds, Lem shoes but my foot doesn't like to be shoved into anything, practically. My big toe and the next toe are quite stiff and bend only down, a little bit. For some reason my surgeon doesn't believe that physical therapy works and he even told me that sometimes PT may bring about bunions. I don't quite believe that but I wouldn't want anybody forcing my toe, beating it into submission when it is sore and stiff. I am very gently trying to move it or them, (big toe and next). My surgeon strongly advised me to go for fusion but from others' experience, I was reluctant and so there was no fusion for me. For now, my big toe feels like it has been fused, with it being so stiff. And the next toe is also stiff but I have more patience with it since it was skewered on a pin for 6 weeks... So, I want to walk normally, wear shoes that are not ridiculous, go out, drive. Actually, tomorrow we are going to the movies. My first outing. I am thinking I will wear the shearling slippers. And, I promised myself that on January 1, I will go down to the basement and resume my dancing even if it is going to be slow and not too easy. I need that for my state of mind, first and foremost. Good luck to everybody! Happy holidays and be gentle on yourselves. Sooner or later, preferably sooner of course, we will walk, run, dance, exercise, do our usual stuff!!!!
ceegeebee simona2019
Posted
That shoe issue is a problem. Today I dragged out of my wardrobe a pair of sandals with velcro'd straps across the foot... I had to buy them for an orthotic to go in when I had plantar fasciitis in January. I can't wear them without socks as they hurt my skin, but I wore them around the house with socks (not a good look but oh well) and it felt better than the surgical sandals I'd been wearing, and also the trainers. Though I did spend a lot of time with my feet up today; thank goodness Christmas stress is over.
It puzzles me why my actual skin is sore to the touch, besides the internal soreness and the discomfort of the swelling. Do others have that surface soreness, not on incision areas but just pretty generalised?
Simona, what sort of dancing do you do? You need to do something that defines "you", I can understand that.
simona2019
Edited
Yes, the skin on top of my foot is sore too. Also, I don't know if others have this problem of swelling just below the ankle, on the sides, where the protruding bones are, especially on the outside one. When my foot was heavily bandaged, I had a lot of itching in that area. Now the swelling is often worse in these lateral areas. One thing that helps me, feels terrific in fact, is wearing a cloth bootie, like a sock, which has all sorts of pockets where you insert previously frozen gel packets. I got this on Amazon. It is the black bootie with a smiley face across the toes. There is a long gel packet that I put underneath the foot, a shorter one on top of the foot and two shorter ones, one in front, one in back of the ankle. My foot feels really pleased when it is surrounded by this coldness. I typically have this on during meals. Another thing that I discovered as helpful is wearing Correct Toes while my foot is up and bare. It is a gentle stretch of toes and it feels good. For some reason, when my surgeon fixed the hammertoe, he fixed it lying on a somewhat lower plane than the other toes. He said he did it on purpose to minimize the chance that it will again curve on top of the big toe. He said that by walking it will become aligned with the others. However, I fear that the third toe which is now slightly higher than it, might eventually go over the second. So I am wearing those correct toes to minimize the chance of toes getting too friendly with each other and wanting to go too close.....
tlw simona2019
Posted
Simona and all, It sounds like most of us are experiencing similar variation from the surgery. Yesterday was my 8 week post op. It was terribly depressing yesterday to spend Christmas with a swollen foot which was painful to place full weight. Monday my Dr told me, after a visual walking test, that I am not yet ready to drive. So frustrating!
But strangely today my foot has not been painful or swollen. I have no idea why the change from yesterday or every day over the past 8 weeks! So i decided to try driving today as well. No problem at all! I'm just hoping today isn't an anomaly. But feeling extremely optimistic!
I still can't fit into any shoe, athletic or other but my Dr wants me to find a comfortable shoe with good arch support. I start PT 3x per week next week.
There is hope for all of us! My surgery was extreme! Bunion, fused corrected hammertoe and tailors bunion correction and I'm 64 YO!
Lets all try to be patient, and I know its hard! I'm a distance cyclist, yoga enthusiast and trekker hoping to visit Northern India in April!
ceegeebee tlw
Posted
I was the same Christmas Day, hobbling along at a beach park where the family spent the day; I was sore and exhausted by night time. But on Boxing Day my feet felt great and I assume that was because I totally veg'd out on the lounge. Today... I've been upright most of the day and I'm paying for it with a lot of swelling. Seems swelling is the enemy in this!
A few of us seem to be in our 60's and very active. I'm trying to be patient. I'm glad I had this done as my bunions are gone and my big toes straight, whilst my hammertoe is slowly feeling less sore and taking on a better colour, so I'll have to be strict with myself about putting feet up more often.
simona2019 tlw
Posted
Congratulations! What footwear did you drive in? I am afraid to drive since my foot still swells quite considerably. And the site of my bunion incision is still not completely healed.
tlw simona2019
Posted
Simona, I used the open toe post surgical shoe to drive although it has absolutely no support.
Strangely (but happy) today is day 2 of a more flexible and much less swollen foot. I was afraid that yesterday was just an anomaly. Hoping this is the beginning of less pain and more freedom. I'm going to drive again today and actually meet some friends. I'll wear the open toe shoe to drive then then change in to the heavy Frankenstein looking black boot to walk in. I'm also headed to Nordstroms to buy something a little more presentable but comfortable. Probably will need some sort of tennis shoe in a larger size although I hear Ugg boots work. Way too warm for Southern California but I'll wear anything that is lighter than the Frankenstein boot! Wishing you (and everyone) a speedy recovery!!!
tlw ceegeebee
Posted
CeeGeeBee,
I just noticed that you had your surgery just 5 weeks ago. And both feet done concurrently? Please be careful, since it takes a minimum of 6 weeks for bones to heal and possibly more when we move around or are older bones. Although we certainly don't consider ourselves old 😃. My friend is a former ballet dancer and has had a lot of foot surgeries. When she had her right foot done ten years ago she had a 7 year old at home and since she was a single working parent too was more active than Dr wanted and it took her many extra months to heal. The Dr assures me that swelling is NOT our enemy but we need to heed it an ice, elevate an compression too. I was given a compression sock with open toe at my Drs appt last week and it actually feels really good. I just use an ace bandage with light compression to sleep in. I cannot even imagine having both feet done at the same time but lucky you! You'll be done when they are healed. I will do my left foot next year. Fortunately it'll be an easier surgery since big toe bunion only. Hang in there, this is much more trying than I anticipated. And quite frankly the last 2 weeks have been the most trying since I expected to be further along at 6 weeks. But now at 8 weeks I feel as though there is light. I'm still very limited, but I'm hoping by 12-15 weeks things will be much better. Less swelling and mobility to drive helps my mental state immensely! I'm definitely not cycling or walking around much, but every day seems to get better....although still painfully slow! Take care! Don't do too much...it'll pay off in a quicker recovery. We all heal differently but we will get there!
simona2019 tlw
Posted
THANK YOU! SAME TO YOU
ceegeebee tlw
Posted
tlw, you're doing great! I can hear the optimism in your post ... 8 weeks and you're feeling more positive. Good for you.... driving; that has to help mentally as it gives back some independence. I can't wait to be 8 weeks, or better still 4 months.
Thanks for your advice about taking care and going easy on my feet and I'll definitely heed it. I don't want to risk damaging the bones and having to go back to square 1.
tlw simona2019
Posted
Hi Simona,
This is your bunion sister 😃 from California checking in to see how you're doing. We made it to 3 months!!!
PT has been helping me with toe flexibility especially with my hammertoe. Still swelling up but starting to squeeze into some shoes although still not terribly comfortable. But for the most part doing well. Curious to hear how your recovery is going?
simona2019 tlw
Edited
Hi!
Glad to hear you are better. As for me, although my surgeon did not approve of physical therapy, my insurance agreed to pay for 8 sessions. I still have 3 sessions left. Although my big toe is still rather stiff, I am most concerned with the second toe (former hammer toe) which is still not moving. It seems to have like a ridge in the middle, at the joint and this prevents it from bending. Also, I am a bit concerned about the next toe, 3rd, which is now a little bent towards the second since the surgeon pinned this second, lower than the others, to prevent it,he said from becoming a hammer again. So, this situation prevents me from walking easily. I have been in a frenzy of buying shoes, boots to accommodate my new foot situation. Most of these have to be returned because my foot does not like them. I have recently bought a pair of wide Vionic boots which my foot really likes. I hope both of us improve by leaps and bounds.
tlw simona2019
Posted
Simona,
It's definitely a journey and long recovery. I'm finding that my corrected hammertoe is my biggest issue. My Dr said it was fused at the joint closest to the tip and there is some sort of filler in it which i did not realize until my PT told me. I wonder if that is the same with you too as it prevents flexibility. 😦 Sadly the hammer toe correction is the biggest issue for me..besides swelling directly in the top middle of foot near the base of my former hammertoe. Hopefully we are past the worst of it. We will get there! 😃
Take care!
simona2019 tlw
Posted
I am glad you enlighted me in the hammertoe issue. My physical therapists (There are two which work with me, in turns) have no clue and are mostly ineffectual. It is quite possible, I would say even probable that I have the same thing going on with this second toe. My surgeon was gung ho about fusion in general but the discussion was about the big toe. Hearing all kinds of stories from people who had bunion surgery, I refused fusion but it is possible that the surgeon fused the second toe (my hammertoe) . And that creates problems. I feel super depressed these days. I had not mentioned that in 2012 I had breast cancer surgery (my mother died of it at age 68). A few months ago, following some tests, docs from Dana Farber discovered some suspicious areas elsewhere in my body and so they prescribed some medicine which I have been taking since October. This has some side effects which are unpleasant but tolerable. And the tests have improved. But now, they want to add a new med and this has extremely serious side effects that might be worse than my current symptoms. So, I am deeply troubled by all this. Plus, I have practically no support system. As you see, my foot problems are not the only problems. In fact, my foot surgeon tried to argue me out of the bunion and hammertoe surgery saying that since I have bigger problems, I should forget about the foot. But, I wanted to be able to walk easily and comfortably. And I cannot say that I do that yet. As for the cancer, the docs are not even totally sure but they want to treat super aggressively not caring that the treatment itself is super debilitating and even life threatening. It seems that I am just a number, a case, not a real person.
arcaydayah08527 tlw
Posted
Glad and happy to hear that you are doing well so I am now back in my shoes but what has helped me immensely is something called Dr stock so basically it’s a compression sock where your toes are hanging out although it can be quite uncomfortable sometimes it really does help with the swelling although you are not supposed to wear it to bed but you can wear it during the day and it also helps to get your foot in your sneakers found it extremely helpful.glad and happy to hear that you are doing well so I am now back in my shoes but what has helped me immensely is something called Dr sock so basically it’s a compression sock where your toes are hanging out although it can be quite uncomfortable sometimes it really does help with the swelling although you are not supposed to wear it to bed but you can wear it during the day and it also helps to get your foot in your sneakers found it extremely helpful.
Went to the hospital yesterday had an x-ray everything looks fine but I have said to me that where they actually cut the bone in half in two places it’s going to take probably six months for that to heal properly and the reason why my foot hurts me at night apparently is the nerve endings are growing back to knitting together this is quite painful so once you have the feeling back in your foot that’s when the nerve endings have grown back but this is my 2nd foot now and to be honest no 2 feet of the same and that is absolutely true because my other foot was nothing like this
tlw arcaydayah08527
Posted
Thank you for the compression sock suggestion. I actually ordered some on amazon last week at my Dr's suggestion. I'll be eager to see if that helps fit into a shoe more comfortably. 😃 Also thank you for the info re this being your second foot surgery. Mine will hopefully be next year however I'm not looking forward to a repeat.
Wishing you a successful and speedy healing!
tlw simona2019
Posted
Simona,
I'm so sorry to hear of your health issue. I had breast cancer in 2018 so I can certainly understand your concerns. In fact after reading your note I was reminded that I had not heard from my Dr re my most recent mammogram screening which concerns me.
I really hope you and your Dr husband are certain that the cancer prognosis and treatment is reasonable for you. I feel it's necessary to do a great deal of due diligence regarding these matters. Wishing your the very best with your foot and cancer issue. Sending you healing thoughts and prayers. Please stay in touch. I feel as though I've gotten to know you since we've been healing our similar foot surgeries together. Take care,
simona2019 tlw
Posted
Thank you. You take care too!