Bunion operation.

Hi i had metal plate, screws and bunion removal, i am now on week 5, i had a local anesthetic which i preferred to a general, chatted through the op, was home by lunchtime, no pain (because of pain block ) until the middle of night, then it was very painful until painkillers kicked in, by day 3 i was just on paracetamol, at about 7 days didn't need pain relief.

Was told to go up and down stairs on my bottom, after a while you will manage stairs slowly. Complete rest for 2 days only going to the toilet, I am still sitting with foot up, but do a few chores in the morning , i am having an x ray this week to see if it has been successful, overall it hasn't been as bad as i thought.

I hope everything goes well, i had my op in Northamptonshire by Mr Riley

Hi Scarlet red

Thankyou for telling me about your experience with your bunion operation. Glad you are recovering well.At the moment I am still thinking of having a general anesthetic when I have my operation in January,maybe I will change my mind.Will let you know how it goes.Thank you for your reply.

I am 5 days post op of my second foot (first foot done last day of Aug. 2013). Both surgeries I had a general anesth. and both went very very well, no after effects to speak of. However, the first surgery was painful from day one, much in part do to my confusion with post op instructions and being too confused with so much going on to know. I didn't ice properly, nor remove my boot, as the nurse didn't do that at the hospital, so we followed what she did and by the time we had ice on, my foot was ready to explode! I ended up at day 3 postop calling on call dr. and he directed my husband to cut my bandage that was acting as a tourniquet.....everything was smooth sailing, more or less after that. Until my later weeks, when very little pain, but the swelling prevented me from fitting into a shoe. This was taken care of by using compression stockings, which were painful at first, but very very helpful in getting into a shoe.

This time, the dr. put an ankle block, which somehow lasted about 60 hours instead of the 12=48 hours that I was told....that was great! Only, I did get careless and was actually moving my leg about quite a bit, then on top of it, because of feeling so well, went off of all narcotics, when suddenly, last night WOW did I feel the pain!!!! It took about 6 hours and three doses of narcotics to gain control....sooo painful. So, instead of eliminating all together, I am now halfing my doses and doing much much better.

I did not cut my bandage this time, but only because of my husbands encouragement.....I read that the tight bandage will help eliminate the swelling over time, so trying to ride it out.

I forgot to mention....both feet were bunionectomy with midfoot fusion...so, titanium plate with several screws, either 4-5, can't remember....

Excuse the many inserts here....but, wanted to add, no weight bearing, at all, for 5 weeks, including, no driving. Glad I only have two feet!