Bunion surgery - much more painful than I ever imagined

@ day 19, it appears many of us are very close in recovery, but have had slightly different surgeries. Mine included the osteotomy/ pin to straighten foot. I haven't been allowed to step on foot yet and when accidentally do, it is a sharp & throbbing pain.

Last night was difficult and even though I elevated all night, couldn't bear the burn when I got up to roll on scooter to bathroom and had to roll back to bed at double-speed to throw foot in air for 10 minutes.

At least today is Doc Appt. Supposed to get xray and he will teach me how to step on foot for small increments each day. I hope he allows a refill of pain meds as ibuprofen doesn't work the same miracles.

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I will post Doc results when I return. Hoping I'm on schedule in his eyes. Plan on right foot in late May. Everyone have a great day.

Hoping all goes well Terri, as for the burn it's awful at night I can absolutely sympathise with you.

S

Hello everyone. It's a wild and stormy day here with a little light snow and beastly cold. I am very glad I am cosy and warm indoors.

Re: pain and burn - it really does get better. I have one week and one day left with the boot (I hope) and yes I am counting!

I can now put more weight on my foot without the boot but also resemble a crab walking on the heel and side of my foot to protect my toe. My foot looks much more normal and the scar is healing well. I am putting mederma gel on it each morning and vitamin E cream on my whole foot at night as the skin is very dry. It is a long haul but I am hoping that by the summer things will be much better.

I am glad I don't have a pin as that sounds much worse than my screws. It seems that there are many different procedures for the surgery from reading everyone's posts so I think I have been relatively lucky with my surgery.

Have a great day everyone. Thank goodness for the radio and iplayer!

Older Beth

Hi all

Reached the two week mark and had my dressings off this afternoon. My toes won't stop twitching... must be the fresh air getting to them!

The nurse cut off the bandages (there was a lot of dried blood!!) and the consultant came in to have a look. Not much bruising and I'm surprised to see that the foot is no bigger (swelling wise) than my good foot! I thought it'd be black and blue and huge!

He showed me how to dress it with a light gauze and said he had no problem with me showering it clean. The stitches will dissolve. His advice was to dress it with the gauze lightly and then wear a padded sock when wearing the heel weight bearing boot to ensure the straps don't rub.

No pain, just an urge to bend my toes! He said to try and bend them a little more each day and the only thing holding me back will me in my head. He moved my toes with his fingers to prove that it wasn't painful... they're just very stiff.

He wants to see me in 4wks and has told me to wear the boot whenever walking.

Hope that helps those of you whom are yet to have your dressings changed. Nothing to worry about!

Great news Beth. I am so glad that all went well.

I bought some socks for people with diabetes. They are quite thick but not at all binding anywhere so I feel they protect my foot but don't 'squash' it anywhere. I wear a sock in bed too which makes me feel that my foot is safe.

Good luck with your boot!

Older Beth

Thanks for the great advice Beth! I'm going to order some of those now.

Beth

Beth, seems like you are at the exact same stage as me, dressing change for me was 1 week, and consultants app was Monday and much the same as yours. My foot still swollen. My heals are very dry, do you have that problem, I can't. Get a sock on, just keep my bandage on for now

I'd recommend Bio Oil to gently rub around your heels and in between your toes it's good for scars too so that's my plan once the stitches have dissolved, I've found today rather painful now that my thick dressings are off so I'll be looking for those nice soft socks ( in fact I also remember from years ago running socks used to be soft padded too! And for later did someone mention Stretcher shoes for later when I think about shoes

Older Beth, the sock idea sounds great; I'm going to look into getting some too, even though it's been in the 80's for several weeks now. We still gotta protect our feet from outselves.

The appointment went well. The MA snipped the knots and said the rest of the 5-inch long seam of stitches will dissolve and gave me a fresh, less stinky ace bandage. Doc took fresh x-rays. The pin wasn't straight like I expected. I recall that it resembled a wishbone. He affirmed that I am healing properly. Doc said I can now plunge my foot into the bath. He also showed me how to start applying pressure on it slightly while using the crutches and to increase the pressure each week until my next apt in 3 weeks, when I should be able to walk completely on it (at about 6 weeks). And oh yes, he did refill my prescription along with stool softeners.

After the next appt, I should be able to schedule my right foot for 4 weeks out from them and do this all over again!

I wanted to add, that despite not knowing what to expect during this recovery, I am glad that I was sort of prepared having been a regular at the gym, so my shoulders, arms and core were in semi-okay shape for the crutches. Not being able to use one leg and having to climb stairs to get up to my apt has required my entire body to work overtime, twisting and turning and using muscles I obviously never ever used before. The first week was really tough, with my muscles burning all the time, but it got easier with virtually no sore muscles by the 2-week mark. When I have that 4-week gap before my next foot, I'm going to work harder at the gym so I don't get "soft" and to add some muscle tone to my now bunion-less foot. After all, it will be my strong foot going forward.

It's so nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel that all of you are providing.

Terri

Suzki, thanks, I've got cocoa oil, I think it is the same as bio but a lot cheaper, Terri I am also pretty fit and think that has helped in my recovery especially when getting upstairs on my backside, triceps dips I did get sore muscles when using crutches and especially my pals of my hands felt really bruised. I run 10nd and do body combat. Also getting my other foot done, when healed and I am 57,

Sorry that should be suzzi

Hi Joan

Not sure if I'd be able to run any distance again but I did the Moonwalk for Breast Cancer a few years back so my hope is that once my feet are sorted and pain free I may be able to train for it again next summer but we'll see, my surgeon reckons it can take a year for both feet to be fully healed and no pain or soreness .

It'll be good to see how we do over the next few weeks especially as we are on par for dates although I have both feet to sort out and we are the same age.

Hope you sleep well tonight

S

Joan -

Body Combat, I just looked that up! Wow - good for you! I'm going to have to work that one in, er, after both feet are healed. Makes my gym workouts seem puny by comparison. I'm 49 1/2.

Terri

Evening all, I'm day 26! Had a great day out with my daughter, even managed to get a much needed haircut.we did use the wheelchair part of the time, when at the shopping outlet, but then in the local town I thought I'd manage on the crutches and my strappy sandals.

No sooner was I out of the car than it started to snow!! Can you imagine how cold my feet were, it was like having an icing session LOL! Luckily when we were out earlier my feet were cold in just socks, so I'd bought a pair of slipper boots, so once inside the hairdressers I put them on my feet. Amazing what you can get away with on crutches!

I'm concerned about this crab and side of foot walking and am trying hard to walk properly. I know it will come, it's just I hadn't realised what I was doing. BTW I'm 57 too! VJ x 👣👣

Vj where are you from? I'm looking forward to getting to a hairdressers soon, hair is such a disaster.

Terri - I miss my body combat classes, been going it for maybe 10 year, just love the music, I'm not as energetic as the younger girls on the class now though. I'm thinking Pilates and swimming to start off with once I am able. I have to really push myself but then I enjoy it and feel good after a class.

Going to make my 4 year old a dressing up dress and we will

Go to the dressmakers shop tomorrow for the material so hoping I can cope with going there. I used to sew s lot and thought it would pass my time. Making Elsa from Disneys Frozen dress, it's a great film.