Hello there

Sounds like everyone had a good day today. 

Week 7 day 4

I've had a busy weekend. I drove about 20 miles on Friday and still found it painful, so will just drive only when necessary for a while longer.

Yesterday was a big morris dancing event in Cambridge, which even though I wasn't dancing, it involved a lot of walking (limping) round the town.  It was tiring, but surprisingly my foot didn't swell or hurt too much. This means progress! I keep wiggling my toe and hope to soon be able to pick a towel up from the floor with it (not quite there yet)

My husband is doing the Slate Man triathalon in Wales again next weekend which will give me even more walking practice while I wait for him to finish. 

Happy Mother's Day to all who celebrate it today.

Hope everyone has a really good week, judging by this weekend we all will!

Week 6 day 5

Hullo everyone, happy Mothers Day if you celebrate it today in your corner of the World, if not hope you had a great day anyway

Goodness it's been so long since I've been on here that I had to go back a whole page to catch up - guess that means I'm getting better if I'm spending less time online! Thanks Rena and Mel for missing me

We had a lovely Mothers Day - my daughter gave me 2 precious cards, my husband cooked a delicious roast lamb and we had my Mum and Dad and a good friend over for lunch. We'd had friends over for a braai Saturday night as well so a good social weekend which is always good for helping the healing process.

Tomorrow is my big day whoo hoo - my cast will come off if the xray looks ok and I will see my foot again! I'm so excited, but also rather nervous - I'm sure it's going to feel very weird and I'll have to learn a whole new way of walking again, and it has been my security blanket for nearly 7 weeks! But it's been very uncomfortable this last week and my toes are all swollen and purple, so am holding thumbs that it does come off!

Rena and Be, sorry to hear that you're worried about the success of your ops, and hope the worrying will be for nothing and they continue to heal the way they should

Bob sorry to hear about your friend, but happy that your getting back to gym is going well. Hope you had a lovely day with your Mom

Anita, how did your outing to see your Mom go? It will be wonderful for both of you when she can come home again. Are you getting that big toe moving yet?

Joan and Kim, hope your work superiors start to realise that you didn't have a little op and start cutting you some slack, but as everyone else has been telling you, don't get bullied into going back before you feel comfortable doing so

Mel hope the pain of being unscrewed has eased and you can get back to the healing process

Carmen hope your gym is going well - does your foot swell and get painful afterwards?

I've already lost my post once scrolling back to see what everyone has been up to, so if I've missed anyone, hope you're all still do great!

WEEK 7 DAY 5

Morning to my friends.

Yesterday was a true gift and blessinng spending  Mother's day with my mom. My girlfriend Annette helped make it an awesome day, cooking and making our home warm for my mom and I. 

Today my foot is sore, worked it hard at the gym yesterday. Right back at it today. 16 Days until my next surgery and my goal is to get myself into the best shape I can, to endure another round of this stuff. Good chance most of you will be back into your daily routines and I will be happy about that. Even tho most of you are far, far away, what a difference you have made in my recovery.

Joan - Glad you enjoyed those kiddies. Thanks for the holler. I to can't do the full toe crunch and I am determined to get it soon.

Anitagirl - Make sure we work it today. Glad you got to see Mums!!! Soon you will be rollin, strong as ever. Easy Does it!!!!

Rena - As Joan says '' THE CHALLENGE IS NOT TO OVER DO IT'' Wow that quote is soooo for me. Will be thinking of you both when it's time to shut down today at the gym and PT. Maybe we need to start a Bunion book quote book for ''Bunionbabes in Recovery ''. 

 Kim - A little friendly challenge who picks up that towel first since we seem to have the same recovery time? Honor system.

Patricia - Good to hear from you. Glad you are on the rebound.

That's all for now. 

Remember we all want recovery right away. It doesn't work that way. It work's ''ONE DAY AT A TIME''!!!!!

,

 

Week 6 Day 3

Had a great day yesterday. I actually walked down my stairs in the house and outside, what a big step that was. No more butt walk. Went to visit with my Mom at the hospital. Hubby pushed me in the weekchair.Mom didnt know we were coming so it was a total suprise to her.She still isnt good but praying that things improve soon.  She is scheduled for ECT Mom, Wed and Friday this week.  Hoping that things will turnaround for her by Wednesday. I asked to speak with a nurse while I was there. She came over to the table where we were sitting.  I had my boot off and foot resting on the chair. She started to grab my toe. I grab her arms and screamed out loud. Why do people need to touch you?? And she knew about my foot, and she is a nurse, sheeesh.  I was not happy with her at all.

After the visit with Mom we went to Costso, for you that dont know what that is, it is a huge store where you buy in bulk. Cases of soup etc.  They have all sorts of things from books, to bread, meats, pharmacy etc.  They have a motorized scooter for people to use and was that ever FUN!!  I zipped up and down the isles. It was like going to Disneyland!!  I finally got out and able to buy a few things. It was exhausting but cant wait to go again.

Joan, I am going to try that toe crunch you told us about a few weeks back. To pick up a kleenex right.  Glad the ice packs worked and are working for you. Your doing great.

Rena, you are a wealth of information and we all need that. Thanks for all you do to help us move forward in this journey of ours.

Kim, sounds like Bob is challenging you. YOU GO GIRL.  Do it for the team.

Patricia, the next step for you. Things will only get better.

Spice Girl Mel, Let us know how your day at work goes today. So glad you got rid of the hardware "screws" and things arent so painfully anymore.

To everyone and to anyone I missed, have an awesome day. Embrace your foot, it does a lot of walking for you. Like my surgeon said, 'this was a controlled accident'. We did this to our foot and now we need to take good care of it to heal for us. Everyday we are one day closer to winning this race.

 

Week 7 day 5

My first day back at work.

I've 'given' them this week because I didn't have to go back until next Monday, and OH said I should do shorter days for 2 weeks.So much for that!  I did 7.5 hours (just 30 minutes short of my usual day) and have been practically buried under paperwork! I feel absolutely exhausted. Driving the short distance to work was so painful using the clutch pedal that I've decided I will walk instead tomorrow.....(or get my husband to take me)

Patricia,  good luck with the cast removal, hope you get a good xray result.

Bob, you're on! I'll get practicing with the towel pick-up,( just as soon as I've drunk my cup of tea, had a snooze etc,etc)

Anita, I like the term 'controlled accident'- I'll use that! And you're so lucky getting to use the motorised scooter, I'd love to try one .I could have done with one on Saturday in Cambridge.

Hope everyone else had a good day- Rena (microwave brownies sound interesting), Joan,Mel, Carmen, and anyone else reading this forum.

Grrrrrrr!  I just lost a big long post.  No time to redo.  I think from now on I'll copy what I write in case I lose it. Catch you all tomorrow ! 

 

WEEK 7 DAY 6

 Morning ,

Had a good day at PT yesterday. The rest of the day was painful tho. Back has been bothering me possibly due to doing excersises for my back in PT. Kicked it up to 30 minutes on the bike with alot more resistance at the gym along with free weights and vigorous ab work. Down 3 pounds this week. Have to get right back on it today and then off to get my mom out for lunch. 

My mindset is in 15 days I'll get back in the ring for another championship fight   (another surgery) and in doing so I need to be in the best mental and physical shape as possible.

To all the ''Bunion Babes '' remember if your struggling, sometimes all we can do is hold on tight and have faith that things will get better.

Kim - I'm aware you have to work and I dont, I'm only days away from grabbing a hold of that towel.

Anitagirl - Make sure you ''MOVE IT'' today.

Rena - Your an inspiration and thanks for all that info. Nominate you as CEO of the Bunion Babes!!

Mel ( Spice Girl ) - Hope all is well.

Carman, Eillen, Joan, Jenny, Patricia, be Beau, - hey there!!! Where's Jillyco?

Remember, the strentgh of the Bunion Babes are in the pack, the strentgh of pack are in the Babess!!!

Have a great day!!!

Week 6 Day 4

Its a sunny day here and will be 20C today.  What a wonderful day that will be.  I have a cleaning lady coming today, woo hoo.  So excited to get this placed cleaned.  She is coming for 3 hours and I am hoping she can get most of it done.  I will feel so much better I am sure.

Yesterday, I couldnt even stand up. Trying to put weight on my heel I couldnt.  Too much pain.  So I elevated and iced all day.  Today I need to push and get back at it.

Bob, awesome for the the 3 lb loss!!!  Your doing great.  I will be here for you when you go under again. ENjoy the afternoon with your Mom.

To the rest, hang in there we are all in this together.  Strong and proud of no longer having a bunion, although sometimes I feel like I miss it. Is that strange?

Have a great day and enjoy your family and friends.  They helped us so much through this process.

 

Week 7 day 6.

My osteotomy was done about 1 hour and 30 minutes away in the next county, and yet at lunchtime today at work there was my surgeon giving a talk to the doctors! How bizarre!

I was going to say hello, but he went straight after the meeting.  I'm going for my 8 week check up on Thursday so I'll see him then anyway.

I walked home from work today instead of driving  as I really don't think I could do an emergency stop yet. It wasn't too bad, though it took ages with my limp.

I hope everyone has had a good day.

 

WEEK 7 DAY 6

Hi all...back again hoping this time I can hang on to my post! What I started to tell you about yesterday was that two days ago, as I was getting up on a step step stool to reach a high cupboard, I noticed that my right good leg was very weak. So I experimented and stepped up first with the bad leg and lo and behold the quad in the left bad one is much stronger than the right !!!!????   This really surprised me. I hadn't noticed this before because I live in a condo and don't have any stairs that I need to negotiate on a daily basis. At first I couldn't figure out why this would be since I thought it was my good leg that was doing all the work during recovery.  Finally, yesterday morning, the penny dropped.  I realized throughout all the weeks while in the velcro post op shoe I had been leading with the operated foot all the time and bringing my good foot up to the bad foot, etc. etc.  You know the drill. So in essence, this partial weight bearing leg was bearing most of the weight !!!  I continued to do this out of habit even now when out of the post op shoe .  So as of yesterday I am making a conscious effort to lead with my right foot all the time. I also will get to the gym on Thursday  where there are machines that have individual weight setting or each side of the body so can start working on that weak leg.

Kim....I hope you are holding to your end of the recovery bargain and working only half days as planned.  I know how easy it is to get sucked in to "just staying a bit longer' or "just gotta finish this one thing" and before you know it almost all the day has passed....I had that same situation after abdominal surgery.  So unless there is a fire and someone shoves a fire extiguisher in your hand there is nothing that can't wait for one more day. You mentioned you are limping (as I am for sure).  Can you let us know what is causing the limp....where it hurts etc. ?  For me it's the ball of the foot and my 2nd toe which is still swollen.

Anita....yoohoo!...a cleaning lady!  I bet you're enjoying that wonderful "clean" feel...particularly enjoyable when someone else has done it!! Hope your foot is feeling better today. 

Bob.....you make me ashamed I have not been to the gym yet.....it's amazing how inactivity begets laziness which begets more inactivity.....  And btw, I love being a Bunion Babe! (at my age the term "babe' is in the distant past, so thanks for the memory) and I pass the CEO title to all of you as this is the greatest team of wonderful contributors !

Mel....ahh, thank you!  Your comment went a long way to easing my frustration! LOL.  But again your post was short so I suspect you are still being challenged.  Hope it eases up from hereon in.

Joan....where are you?? You're not back at work are you?  Hope all is well with you and all the others of the group moving on with their lives as the Foot Fetish stage starts to fade....

 

Hi there everyone - week 7 day 1 for me ( Rena stop wishing the weeks away, you were only week 6 day 6 yesterday - you got me a bit confused and I had to go count back on the calendar as you are one day behind me! So welcome to week 7 today for you! )

My cast came off on Monday - yay!! My foot looked like a wrinkled elephant's foot afterwards. So I am now foot loose, but not sure yet if I’m fancy free. The first 2 days post cast my foot felt tingly, numb, stiff and sore all mixed up. I soaked it in epsom salts the first night to try and get it a bit cleaner and it went so purple that I would’ve panicked if I hadn’t read that other people’s go purple too! I’m having to go back in all the posts now to read up again on epsom soaks, purpleness and dry skin etc and feel like I’m way behind you all now! So forgive me if I’m asking about things that you all discussed weeks ago – it’s new for me. My foot gets really sore and stiff and tight for a while after a soak or a shower – did anyone else have that? Last night I was lying down and suddenly my foot got more painful than it had been since the first 2 nights post op – I guess that’s because I’m now walking on it and not on the cast. But some ice, paracetamol and a glass of wine soon sorted that out.

Today’s it’s feeling much looser, although I’m still too scared to bend my big toe much. I’ve just put on my first pair of shoes, some velcro strap ones and so far, so good. I am going to try driving a bit later as my husband goes back to work tomorrow in North Africa and my days of being waited on hand and foot are now over. He has been wonderful these last 7 weeks, but it will be good for me to have to do things now and push myself a bit. My surgeon has told me only walking, swimming or stationary bicycle for the next 6 weeks, and no closed in shoes except for Crocs. So Bob and Kim I won’t be able to join you in your gym challenge. Winter has arrived and because our climate is so mild we don’t have heated swimming pools, so don’t think I’ll do too much swimming, I hate cold water! I chuckle when I see posts about lovely weather predicted and they’re hoping for 20C – it’s 20C here today and we’re thinking oh no winter has arrived and getting out our winter pyjamas!

My surgeon told me I must take it easy for another 6 weeks as a bunionectomy is like back surgery, but on your foot. So those of you who are feeling pressured to go back to work should quote that.

Hope you all have a lovely day

WEEk 8

Morning 

2 months and I feel like my foot will never be normal and pain free. That's just those voices talking to me. Yesterday was a good day. Did my gym workout, 1/2 hour on stationary bike, and foot exsercises. Took mom out to lunch and returned her to nursing home and I felt really sad because she is very unhappy and can't stand being there. Although most of you live, far away I did manage to get two front row tickets and took Annette to see a baseball game and watch Mike Trout who is the best player on the planet. I am aware I in a forum with ''The Bunion babes '' so I'm not expecting many of you to know who he is. Love Ya's anyway!!!

Today I will re do most of my gym and PT workout. 2 WEEKS until next surgery.

Rena - Let's see if we can get some kind of jump start with a little excersise. Even tho you may be one of the older BB's we still need to move our stuff around. Maybe a walk today?

Patricia - I'm thinking it's time to start bending your toe. Been doing it for a week and have almost full range of motion back. Painful getting to that point.

Anitagirl - You will be back cleaning yourself soon. Even I'm back doing that . lol Still not a fan of folding laundry.

Mel - Spice girl, great outcome with your surgery ( pix on other site ) way to get it done!!!!

Remember, the only problem with not doing anything is we don't know when we are finished so let's do something today for our recovery!!!!

Hello Bunion Babes and Bob! 

Not much new here but thought I’d say ‘hi’!  I am so amazed at how much better my foot feels without the screws!  I can’t wait to go back to the doctor Thursday a.m. to have bandages removed (I hope!) and to take a peek since this last procedure!  He said I’d be in the ortho shoe for 2-3 weeks though, so we’ll see. 

We are participating in a Regatta this weekend; it’s called Pirates on the Pungo (Pungo being the Pungo River which is located near the coast of North Carolina).  Hubby and I are helping as crew members on a friend’s sailboat this year, but I don’t think I’ll be doing much more than staying out of the way and occasionally fetching food and beverages for the other three crew members. 

That’s about all from here for today.  Hoping the rest of the Bunion Babes are feeling better with each passing day.  Rena I can so relate to your comment:  "It's amazing how inactivity begets laziness which begets more inactivity."  I've got to do better, soon!  I really have no excuse at this point, other than the inactivity has turned into laziness.  Bob we’ll be there with you on your next journey, no worries!  Oh, and I googled your man, Mike Trout.  Great story!  I’m sure you and Annette had an awesome time at the game!

Have a great day everyone!

(Spice Girl) Mel

 

Hi All!  WEEK 7 !!! (LOL Patricia! I always look to Bob's post for where I am as we are 1 week apart and yesterday I got lazy and just copied and pasted forgetting about the week's difference! LOL. Looks like I'm a BBBB...Bunion Brained Bunion Babe!)

It is quite amazing how the 6th week seems to be a huge turn around. Yesterday I had an appointment at the hospital with a carpal tunnel specialist (yeah, falling apart here ...not really LOL...it's just that now that I am newly retired and have the time am taking care of things that  have been bothersome for years , decades even) and I walked (slight limp) those lonnnnnng corridors just fine along with too and from the car a few blocks.  After that went to one of our huge supermarkets and walked around there.  The rest of the day was hardly elevated as well and by evening when I did elevate I was surprised at how the swelling was not bad at all and I didn't even need to ice....just elevate.  This is a most wonderful development !!   So keep trucking folks, no matter what stage you're at.  As you've heard umpteen times before...it gets better and better..just in in it's own sweet time!

Patricia.....removal of the former support around the foot does cause  swelling and pain for a few days. I was shocked when it happened to me but then read on the forums that many had the same experience...so evidently it's perfectly normal.  Sure is uncomfortable for a while but as each day goes by you are closer to the discomfort subsiding! And don't be surprised if new areas of some discomfort arise as you walk more and more.  Good luck with the driving !

Bob....I so feel for both you and your mom.  Mine had Alzheimers for many years and the visits to her were generally difficult. What I did learn was that no matter what behaviour my mom displayed it was always important to her that I be there.  I bet it's the same with you. Today is clean the house day....that's just as good as the gym !  And the nag in me can't resist commenting again that the more one does not listen to their foot and push it too hard the likelihood is the more they are slowing down the healing process instead of speeding it up....or so my nephew was told who could not wear anything but Crocs for 6 months his foot was so swollen....end of rant.

Mel....we'll be waiting for your update on Thursday! I bet when all is over you will never want to see another post op shoe EVER!   That Regatta sounds like a heck of alot of fun!

Happy day all!  Nice and balmy again here...going up to 19 C.  Yes Patricia, for us that's shorts and sandals weather....FINALLY!