After My Foot (Bunion) Surgery - 6 months later

This is a follow up article (a “part 2” if you will}, giving an update on my recovery from bunion surgery of my left foot exactly 6 months ago.

Compared to some horror stories that I have read online of others who have had the same procedure, I think that I fared pretty well. If you look at my photo’s you can see the progression of my healing over time. I went from having a gaping hole in my foot that was scarily reminiscent to something from an old Frankenstein movie, to just having a bit of a blurry scar. Even though my foot was very swollen and sore for quite some time, at this point the swelling has gone down significantly and the soreness is basically non-existent (except for at the end of long days and before rain storms).

If you read Part 1 of this series (called “My Bunion Surgery”) you will see that the surgery went pretty smoothly for the most part. The next big event in the process was to have the metal pin that was holding my toe straight removed, scheduled for six weeks later. By all accounts having the pin removed was supposed to be quick and painless. But in my case, this in-office procedure was more traumatic and painful than having the surgery itself!

On the day that I went to have the pin removed the doctor’s assistant at first sprayed the area with an antiseptic that was supposed to doubled as a slight pain reliever (with “supposed to” being the key phrase here). He then grabbed the end of the pin with something that looked like a pair of needle nose pliers, and pulled. This is when the pin was supposed to just slide out, but I guess things had been going too easily for me, so it was about time for something to go wrong. As he pulled, the pliers just slipped off of the edge of the pin. The vibration from the pliers slipping off of the pin sent ripples of pain throughout my foot and shivers up my spine.

He grabbed the pin again, and the pliers slipped off again. Every time he pulled it the pin would move just a fraction of an inch, but because it was now wet and slippery from blood, the pliers slipped off more easily each time. After the 4^th time he looked at me with sorrowful eyes and said “I am so sorry, I know that I am hurting you but there is no other way to do this.”

He made two more attempts and then let me take a breather, realizing that that each attempt was causing me excruciating pain. While he waited for me to recover he explained that at some point I must have put too much pressure on my foot before the bone had finished knitting together, because it appeared that I had somehow bent the pin. This explained why it was now so hard for a supposedly straight pin to come out of a straight hole.

After about three more attempts, the pin finally surrendered to our attacks and slid out. Wow, the pain that I felt the moment that the pin came out has got to be somewhere on the level of what I imagine natural child birth to feel like! I had to sit completely still while tightly gripping my foot for about a minute while waiting for the pain to subside. But after a few minutes all was back to normal, so my foot was bandaged and I was sent on my way.

For those of you who are contemplating going thru this procedure, let me pass on a few nuggets of wisdom that I picked up during this experience:

- No Stairs! At the time of my surgery I lived in a 2 story Atlanta townhome where both bedrooms were on the 2^nd floor. Thank God that I had enough forethought to move my bed down to the 1^st floor (aka “living room”) the day before my surgery. No, it wasn’t very fashionable to have a queen sized bed sitting in the middle of my living room for 2 months, but there was just no painless way to climb the stairs on a broken foot (and believe me – I tried!). And while you are at it, think about moving other things that you will need closer to your bed (or where ever it is that you will spend most of your time). Your medication, the remote control, a pitcher of water and a glass, the telephone and/or cell phone charger, and the lamp or light controller. These are all things that you dont mind getting up for now, but in the first weeks after your surgury (and especially the first few days) getting up for any reason will be the last thing that you will want to do.

- Get acquainted with drivable shopping carts. Since you are not supposed to put any weight on your foot for the first few weeks while the bone heals, pushing a shopping cart around Wal-mart probably won’t be recommended by your doctor and may lead to your inadvertently bending the metal pin in your foot. (If you don’t understand why that would be bad, you need to re-read the section above where I talk about how painful my pin removal process was!) The drivable carts at the supermarket will allow you to do your shopping (if you must do it yourself) while you stay off of your feet.

- Get some help. Being a single woman who lives alone I usually revel in my independence, but even I have to admit that there are times when it would be nice to have someone around to help with everyday tasks. For example, trying to get grocery bags from the car to your front door or trying to carry a simple plate of food from the kitchen to your table while you are on crutches. You really do need both hands for the crutches, so you have no way to carry anything else. If you really don’t have anyone who can help out on a regular basis, be sure to have a cart or basket on wheels handy. That way you can place your grocery bag or plate of food in the cart in front of you and push it from behind while you walk with the crutches.

- Get legal. Bet you didn’t know that having foot surgery qualifies you as legally “handicapped”, at least temporarily anyway. At my first check up appointment (which was 2 weeks after my surgery) my doctor gave me a form that I could take to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get a Temporary Handicapped parking placard that was good for 6 months. Those handicapped parking spaces really came in handy when I went back to work, especially since I was on crutches and still in quite a bit of pain. Six months have gone by now so mine will expire in 5 days, and I will miss it sorely. I don’t necessarily need it anymore as my foot doesn’t usually hurt, but I certainly have grown spoiled by being able to park at the front door of any store or establishment I visit! This will definitely come in handy your first few weeks after surgery, so be sure and ask your doctor for the form.

- Flip-flops rule! Even though I am pretty much pain free at this point, I still have some bad days every now and then. Whenever I try to wear heels that are too high or even flat shoes that are too hard my foot will start to pain me and I will begin to limp. Or sometimes when a rainstorm is expected my foot will throb for some reason (really). What I learned is to keep some flip-flops, sneakers or other very comfortable shoes in my car, purse or in my desk drawer at work. There has been many a day that I would gladly have walked barefoot thru the streets had I not had my handy flip flops around. This might be my most useful tip. It may not seem like a lot, but believe me, this is huge!

Well, that is all the wealth of my wisdom on the subject of Bunion Surgery and its recovery. If you are contemplating having this or a similar procedure done, the best advice that I can give you is to think beforehand about how you will get around and get everyday tasks completed. Then make arrangements or put processes in place that will allow you to still get those thing done - albeit with some assistance from friends, family, or baskets on wheels.