1. Bunion surgery is hard. The pain is tough for the first few days, but after that it is manageable with intermittent drugs. The immobility is a killer - it seriously affected my mood and emotional state for the six weeks I was unable to walk properly.
2. The recovery is slow - you don't just get to six weeks and hop back to it, you need to give it time and allow as much time to focus on yourself as possible. I think overall I have had a really smooth ride compared to most. Possibly that's age related, or health related, however I am certain that a factor of this is due to me doing exactly what the doctor ordered - I stayed off my feet, I stayed off work, I did my exercises (man they were painful!) and I elevated at every opportunity. I have heard some horror stories of people who have had ongoing problems and while I it is probably early days still, I don't feel that I will have any major lasting issues - so I am pleased that I allowed myself to recover fully before attempting normal life again.
3. Preparation is key. I am really glad I prepared as much as I could before the surgery getting everything in place - you can read more about preparation tips in another post here
4. Patience is a real virtue! I lost my temper on many occasions, usually when I did something that hurt, making me panic that I'd damaged something - I never did though, turns out bones are more hardy than we give credit for! Every day I would climb into bed and tick the days off until my 6 week appointment when I could walk again. I thought it would never come but, guess what.. it did! So stay patient - you will get there!
5. Noone is going to truly understand what are going through except for you, and anyone else who has been through double bunion surgery. I had lots of people ask me, "are you going back to work soon, the rest of you works fine" or telling me to get out of the house and that doing something will make me feel better. Some days I wanted to go out, other days I wanted to hide under a duvet and not see anybody. It wasn't just my feet that were affected - it was my whole body, my mental state etc. And whilst going out was good at times, most of the time it was really uncomfortable as you can' elevate your feet the same way and then your back and hips hurt etc, or your feet throb, which makes it worse - so always go at whatever pace you feel like.
Anyway... despite all of the above points I am SO HAPPY that I had this surgery done. It has transformed me already. All of the pain and grief and feeling depressed was worth it, and if I knew how much better my feet would be I probably wouldn't have felt quite so awful! So my advice to anyone who is either contemplating surgery or is going through recovery is - stay strong and look forward to a better life with better feet because you will get there 😊
So a few updates from the last week or so...
I had my 12 week checkup on Friday with my surgeon. It was great and he was really pleased with my progress - he said I should be back to wearing normal shoes at about 6 months and to keep going with the exercises, but all in all a great recovery!!
There hasn't been a huge change in terms of progress in the last week, I feel as though any changes will be minimal and slow now as I near the fully recovered state. The main things now are the small amount of swelling I have, just waiting for this to fully go down. However this has vastly improved in the last 2-3 weeks. I can now wear some pumps, a pair of the looser ones from before my surgery, which is great as it means I don't look quite so clunky (I really don't enjoy wearing trainers unless I'm exercising). I do get the occasional moment where my feet go really fat again and am at risk of blisters if I overdo it, so sensible shoes are still really important.
One thing I am really excited about is I am pretty sure my toenail on my right foot is starting to grow back normally. I have been seeing a dermatologist for over a year now to try and workout why I have a toenail that looks like it has a fungal infection, and yet despite 5 different tests, has no trace of infection. I tried antibiotics, steroids, antifungal tablets (which can really damage your liver) and nothing would make it better. What we started to think was that because the toe was permanently bent, the bend just below the nail was always rubbing, and so we think (as in, me and my dermatologist) that this was destroying the nail bed and causing the nail to grow wrongly, almost to the point where the nail was dying. I have been wearing nail polish since my bandages came off and the other day when I changed the polish - I noticed a small cuticle and a pink bit at the bottom of the nail - which I haven't seen for nearly three years!!! I've put the polish on them again, but praying that next time I look they'll be a bit better. I was so self conscious about this nail, so desperately hoping that it is on the mend too!!
I still need to get fit - I attempted to start dieting this week, which started off well, but after getting some bad news that I didn't get a promotion I had gone for, it kind of went south this weekend. So I will hop to it next week! It's also tricky as we are currently redoing our kitchen and have removed the old one whilst doing some building work, so I am having to live off ready meals and the mercy of my family to cook for us, which means I can't quite control what I eat as I normally would. But maybe I need to not worry quite so much, I've plenty of time to get in shape!
So in summary - three months after surgery I am feeling great, both physically and mentally - need to lost the excess weight and regain my fitness to get back to 100% but it's all a work in progress.
Here's a look at my x-rays at 12 weeks:
