My wife is having this surgery (on one foot) this week. Much of what we read indicates the recovery can be lengthy (6 weeks on crutches) and uncomfortable. Anyone have any personal experience?
Had my left foot done 20 years ago.
Did not keep me down that long but I had a great lady Doc.
I had a lot of bone cut and a tendon re-routed.
YMMV
My brother’s sister-in-law just had that surgery and is anticipating that sort of healing time. I think it was 2 weeks to get a “boot” put on and now she is moving 3 states away to stay with her mother while she recuperates. Sounds like a total pain in the ass! (foot!)
I’ll be watching this thread. I’ve got a worsening bunion that will have to be done eventually.
~VOW
Me too. I’ve had one podiatrist tell me it was time for surgery. A went for a second opinion (to a podiatrist I used to see). The second doctor said he can do better, and switched me to a different orthopedic insert. I still have occasional pain, but much less.
That being said…I suspect I’ll still need surgery sometime. I just want to put it off as long as it makes sense, to let the technology advance. 
-D/a
Since you’re looking for anecdotes and advice, I’ll move this from GQ to IMHO for you.
I recently had foot surgery. It sucked. I was soooooooo bored. (bored enough that I tried to get a forged return to work release past my boss)
I didn’t have bunion surgery, but I did have bones reshaped and tendons cut. It really sucked.
Your wife has my sympathy.
The very worse part is sitting around with your foot propped up and watching the dust settle.
My suggestion is that your wife should stock up on books and dvd’s. If she has a hobby that she can do while sitting down, she needs to get her supplies organized.
She is going to need to stay off her foot as much as possible. Feet don’t heal fast because of the beating they take when someone is using them. My doctor told me that I needed to keep my foot higher than my heart to help with the swelling. That meant laying down with my foot propped up on pillows.
That lasted a day and then I sat in my desk chair with my foot propped on a kitchen chair.
The pain wasn’t as bad as expected. I took 3 oxycodon (1 at a time) and then moved to asprin and ice. The icepacks worked much better than drugs.
I slept in my boot for 4 weeks because the blanket weight hurt and because it really hurt when my foot didn’t have support. Her foot is going to be swollen like a dog tick and the dressing/boot will catch on the sheets. Expect a lot of thrashing around at night.
My cats wouldn’t sleep with me, that’s how bad it was. I wasn’t in pain, the sheets just kept wrapping around my foot and I’d kick them off, then get cold with no blankets, then kick them off…lather, rinse, repeat.
It sucks to be your wife right now. In a couple of months, she will probably be happy that she had it done.
Dang, I wouldn’t have posted my negitivity if I had known that you were in pain.
Several of my friends have had bunion surgery and they were pretty misrable for a couple of months, but they have all said that they would do it again.
Oh, and to the OP, your wife is going to need foot beauty products. After her foot swells twice it size, the skin and calluses are going to start peeling off. This is normal and to be expected. Of course, her doctor will not let her rub her foot with lotion or soak it for at least a month, so her foot will be so icky looking that she will make you shut the lights off when she takes her slipper off.
This too will pass, but it bites.
I had the first metatarsal fused in October. Not a bunion, but arthritis from constant turf toe injuries. It wasnt as bad as the knee replacement in terms of pain, but it was it was pretty inconvinient. I too was on crutches for 2 weeks then in a boot for 12. I was not allowed to remove the boot at all for 6 weeks. Then I could take it off for showers for the last six. Like flatlined, it made sleeping miserable.
I’m sure glad I had it done though. The constant pain was really wearing on me.
I have had both feet done, a year apart. The recovery is difficult. I’ve tried to erase the details from my mind, but I think it was over four weeks on crutches, and crutches are just not fun. The pain was not bad, and was easily managed with mild pain-killers. The hard part is not being able to put any weight on the foot for so long. Despite all that, I’m glad I had it done. Ten years later, I have pain-free, straight feet.
May I recommend that you buy a set of canadian crutches for the recovery? They are a better design than the axillary [armpit] crutches and not that much more expensive. You can’t damage the nerves under the arm by apeswinging on them like you can with pit crutches. They really are not that much more expensive than axillary ones, and can be used more easily singly like a cane than an axillary crutch can. [and they come in all sorts of colors, I have blue and purple ones :D]
One of my coworkers just had bunion surgery. She could not follow the recovery instructions after the surgery, and so ended up two months away from work, and another bunch of weeks on light duty at work. So, very important to follow the doctor’s orders on recovery.
LOL but yeah, very true. Not speaking from bunion surgery experience, but from a broken foot… I happened to notice an odd rough spot, that was a thick layer of skin that was basically trying to peel away. It was an old callus; since I hadn’t been putting weight on it, I wasn’t constantly rebuilding it.
Consider a knee walker. They’re not cheap, and they do have limitations, but they can be a good alternative to crutches. Less fatiguing in some ways (though they’re hard on the knee).
I had a big purse that has a strap long enough to wear cross-body. It went everywhere with me. I’d load it up with all my “must have” stuff (phone, ipod, wallet, medications, water bottle) which meant I had all the essentials at hand all the time. I’d go downstairs ONCE each day - and spent the day on the couch with the laptop computer and cordless house phone. My husband would actually throw my lunch into an insulated cooler to have at hand also. So the only time I had to move from the couch was to use the bathroom. Then at the end of the day I’d pile all my stuff back in the purse and hobble back upstairs.
Get a temporary handicapped hangtag. For me it was a point of pride to avoid using it, but there were times where there truly was no parking close enough to where I needed to be. Hell, even then it was sometimes a challenge to get into a place, but it was a little shorter. I would say I used it maybe 3-4 times but it was actually comforting just to know it was there if needed.
Oooh - and I’ve posted this in other threads, but it bears repeating here as well: Shower grab bars and a shower stool. Bed Bath and Beyond has the shower stools; they also have suction-cup portable grab bars. Those aren’t strong enough to bear a LOT of weight but do help with maneuvering into/out of the stall, and getting up from the stool. It will be very difficult for her to shower without being able to put any weight on the foot - the one time I tried it (before we hit BB&B for the supplies) my good leg was shaking by the time I got done.
This, by the way, assumes she CAN shower - I would hope that after a few days she would be allowed to if the foot can be adequately protected . If she can’t shower, she might be able to sponge-bathe with a basin - being able to put a shower stool in the tub or shower would help with that. You’d probably want to help her wash her hair if she can’t shower.
There are products designed specifically to go over casts; if she’s allowed to remove the boot for showering you could probably get by with a trash bag and bandage tape.
:smack: I never thought about that, but you are right. My theory might have some truth to it, but the not rebuilding it was the problem. I’ve been wondering why the palms of my hands are peeling…its because I’m not tossing boxes everyday. Ignorance fought, thank you.
The OP hasn’t posted since asking for advice, so I am guessing that his wife had surgery and he’s busy with her.
To the OP, I hope that everything went well. Bunion surgery is “routine” for the doctor, but not for the people who are dealing with it. I hope that your wife isn’t in a lot of pain.
When I had my surgery, my surgeon suggested that I put a cardboard box under the blankets and stick my foot inside it. The idea was that the box would keep the blankets off my foot.
The problem was that I have cats who love boxes. I had cats sitting on the box, digging under the covers to scratch the box and getting into the box and slapping at that strange thing that smelled funny. The box went away after about an hour.
Beware the trash-bag-with-duct-tape for showering purposes. I had surgery years ago for Morton’s neuroma, and I tried to wrap up my feet so I could shower.
Two things:
(1) Trying to walk with bags on your feet is slippery as Hell.
(2) The bags worked beautifully to CAPTURE the shower water and keep it nestled close to the very feet I was trying to protect.
A stool and a hand-held shower attachment would be best of all.
~VOW
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I was in a boot for six weeks but I did not hurt at all. Main problem was bathing, since I couldn’t take off the brace or get it wet. I taped a trash bag around my thigh above the knee and got in the shower that way.
It was Hell on earth for the first few days. It was manageable after that. I used a walker for a couple of weeks, then a cane and I could shuffle along on my own after that.
Don’t screw around with plastic bags, buy one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001G0N6D6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 No slipping and dry as a bone. The bad reviews are from people who couldn’t figure out that you had to hold the seal hole open with your hands to put your foot in (like putting on socks) and you don’t just try and jam your foot in.
Don’t do both feet at once. You will wish you were dead. Do them 2 years apart.
Your foot will be grotesquely swollen for a year post-surgery. Buy classic Crocs in a larger size. http://www.crocs.com/classic-crocs-shoes/classic-styles,default,sc.html?intid=home_category_classics
They will have no pressure points on the healing spots, leave your toes and front foot with lots of room and will not cause any pain. You will be able to walk comfortably in them year-round. When you are fully healed and the swelling is gone, you can burn them. I bought five pairs; dressy black (sarcastic), blue, beige, pink and chocolate. My size 8 1/2 foot was an 11 when the boot came off. That’s how bad the swelling was. The classic Crocs were a life saver.
It was completely worth it. The results are great.
Me too, revived zombie thread. Me, too. 