Bunions and their treatments?

Mmathis

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Surgery is tomorrow morning. Bone spurs instead of bunions, thank goodness! Having both feet done at once. I may regret it, but would rather go through it just once and get it over with. This surgery isn't as bad as bunion surgery, so I should start out being able to do some weight-bearing. At least to go back & forth to the bathroom.....

I'll give y'all a progress report, but it might not be until Wednesday.
 
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I scrubbed in on a bunion surgery once back when I was in college, it looked very painfull and likely had a long recovery time, but I suspect that today the lasers and Da Vinci robotics are a lot less traumatic than the old-fashioned hammer and chisel technique I saw.
 

Mmathis

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I scrubbed in on a bunion surgery once back when I was in college, it looked very painfull and likely had a long recovery time, but I suspect that today the lasers and Da Vinci robotics are a lot less traumatic than the old-fashioned hammer and chisel technique I saw.
This turned out NOT to be bunions, so this surgery won't be as drastic. But hate to tell you that they still use the old methods, at least now -- maybe in the future. The saws they use look like Dremels & Saws-Alls.
 

Mmathis

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Got home around 4pm this afternoon. Surgery went well. Bought a couple of extra firm king size pillows yesterday (which will be cat beds once this is over), so have feet elevated on those. The post-surgery "shoes" are great as they keep things from rubbing on or bumping into my feet -- and the thick, stiff sole makes it possible to walk (with the help of crutches). I think my worst fear was that I wasn't going to be able to walk to the bathroom & back.....now isn't that silly, LOL!

Pain meds are nice to have and I'm taking them on a regular schedule -- ortho pain has a bad reputation and I don't want to take it for granted. Ice helps, as well.

Will see how the night goes. Got a great "nurse" in my Hubby who is taking excellent care of me.
 
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Glad to hear it went well! How long is the expected recovery time? I find the best way to cope with pain (other than pain meds, but they only do so much) is via distraction. Try and put your focus elsewhere, it really does help (y)
 

Mmathis

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Glad to hear it went well! How long is the expected recovery time? I find the best way to cope with pain (other than pain meds, but they only do so much) is via distraction. Try and put your focus elsewhere, it really does help (y)
I visited the craft stores ahead of time and stocked up on supplies for a few projects I'm working on -- things I can do sitting down. Right now, I'm only doing trips back & forth to the bathroom and Hubby is helping get things for me. I really hate to ask him to go over and above, so today will probably end up with watching episodes of old shows on NETFLIX -- and sleeping.

Recovery time for my limited mobility is around 2 weeks. After that I should be able to drive in about 4 weeks; normal activity by 6 weeks. But total healing time can be up to 6 months, IOW, this should time out where I'll be OK to snow ski by March. Not sure about camping and hiking [Boy Scout activities] yet, but at least 6 weeks, depending on the amt and type of terrain.
 
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Sounds good, glad everything went well, just remember about the danger period where you feel better than you actually are and usually do a little too much, patience is a virtue.
 

Mmathis

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I've finally reached the beginning of post-op day #6. Recovery is going well and I'm not nearly as limited [activity/mobility-wise] as I thought I would be. By PO day #4, most of the acute pain was gone, replaced by just aching and soreness. I'm not using the crutches any more, but they were more for stability as you can't really USE crutches when BOTH feet are out of commission, LOL! I have to keep weight off the front of my feet for a while, so heel-walking is becoming 2nd nature. But at least with my hands free, I can get stuff from the fridge, etc. by myself, and I don't have to wake Hubby up at midnight for help going to the bathroom.

On the 2nd PO day, I saw the surgeon and he took off the dressings. I was surprised at how really good my feet looked -- hardly any bruising and minimal swelling [pic below]. Elevation and ice packs! It's funny how things are, but before the surgery my left foot was the one that bothered me more, but it's the right foot that's more swollen and painful after the surgery. I guess there was more work to be done on the right even thought it was my "better" foot to start out with.
image.jpeg


A week from tomorrow he's going to remove the sutures. At least it's OK to get them wet until then. And I'll still have to wear the clunky post-op shoes for a while, until my feet will fit into regular shoes -- I see a shoe-shopping spree in my future, tee-hee! Fortunately I've never been that fashion conscious!

It's going to be sad, though, once I'm more mobile -- sad for the cats, anyway, as they've gotten quite used to having "Mom" lying around to keep them company! People make very comfortable kitty-beds :)
 
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I'm glad the recovery is going well! Is looking at your pond therapeutic? Or is it stressful because you see pond-keeping chores you want to do?
 

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