Bunions: 4 1/2 months after surgery

Remember when you were little and your mom made you eat broccoli? And you hated it and didn't want to talk about it? That's how I feel writing this update about my bunion surgery.

Please see the previous two posts for information about the surgery, severity of bunions, a link to a web site that gives you many perspectives about different surgeries and recoveries, etc.  Then regale yourself with this lovely (albeit distorted) shot of my new feet.  I just took my shoes and socks off, so my feet have "sock wrinkles" all over them.  That's partly because they always look wrinkled when I take my shoes off.  But they are especially wrinkled and strange-looking now because my feel are still swollen from surgery.  It takes six months for the swelling to subside and a full year for the foot innards to heal.  The doctor says the scars are coming along fine, but despite bending my toes on a regular basis, the left big toe is too stiff.  I have an appointment scheduled for some contortionist thing he plans to do to them, which requires that I take Valium before he injects something into each foot to make it numb because whatever he does would normally hurt like hell.  Naturally, I'm looking forward to it.  [sarcasm]

4 1/2 months post-op

Crimony, I must be a masochist to post this photo.  But honestly, if I had known I had bunions, I would have gotten help before they got so bad.  So if writing about my experiences will prevent even ONE person from going through what I've gone through, it's worth showing this.  Okay, so the main point here is that my feet are nice and straight.  If that's important to you, you'll probably be thrilled with your surgery results.  As for me, I am satisfied that each foot resembles a foot.  I just want to be able to walk more than five miles at a time and ride my bike for a couple of hours.  Bike riding season starts in about 4 to 6 weeks, depending on weather. 

To limber up in anticipation of cycling, I took my first mall walks recently. The first one was quite brief.  The second one may have been 3/4 of a mile and I was achy and exhausted afterwards.  Feel free to call me a wimp, if you like, since I cannot hear you.  I have better luck with my stationary bike, which I can ride for half an hour at a time.

UPDATE JULY 8, 2014:   I had a cortisone shot back in February that hurt like bloody hell, even though I was on painkiller and the doctor used a topical anesthetic before he injected my foot; afterwards, I could walk well, without pain and it was glorious.  But the pain returned in six weeks.  And the shot hurt so much, I will never agree to it again.  Today, over nine months since surgery, the foot swelling continues.  Walking makes my feet ache and I have trouble walking more than 45 minutes.  When I'm barefoot, my walking looks weird and stilted, as if I am somehow limping, yet I am favoring neither foot.  The bottoms of my feet sometimes feel sunburned.  My little toes, which were so very tightly squished in the bandages last autumn, actually hurt just as much as my big toes, which took the brunt of the surgery.  Bike rides are no problem, however, and that is enormously important to me.  Sorry, to those of you contemplating surgery, that I cannot give a more encouraging report.  I am not happy about it, either.  But when I think about all the other medical problems that exist in the world, I think I am lucky.

dj runnels
Life's an Expedition on Etsy.

Bunions?! WTH!

Bunions.  Meh.  Such a silly word.  Sort of a cross between Bunnies and Onions.  And who has those things anyway?  I was pretty sure it only happened to 80-somethings, along with their lumbago and other antiquated grandmotherly illnesses.

Then reality slapped me the face.  And it slapped hard.  Yes, there is a medical condition called bunions and you can get them in your TEENS and 20's.  And although I tend to keep my medical travails private, because that's just how I am,  I will tell you about this one because I hate the thought of others not knowing what these bumps are and not seeking medical attention early enough to avoid pain.

I had gone to a podiatrist for a sports-related injury, tendonitis on the side of my right foot.  In the course of x-raying my foot and taping it, he mentioned that I had a rather serious bunion.  It was a bump that stuck out the left side, just under my big toe on the right foot. I had had a slight bump there for years and didn't think it was important.  I had gone from wearing a B width shoe to a C width shoe and thought maybe that slight bump had something to do with it.  But I never dreamed I would ever need surgery for it.  In fact, I didn't have pain from it at first and later learned the reason for this is because I had somehow learned to walk in such a way that I spared my feet the discomfort.  But in doing so, I was causing ankle pain and other weirdness.

I have since learned a few things about bunions.  For example, wearing high heels or being inclined to exercise heavily despite a mild deformity can turn said deformity into a major one.  I continued to bike ride vigorously and aggressively after being diagnosed with the bunions--there was one on the left foot, too--and I will confess, they both became more serious within a year.  I could see them getting larger and they were beginning to hurt more. 

The photo above shows how the bunions looked a few days before finally having surgery.  Notice how my toes all sort of slant to the side.  The big toe on each foot is so dislocated that all the other toes are pushed away.  The left foot has a severe bunion, plus a lot of cartilage has worn away in the big toe joint.  But the right foot, which looks relatively harmless to me, also has a fairly severe bunion.

So I had bunion surgery this week.  There are dozens of different types of surgery, and many types of casts/bandages, etc. and every recovery is different.  But once you have a diagnosis, I recommend skimming the Foot and Ankle section of this health board forum.  Scroll half-way down the page and you will find a couple hundred topics specifically about bunions.  Sift through many topics, because sometimes you will find the same issue under a slightly different phrase.  Just please find out from your doctor how severe your bunions are, what procedure s/he recommends (and get a 2nd opinion from another doctor) and be sure to compare apples to apples.  In other words, if you are having a minor procedure, don't pore over the notes of someone having bone replacement, cuz you'll just freak out.  And if your bunions are severe, don't expect to go back to work in two days just because someone else did.  Also, if you post a message in a forum and get some feedback, that's great, but remember, they don't know you and haven't seen your x-rays.  Still, it's okay to ask your physician something like, "Hey, I was wondering why I have a bandage instead of a cast."  Or "is there a less invasive procedure that will work for me?"  They're your feet and you have the right to ask lots of questions.  

Good luck and avoid high heels.  And remember, men can get bunions, too.  But it's less common.

dj runnels

Life's an Expedition on Etsy.  None of our merchandise has been on my feet.  Ever.