Are you going to have foot or ankle surgery? Do you have a million and one questions about it? Are you nervous? I know how you feel!
I have been there myself – TWICE!
While I was in med school, my big toe joint started hurting.
I am a pretty active person, and when I was in med school I would wake up, work out, study all day and work out again before bed. I also have a pretty high pain tolerance. One day, while walking to class I had a sudden sharp pain in my big toe joint on my left foot. It literally stopped me in my tracks. The pain subsided after a few seconds, so I went on with my day and forgot about it.
This sudden sharp pain kept coming back, but it was becoming more frequent. At this point in my education, I knew that the pain was because of a bunion, but I had not learned all the details about the bunion surgery or the process of surgery. I did however know that I would likely need surgery to get rid of the bunion pain.
I was NERVOUS!!!! I remember going into that doctors appointment and dreading hearing that I would need bunion surgery, even though that is what I KNEW was going to happen!
In order to help with my nervousness, I asked questions. I asked my doctor all the questions that I made me nervous. Like – how long will I be off of my feet? When can I get back to normal activities? How long is bunion surgery?
Understanding what was going to happen, made things more clear in my mind and helped make me less nervous.
The day of my surgery came around. What I remember from that day is going into pre-op, changing my clothes, speaking with a nurse and seeing the anesthesiologist. After that, I remember nothing until I woke up.
I did wake up with pain in my foot. However, with pain medication, icing and elevating the pain got better. I was very fortunate that for the next two weeks, my mom took care of me. She cooked for me, she set up my showers for me and helped me with whatever I needed. Having help when recovering from bunion surgery (or any surgery) will make your life much easier.
Me after surgery. Icing and elevating.
The first 3-4 days of recovery were the most difficult for me because of the pain. My post operative splint was too tight on my heel, so I was also having heel pain. After I had that post-op splint removed, I felt MUCH BETTER.
The rest of my recovery process was much smoother. Using crutches and doors was annoying, but nothing that can’t be handled.
For the next two months, I took it easy, followed my doctors instructions and got better!
After that, I was able to gradually get back to my normal activities.
Although I was nervous about the surgery before, and was in some pain in the initial recovery process, I am glad I did it. I am now pain free and can do whatever activities I want to!
If you have questions about surgery or need foot or ankle surgery, call (847) 380-3700 to schedule an appointment today!