FAQs

Hi everyone. Because I get frequent comments with practically the same questions asked, I figured I would do a FAQ post so I don't have to keep answering repeatedly.

It has been 5 years and 7 months since my double bunionectomy. I am now 26 years old. Remember I was 20 when I had the surgery and I do think my age was a positive factor in my quick healing. My doctor was surprised at my fast healing (I remember him saying, "You must drink a lot of milk." Uhhh false! I hate milk). Also, this is just MY experience. Your podiatrist is the expert as everyone is different.

Lastly, please remember to go through the archives on the left (May, June, and July 2006) if you want to see pictures/details.

How long did it take before you could stand without crutches?
I never had crutches. My podiatrist told me to start walking the day of my surgery. I was scared and it hurt, but everyday I forced myself to walk a little or at least to stand without support.

Did you to go to physical therapy?
No I didn't. My MD never mentioned it, but if you're not young or active, he/she might suggest it to enhance range of motion.

Did you lose any range of motion?
Not at all. I began walking (i.e. my parents forced me) the minute I got home from the hospital. The doctor told me at first to walk only to and from the bathroom, but this was only for a couple days. If you don't walk and/or put pressure on your toes the way you normally walk, you will lose range of motion because the scar tissue will build up. Trust me on this one, suck it up and walk! Your feet won't break.


When could you wear gym shoes?
2 weeks.

When could you drive?
2 weeks

When could you get your feet wet?
2 weeks. 
 
When could you walk barefoot?
3 weeks (in the house only).

When were you able to jog/run/exercise?
3 1/2 weeks (26 days post-op), I got the OK from the doctor to do these activities as long as no trauma occurred. So NO soccer (football?) to my British readers!

When were you able to wear heals/flip flips?
*Flip flops take longer than regular does because your toes grasp the shoe to move forward
Flop flops at 3 1/2 weeks (26 days post-op); heals I don't remember but it was significantly longer. Again, no trauma may occur. So don't wear open-toed shoes to a bar or to a crowded store or lift anything heavy enough to hurt you if it lands on your feet! With flip flops/sandals, you may need to watch the placement of the straps if they go right over your scar. Always keep an extra band-aid on you!

Do you have a scar?
That generally happens when your skin is completely cut open ;-) Yes, I do but they are barely visible. They do need extra moisturizing during the dry times of year (e.g. midsummer from pool chlorine, low-humidity winter, etc.).   

How long did the pain last?
The worst of it was 4-5 days. Vicodin was my friend during that time. Make sure you take it ON SCHEDULE. So it you can take it at noon and again at 6 and again at midnight, take it at exactly those times. If you wait because you're not in any pain, it's because YOU'RE ON VICODIN! Trust me, take it anyways because once the pain came, the meds did not take it away. Wean yourself off after about 4-5 days or as tolerated, the sooner the better though in my opinion. 

How long did the swelling last?
I ended this blog at 6 1/2 weeks and thought my feet were back to normal. They weren't! Comparing my feet now to how they looked in those last pictures, I now know that it took several months for ALL the swelling to go down. 

Have the bunions come back?
Not that I can tell! I have metal pins in my big toes keeping them straight so I don't think they'll be moving anytime soon!

Any regrets?
Not at all. Getting them both done at the same time was right for me at that time in my life (20 years old, at home for summer break, no job/kids/man haha).  

Do you have any trouble going through airport security?
No.

Can you personally email me?
Sorry, but I will only communicate via comments in my blog.    

5 year update

Hi everyone. I want to give a big "Thank you" to those who have found my blog and have posted comments, questions, and shared your personal stories about the surgery. Recently, I've been getting several comments (yes, 5 years later!) asking if I'm still happy with my results, if I've seen any recurrence, etc. Instead of posting the same response over and over, I thought I'd post about it, my first on this blog since 2006.

I have absolutely no regrets about having both feet done at the same time or getting the surgery in the first place. At the time of my surgery, I was 20 and on summer vacation from college. AKA...no responsibilities! Now, at 25 and working a full-time job, I highly doubt I would have done both at the same time as I was pretty dependent for at least a week or two before being able to care completely for myself/figure out the routine. I'm lucky enough to have a wonderful family who was always willing to help, but if your circumstances are different from mine, you might not want to have the double. Have one done, wait a year or so, then tackle the other side. It will make life easier and less painful (even though the worst pain only lasted a week or so).

I've had no recurrence and my feet look wonderful. I can't begin to tell you what a confidence boost it was/is to be able to wear flippy floppies without trying to hide your feet all the time like I did pre-surgery. When I posted last, I thought my feet were healed, but they were actually still swollen! The swelling didn't completely subside for several months and my feet don't look that fat anymore :-) I do have a slightly visual scar on both feet but they're barely noticeable. In the summer, I have to add extra moisturizer due to swimming in pools and walking barefoot/in sandals so much. Other than that, the only person who asked what the scar was from was the lady giving me my pedicure!

Anyways, that's my 5-year update. If you have any additional questions, don't hesitate to ask. I will always answer. I have the same email address so all comments are mailed to me automatically. Here are some pictures from this past summer (May 2011 and July 2011) and since I never posted a picture of myself...me! Sorry for the 2nd pic, it shows up the right way on my computer but I don't know how to rotate on here!

6 Weeks and 1 day....

...And I've decided that there's nothing worthwhile to write about anymore. My feet are pretty much healed, everyday things get easier, I'm able to jog on them. The pictures don't really look any different.

So this is my last post on my bunion blog haha...thank you to everyone who's read it and commented (my family...people from the 'bunion and hammertoe lovers' group, and anyone else who's randomly stumbled upon it). If anyone has any questions about anything, post a comment and I'll still answer all those!!

To close...the final before and after pics:

Yeah I've been slacking

Sorry I haven't written...nothing exciting when it comes to my feet has been happening haha. Friday I went to North Ave. Beach downtown Chicago with one of my friends all day. It was lots of fun. At night I met up with another friend for dinner. Saturday I saw Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Man's Chest...not what I expected. It was nowhere near as good as the first. Oh well. Yesterday I took the train downtown and spent the evening in Chicago...dinner, State Street, Michigan Avenue, Navy Pier, boat ride, Ferris Wheel...good times. My feet haven't been bothering me at all lately. I walked at least 25 blocks yesterday in Chicago with flip flops and I didn't even have to sit down! They're healing beautifully and it's the best feeling being able to wear flip flops out in public and not having to cover my feet or try to hide them. Now I'm showing them off!

Tootsie's Trip to the Zoo

Today me, my mom, my sister, nani, Auntie Ro, and my cousin Tony went to Brookfield Zoo. It was a lot of fun, crowded as usual, and the temperature was perfect. Usually by the time we leave we've lost like 5 lbs. from sweating...this time it was just right. Here are some pics :-)

Me at the zoo :-) enjoying the rhinos haha

Penguins

Giraffes

Elephants

Wolves

Those are just a few pictures...we also saw monkeys, gorillas, zebras, etc. the whole shabangabang. My feet were killing me by the end (we were there almost 4 hours) so now I'm going to take a nice nap. Ahhhhh :-)

My First Foot Compliment

So tonight I went to the mall to see if I could find anything good, and I'm walking around like normal. This guy who's about...50-ish in business attire is walking in the opposite direction (towards me). Of course I didn't give him any thought, but as I got closer, I saw him looking at my feet, which were in cute flip flops (hehe). So of course, after 20 years of ugly feet I was thinking "oh great I just had surgery 5 weeks ago (p.s. Happy 5 week birthday to my new feet!!) and they're STILL ugly!" Then he looks at me and goes "oh pretty feet!" At first I didn't think he was talking to me, but I turned around and he was smiling at me. So the next thing I thought was that he must be joking...but in the end, I came to the conclusion that I received my first genuine foot compliment. :-)

Happy 230th Birthday, America!

Me on the 4th of July :-)

Boring...

Yeah I haven't posted lately because nothing exciting has happened. I went to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin on Friday. That was fun. Yesterday we went car shopping for my sister and I. Then we went for dinner at this Chinese place called Yu's Mandarin. It was really good. Today I was supposed to go to North Avenue beach downtown Chicago with my friends but since it's raining that obviously got scrubbed. Tonight I'm going to see Superman Returns with this guy Anthony and his sister. That looks good.

My feet have been fine. The scars are getting smoother and I've been moisturizing daily. They hurt me a lot last night at dinner but when I got home I took my anti-inflammatory and wrapped them and they felt better after about 20 minutes.

Sorry this isn't very exciting...today's crappy weather must be affecting my mood.

The Most Recent Pics...

I just took these pictures. If my feet look shiny it's because I just rubbed Vitamin E oil into them haha to heal the skin and moisturize them. It'll be 30 days tomorrow since I had my surgery on May 31. THEY'RE STILL HEALING AND SWOLLEN!!! :-)

FLIP FLOPS!!!

This is what I do when they're swollen

This is the scar on the right foot...it's shiny from the moisturizer, but you can still see that it looks damn good!!

I couldn't be any happier with my results :-D

Flips Flops: Day 1

Today I went to the Arlington Racetrack with my mom, sister, cousin Tony, Auntie Ro, and nani. It was fun except I lost about 6 dollars. None of my horses won! I also wore flip flops for the first time since my surgery! My feet still aren't "pretty..." because the scars are still red and all awkward looking and the skin is still coming off. I had to wear bandaids over where the flip flop straps went over my scar because it's sensitive. As for the shape of my foot, it's normal! However, I found myself hiding my feet. I've been doing it for 20 years...always hiding my feet and hardly ever wearing flip flops, especially in public because there are so many people; so now I have to get used to the fact that there's nothing to be embarrassed about anymore! It'll just take time.

My feet have been going between being swollen and not in the blink of an eye. I keep my feet down and a little bit later they start hurting and if I push on my toes it feels like...mushy...like water is being retained between my skin and bones. Ugh.

Swelling Stinks!!

Today was pretty busy for me!! Starting yesterday, I had the doc appointment, then I went shoe shopping with my mom and bought a new pair of cute shoes. Then I went out for dinner to The Cheesecake Factory with my good friend, Kelly. Today I went to my nani and grandpa's house and they taught me how to make meatballs!! I asked them last week because I've always wanted to know their recipe. Even though I really didn't DO anything except mix up the ingredients, now I know all the stuff that goes in them (yeah don't ask for the recipe...it's top secret!). Then my mom, sister, Uncle Anthony, cousin Andrew, Auntie Ro, and cousin Tony came over and we al had pasta and meatballs for lunch. Delicious :-)

After lunch I went for my haircut which turned out very cute. Then I went to call my mom to pick me up to discover that my phone had died. Literally. Not from batteries, it just decided to stop working!! I haven't dropped it or anything and it's only 8 months old!!! Instead of asking the hair salon to use their phone (long story...lol) I decided to walk home since, by car, it's only about 3 minutes away. Yeah...3 minutes in the car is about 25 minutes by foot. Add into the equation 2 swollen, recently-operated on feet, and a bloody blister from my new shoes, and it was hell. The heat didn't make it more enjoyable either. By the time I got home, my feet were the most swollen I've ever seen and they hurt horribly. I iced them for about 2 hours, kept them elevated, and took an anti-inflammatory. That helped, but they still really hurt. I have them tightly wrapped in bandages to control the swelling too. Tonight I went for dinner with my mom and sister to Culvers. I was supposed to go out with one of my friends from high school but my feet hurt way too bad.

As for the dry skin...I exfoliated in the shower again for about 15 minutes and my feet look amazing!! Haha I massage Vitamin E oil into my feet and they're super soft and healthy. The scabs that formed over my incisions/scars are almost completely off (I can peal them off since they and all of the surrounding skin are dead). It's nasty but it's so nice seeing completely fresh skin. From what I can see, the scars don't even look like scars!! Since he used dissolvable stitches, I won't have the rail-road look, it'll just be a faint line on the side of my foot. Anywho, I can feel my tootsies hurting again so I'm gunna ice em for a while before bed.

Goodnight!

3rd Post-Op

It's been 26 days from my surgery and I just got home from my third post-op visit. I took final X-Rays and the doc said they were perfect and exactly what he wanted. He told me that my bones are about 95% healed and that I can start exercising, running, all that. He also said that I can wear flop flops as long as I'm not in a really crowded place because direct trauma still poses a threat. He said that nothing I can do will make the healing process go faster. All that will heal them is time. The scabs from my incisions are starting to fall off and the dry skin is coming off more everyday. He said all I have to do is wait for the swelling to go down, the skin to heal (the incisions are completely closed up now), and to get my confidence and range of motion back. He also said that I don't need to bandage my foot during the day, only at night when swelling is the highest. He said that the bones are healed but now the soft tissue (aka skin and muscle) needs to heal. So...yay :-) back to normal (almost...hehe)!!

Food Network, 3rd Post Op, and Disappointing Meteorologists

Today was my cousin Rosemarie's birthday party. It was fun, she did a Giada (from Food Network)-inspired menu. It was good except she ran out of bread (ROSEMARIE WHAT WERE YOU THINKING????!!! haha). My family on my mom's side is 100% Italian, and together (about 15 of us), we can devour LOAVES of bread in one sitting. Haha but overall the food was really good and it was a fun party.

Tomorrow is my third post-op appointment with the doc. All I'm expecting is a quck exam to make sure everything's healing normally (which it is), more X-Rays, and the go-ahead to wear flip flops. Nothing exciting I'm sure. I'll letcha know how it went tomorrow. Before that, my mom and I are going to breakfast.

Well...a storm's a brewin' outside! Supposedly Chicago is going to have thunderstorms for the next 10 dyas according to the ever-reliable weather channel. I should be going for meteorology instead of speech pathology. All I'd have to do is sit twiddling my thumbs and do nothing since the weather channel's predictions suck and reflect the work of their staff...haha ok sorry...rambling...

I Wuv My Doggie

I love my dog...haha these are some pics I took about 3 days ago :-) I've been able to play with her much more lately since #1 I can walk in gym shoes and #2 my feet are loosening up and becoming stronger each day. I even took her to the forest preserve with my mom 2 days ago and walked around the whole thing (about a mile) and they didn't start hurting till about 2/3 into it. That's the same day I went to Oakbrook with my friend, Kelly. That's definitely the reason they hurt me so bad yesterday, and, as I predicted, my feet are much better today. I just needed a good day and night of rest.

I'm just taking it easy all day, maybe laying out by my pool later, cleaning my room, maybe going to the movies tonight with my mom and sister. Because of my surgery, I can't work this summer. I can't stand for very long so there goes most jobs, and I can't have a sedentary job because a 1 1/2-month stint at a REAL job is virtually impossible to find. PLUS we're going to Niagara Falls in August before I leave for school so I would only be able to work a month. So I'm unemployeed this summer, and, as I'm sure you've guessed, I'm not complaining ;-) I have my WHOLE life to work until I find my doctor husband and I become a trophy wife. Hahahaha JUST KIDDING (maybe...)!!

Aches and Pains

So last night I went to Oakbrook Mall with my friend, Kelly. I wore my Diesels which usually don't hurt my feet. I must've walked really fast through the mall (too fast), because I woke up this morning and my feet were killing me. Not a sharp pain, just achey and kind of stiff. Usually first thing in the morning they hurt like that but the pain goes away and they loosen up as the day goes on. But today the pain never really subsided. Add into the picture the fact that I went downtown Geneva with my mom, sister, Auntie Ro, and cousin Tony and walked around for an hour or so...and I haven't been able to really walk since I got home. The big and second toes on both feet are black and blue too. They're elevated now and I might put some ice on them later on. I think I may have been pushing myself too much too quickly. I guess I'm just anxious to get back to being normal.

Oh well...they should be better by tomorrow :-)

Some Examples of Horrifying Bunions

THESE ARE NOT MY FEET THANK GOD!!! Haha I was just browsing through pictures and I found these pictures of absolutely terrible bunions.

WOW

This foot had bunion surgery, but it was incorrectly done and the bunion obviously came back and arthritis has already formed.

Sometimes I would look at my feet and say that I was sooo unlucky. Old women are supposed to have bunions...not 20-year old sorority girls!! But then I see these pictures and the deformities some people have to deal with, and I thank my lucky stars.

As for the current condition of my feet, it's been exactly 3 weeks since my surgery (Wednesday, May 31, 2006), and I have no pain whatsoever. I'm walking more normally each day and I'm able to move my toes (especially my big toe) more when I walk. I usually walk with socks on around the house (in addition to the bandages that I put on myself...put iodine on the scar, put gauze over the scar, and wrap up my foot with this stuff from the doc...it has to be done whenever it's not wet from the pool or shower), but I have to be EXTRA careful when I walk with no shoes on. At this point, walking will not damage my feet or the surgery. The only thing that can damage the surgery now is trauma to the feet. Trauma being anything from someone stepping on them, to stubbing my toe, to something falling on it. Any direct trauma has compromise the success of the surgery as of now. That's why I can't wear open shoes like sandals and why I'm not supposed to walk around without shoes. I go back to the podiatrist on Monday. After he checks them out, I'll be able to wear sandals, walk barefoot, pretty much just keep building up strength and mobility in my toes.

My posts aren't really exiting lately...and I apologize for that, but the worst (and most exciting) parts of this ordeal are over! If anyone has suggestions for what to write about or questions about all this, post a comment!!

Until something worthwhile happens...

Old Skin

So another bad part of having bunion surgery is that once all the bandages are off, you skin falls off. Haha for real though...because no moisture reaches your feet for about 2 weeks, once the bandages are off, you start walking on your feet, getting them wet, etc., the old skin wrinkles up and starts falling off, exposing fresh, new skin thats softer than a baby's bottom. Not only on my feet...but also on my legs! Yeah it's a little gross...but it's hard as hell to shave when your feet are elevated 2 1/2 feet in the air, covered in bandages and plastic bags to keep them from getting wet, sitting on the shower floor (ew), and trying to concentrate on not getting your feet wet. Add in a tailbone that starts aching from the position, and the last thing on your mind is shaving. I would try, but I didn't do a good job. So when I got my first good shave about 5 days ago, the razor kept getting plugged up, not with hair...but with old skin that was blocking the razors. Sorry if this post is gross...but it's true!! So even to this day, my skin on my legs is still not normal, but I think another day or two will have them completely exfoliated. As for my feet, I used a pumice stone tonight in the shower to get all the skin off my feet. It took about 15 minutes, but it was well worth it. I moisturized when I got out, and my feet look sooo much nicer.

Yeah I just proof-read this and it's kinda too much information...haha sorry!!

Happy Father's Day!

Hey everyone...today I went out for breakfast with my dad's side of the family and then to Navy Pier with my mom's side for dinner and to see Cirque Shanghai. It was so awesome. The only bad thing was that the weather kind of sucked...humid and sorta rainy. Overall, awesome :-)

Today was the third day I wore shoes out. First was Friday night...I went out with this guy Anthony and I was able to walk around normally in my Diesels. We even used my handicapped sign at the restaurant lol. Saturday I wore Crocs when I wasn't in my pool (my grandparents, uncle, and cousin came over to swim and for a BBQ). Today I wore the Diesels again because they're big inside and they don't hurt my feet. They're just a LITTLE sore, but for the amount of walking I've done, and considering that I had my bones cut into 2 1/2 weeks ago, I'd say I'd doing really really well.

Well that's about it. I don't go to the doc again till next Monday. Thursday I have a haircut and I'm going to the orthodontist to hopefully get my lower retainer removed (it's been 4 years since I got my braces off) and...that's. about. it.

Until something exciting happens...

The Moment You've Been Waiting For

PICTURES!!!!

Ok keep in mind that they're still swolen, they have a lot of healing to do, they will get smaller, narrower, and all that jazz. I'm 100% ecstatic about the results of the surgery and I'm sooo happy that I got it done.

Here's the before picture:

And the after pictures:

Well that's it! I'll continue posting pics as I keep healing. Today I went into my pool!! Just for about 15 minutes, but it was so nice getting them wet, plus they're a lot less stress on my feet and toes if I start practicing walking in the water since it's tough walking on solid ground.

Sooo Happy!!!

I went in for my second post-op visit today and my worst fears disappeared literally, before my eyes as the nurse took off the bandages. My feet looked great!! Compared to last week, when they looked deformed and I cried when I left the office, today was great. She cut off the bandages and the swelling had gone WAY down, plus since I took so much of the iodine off, my feet looked nice and normal-colored except for the bruises. The doc cut off the ends of the stitches (they're dissolvable but the ends were sticking out of my skin...so 4 cuts total) and that kind of hurt but he was done within 30 seconds. He moved my toes around which caused some mild discomfort was wasn't bad at all.

Then...the part I dreaded...X-Rays. I dreaded it because last week, I nearly fainted in the room. So I walked in there, no dizziness, the nurse took 2 of the 3 X-Rays, and all of a sudden....my feet start itching: exactly what they did last week before I felt faint. I sucked it up and said that I would be sitting down in about 20 seconds, but it got so intense I had to tell the nurse. As I told her that I felt dizzy again (she did my X-Rays last time too), I started losing my hearing and everything started getting dark. I was so dizzy that I started getting nauseas. I was positive that I was going to faint. About 3 nurses, the doctor, and my mom came into the room and a nurse brought me a glass of water. I felt better within about 5 minutes, which is actually longer than it took me last week, but I was sweating so much that I felt horrible the rest of the time I was there. The doctor said that my blood pressure dropped so fast because I hadn't stood up barefoot in 2 weeks (besides last week at the doc) that my body wasn't used to it and all the blood rushed to my feet. lol I dunno....it's so embarrassing.

Anyways, I don't have to go back for about 10 days, after which I can walk around barefoot. Now I have to have some kind of shoe on at all times, but as long as no trauma occurs to my foot (stubbing my toe, dropping anything on my feet, someone stepping on my feet, etc.), everything should continue healing perfectly. The doc said that I'm healing surprisingly fast for such a big surgery and he's very happy with the results. I can get my feet wet now, and when I'm in regular shoes, every few steps I have to stop and stretch my big toe joint and eventually work it to the point where I'm pushing off my toes like a normal person walks. I can change my own dressings now after showering or swimming, so as soon as I change them for the first time (tomorrow) I'll post pics of my tootsies without any bandages :-)

Here are the latest pics:
To compare these shots with previous pictures...here are the links:

1) Week 1 (Day of Surgery to One Week Later)
2) Week 2 (One Week Later to 15 Days Later)

Enjoy!!

Little Painful Lately

For the last few days, I've been having some mild pain in my feet. Mostly in my big and second toes. The swelling has gone down a lot, but now the bruising is there. The black and blue marks on my second toes have gone down a lot and the coloration is almost back to normal.

The black and blue mark on the inside left of my foot is starting to go away as well, but you can see on the right side it's getting worse before it gets better. The whole black and blue mark should be gone or much better within a few days.

This is a picture of the bruise on my outer right foot. I took off all the iodine yesterday so it doesn't look as bad. You can also see the black and blue mark from the previous picture on my other foot.

I've had some weird bruises on the tops of both of my feet. Up close it's almost like the skin is dead...I'm hoping that it's just from a clamp or something from the surgery and it'll just heal on it's own. I'm going to ask the doc tomorrow. Here's another pic from the other foot:

I'm not doing anything today...just laying by the pool like yesterday for a few hours and tonight going for pizza with the fam. I'll post tomorrow after my doctor's appointment...I'm praying that my feet look ok...

Lots of Bruising

Today was a pretty easy going day. Nothing significant happened except tonight we went to my cousins' Rosemarie and Matt's house. It was nice getting out of the house for a while since I won't really be out in public again till Thursday's post-op appointment. One thing I have noticed is, while the swelling is definitely going down (I had to tighten my bandages today because they were really loose), I am developing a lot of bruising. I took a few pictures, but the pictures don't do the bruises justice (just ask my cousin Rosemarie..she was a little disgusted haha)...here they are:

This is the outside (under the pinkie toe) of my right foot. I think this is from me unconsciously walking on the heel and the outsides of my feet so much since I'm scared to put weight on my foot as a whole. The yellow is the iodine from the surgery (I can't get it all off), and the bruising is the red.

Same foot, same bruise, just a little farther away hehe

Inner left foot, it looks much worse in person. Almost the whole inner foot is black and blue.

Little closer up

My second toe on both feet is completely black and blue even though this pic is blurry and it's not coming out very well. But you can still see some discoloration

I can't believe that, as of Thursday, I can pretty much do everything. I can get my feet wet, swim, drive, walk in gym shoes (not open sandals yet), and walk normally. I will also have to start doing exercises such as rolling onto my toes and bending them back and forth to get them moving again. I remember I was so scared that my ENTIRE summer was going to be blown...but since I'm healing so well and so quickly, I think I will be good to go by the end of June (another 2 1/2 weeks).

Anyways, my sister still hasn't uploaded the pictures from the planetarium!!! Soooo...I'll post those asap.

Until tomorrow! :-)