Extreme Bunions

Week 7

The other night I went to the gym and went swimming for the 3rd time since surgery.  It's week #7.   After the swim, relax in the sauna.  WONDerful.  Luxury treat.  I stretched out on one of the higher  benches, slid my feet out of the Chaco flip-flops, and propped my heels up.  Divine.  I peeked down to the toes.  Short of some strategically-placed scars, there's nothing to hide anymore.  Unbelievable.

Before, During, After

It's 5 weeks since surgery.  Unbelievable, how quickly the time has passed.

 

Just as the saying goes "Life is what happens while you're making other plans;"  such is the futility of 'planning' exactly how you'll get through the aftermath of having any surgery, I suppose.  I opted to jump right in & have bunion surgery on both feet at once.  Obviously this made for some challenges with daily life.  There were the obvious issues that I had thought of and planned for...then there were some surprises.

Pain.  The pain was not unbearable.  It was more of a long-lasting sort of dull achy pain that erodes your energy and makes it challenging to want to wake up in the morning and intensifies as the day wears on.  The first 10 days or so, I was practically disallowed from doing anything & everything.  Being at least somewhat detached from most of my responsibilities, and with heavy pain meds and e-mail access available, made the first 2 weeks quite bearable.  The strangest part was the near-hallucinogenic dreams & nightmares seemingly induced by the Darvoset.

10 days after surgery, there's a post-op visit with the doctor.  Either they were just trying to make me feel good, or I am an examplary patient.  Perhaps it's my good gene stock, or the multi-vitamins I'm on, or the chance I was afforded to be supremely lazy for 10 days while my dad was taking care of me.  I had a reasonable amount of swelling and less-than-average hematoma.  (They said the feet looked "great."  I saw two frankenstein-looking green-and-blue swollen creatures with some blood-encrusted steri-strips.  Different vantage points for sure.)  Could it be the arnica my ND had me taking the week before had made me "less bruised" than I could have been?  Alas, we'll never know.

The 3rd week was, in some ways, a bit more difficult.  By the 3rd week I was increasingly antsy to get back to "routine," to get stuff "done," and also VERY tired of asking OTHER people do to things FOR me!  Tired of eating the same things! Missing my own home! Trying to start work again, while also trying to make time for hateful painful foot exercises 3x a day!  Wanting SOME kind of exercise (Pilates videos were just about the only option)!   Trying to get back up to speed, but my body kept going to sleep at night for 9 or 10 hours!

The 4th week allowed for much more mobility.  Along with that, more challenges.  I started driving regularly. The more I tried to DO, the more I risked being swollen & hurt by the end of the day; yet the return to my own home & work of course made it so tempting to cook, clean, organize, etc.  You've got to have someone with you.  It would be too hard otherwise. 

The 5th week is now mid-way through, and going quite well!  Soon I'll have a post with all of the things I can think of that really made the best of this situation.  Stay tuned.