Well, I went in yesterday for a calcaenal osteotmy, FDL transfer and Achilles lengthening. While I was in pre-op the doctor said that the bunion on my foot wasn't going to get better so why not do that too? I said sure. When he got into the foot he found some weird stuff- I was a little out of it during the explaination but from what I can tell- The accessory navicular I have wasn't attached to the original navicular and was " floating" so he just took it out. The PTT was completely shot so he had to take a "couple" of other tendons to make an arch. Then when he did the bunion part he saw that the bunion was basically holding 2 damaged bones together so he put a plate in .
I had an allergic reaction to one of the pain meds and had to spend 2.5 hours in recovery getting benadryl and steroids and O2. So, all told I was " in the back" almost 6 hours. My poor mother was frantic. They came out and told her periodically that everything was " fine but a little more complicated than they anticipated".
I do have two cool toys- 1) a cooler with a motor and a tube that pumps cold water into a bladder that's wrapped around my ankle. 2) a popliteal nerve block that lasts for 3 days. It's attached to a bladder filled with lidocaine ( or some caine) and it is in a fanny pack. So when it runs out after 3 days or so, I just take it out and throw it away. It's called " On Q" and I highly recommend it- my pain has been minimal.
I must say I am very glad that I made the decision to go to this surgeon as I don't know that everyone would have adapted " on the fly" to unexpected findings as well as it seems he did.
I already hate crutches!!

Can I just say......WOW. I don't know if I could have handled "extras" in surgery, AND being told you have "extras" when you aren't even really coherent!

WOW.

My husband had one of those cooler things for his knee after his surgery. It really is a cool thing! Unfortunately we got rid of it in our move because we didn't think we'd need it again....boy, I could have used it after my bunionectomy!

And as for having the allergic reaction to the meds...I'm right there with you. I had a simple gastro procedure done and ended up in the ER with a reaction to the meds they gave me for twighlight sleep...felt like I wanted to rip my skin off to get to whatever was crawling around under it. Which is why, for my bunionectomy, I told them they had to knock me out completely and I couldn't go near the twilight stuff....I also can't do Benadryl, so I would have been SOL if I had been in your shoes.

Congrats on making it through!