Post Bunion Surgery....still OUCH! - Foot Problems Message Board

roz5 · 10-09-2005, 04:50 AM

Well, I am officially 11 weeks post op from my bunion surgery (right foot...big toe cut & straightened with permanent screw; bunion removed; bone spur removed). I must say that right now, my foot hurts worse than it did prior to surgery

The range of motion in my toes is still not good and they will only move "so far" despite my daily efforts to stretch them. My arch hurts; the top of my foot by my ankle is painful; the outside of my ankle hurts; the incision area is painful; and my ankle swells daily (especially the outside). Additionally, my feet are 2 different colors! The foot that had the surgery is a darker red/purple color (even my students noticed this!) and it goes right up through my ankle.
So what is up with this.....is this all normal? It's very difficult to walk without limping. Thankfully, I do have an appointment with my podiatrist on Tuesday, when I think she intends to "release me". I don't want to be a whiner & complain to her. And I especially don't want to tell her that my foot feels worse off than it did prior to surgery

Someone please tell me that there will be a day when I wake up and can walk without pain!!! My hysterectomy in June was a walk in the park compared to the pain I'm having with this foot

Thanks for letting me vent

angdang · 10-09-2005, 10:17 AM

and another thing.....my feet looked perfectly fine prior to bunion surgery. Nice toes,nice skin. OK, so there was a big ugly knobby bunion. But now it is gone.
So why do my feet now look to me like 'man feet'?!! The veins seem to stand out, the color looks off and my feet seem wider! I certainly thought that without the bunion my foot would slip into my shoes, and not hurt. TA~DA!! Yeah, they slip in if I want to leave my pinky toe behind! I am 9 weeks post op with the second foot and 4 months first foot. Where did my lovely feet go?

mich24 · 10-09-2005, 12:30 PM

I'm 11 weeks post op bunion surgery, same procedure as Roz. Foot still hurts. The ball of my foot feels like a bump or swelling. It was so bad last Wed. I called my podiatrist and he had me come in. Says I have a lot of inflammation and swelling in my foot so he gave me a cortisone injection into my foot. The swelling has gone down some but is still there. The big toe is still stiff even after 3 weeks of physical therapy. The big toe does not touch the floor so my walking gait is off and is affecting my little toes. They're painful on the under side because they're taking all the pressure instead of the big toe. That is my biggest complaint. If they could alleviate that problem I could put up with the other aches and pains. I can't walk bare footed and it's hard to find comfortable shoes. My job is 3 days a week of 12 hour days and I'm miserable the whole time working. I originally looked into having this surgery 2 years ago but after reading internet accounts of people having problems decided against doing it. Then this spring talked to some people that had it done with good results so decided to do it myself. Wish I had not done it and still had my bunion. At least I was able to walk with no problem, just had bunion pain and restricted to what shoes I could wear. Hopefully this will all resolve as time goes by but I'm beginning to have my doubts. Well guess I've vented long enough.
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roz5 · 10-09-2005, 12:42 PM

Vent away!!
Seems like we're all in the same boat just about! My foot hurts so badly today that I can barely stand it. And WHY are my feet 2 different colors? I do have Raynaud's syndrome, which hinders the circulation in my fingers & toes (especially when they get cold). I am hoping that the Raynaud's is not affecting the healing progress from bunion surgery. I just feel so old right now!

Codikatt56 · 10-09-2005, 08:53 PM

I am very happy to say that i washed my left foot for the first
time in 3 weeks today! I am one of the lucky ones who had no
pain and no swelling and was able to get rid of the crutches in
two weeks. I switch to a flat surgical shoe tomorrow and then in
two weeks i'll switch to an athletic shoe. Even though i had
no problems at all with my recuperation I think I will wait
3 yrs to have it done on my right foot and i will certainly use
the same surgeon. I'm sorry to hear that some of you are having
so much trouble and wish you luck.....codikatt