7 weeks post-op....happy AND frustrated - Foot Problems Message Board

armykat · 04-25-2008, 04:33 PM

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd give an update, even though I haven't been around in a while. It's been officially 7 weeks since my bunionectomy. The great news is that I've been up and about for a few weeks now. I'm back into all of my flat shoes, back to the gym (at about 50&#37

, and my foot almost looks normal (very little swelling). I've had some setbacks in the form of two dissolvable sutures migrating to the surface and needing to be removed. Also, I still have some numbness in teh big toe, and my muscle control is pretty lousy. Unfortunately, my ROM is still terrible! The tightened tendon is so tight that my toe is still not hitting the ground when I walk. Instead, I end up walking mostly on the ball of my foot, which can be really painful at the end of the day, or at the gym. I'm still pulling and pushing, but I see such minimal movement that it's discouraging. I tried on my very small heels and they were too painful to wear for more than a minute....maybe next week. The alignment of the toe looks great, so I'm happy about that (although I'm still not giving up my fantasy of curvaceous feet, lol!).

Overall, I'm excited to be feeling almost normal, and to be out of sneakers for small amounts of time. I wish that this toe was a lot more flexible, and I find myself being really frustrated about that. But, I guess it could be worse right?

Anyway, thanks for reading and for the countless posts of support.

lcweiden3132 · 04-25-2008, 07:20 PM

That's great! At 7 weeks I was still in socks as any shoe I tried on pressed excrutiatingly into the scar...mine is on the top of my foot. And it was so swollen I had difficulty in getting a shoe on that was two sizes bigger than my normal size!

I'm 3 months post op and still have some issues with ROM...but I'm working on it.

debbie g · 04-26-2008, 01:38 PM

thats good news armykat. keep working with your toe. in time it should be flat to the groung. the trouble is WHEN. i feel the same way.

Teddie2 · 04-27-2008, 10:21 AM

Hey every change in a positive direction is progress. I am almost 6 weeks and still in my surg shoe and praying I get out of it soon. My doc has me doing toe presses but I notice all my toes are not flat to the ground.. my big toe is very puffy in the pad and the other toes bend when I press down all very strange. But I will ask my doc about all that when I see him tomorrow. Being in this surge shoe which causes me to walk with all my weight on my heel and ankle has messed up my tendons and I think I developed tendonitis of the tendon to my tibia as several days ago I could not even put my foot down in the surg shoe without extreme pain in the tibia.. rest, ice , compression meds for inflammation for a few days and feeling better now but I know this recovery process in general takes a longgggg time. SO I guess patience is key. Tendons take a very long time to stretch back out..and I think it will be many months before FRM will return or at least close to. Keep at it

armykat · 04-27-2008, 01:33 PM

Thanks, all. It's really funny how you can hear what you want to hear. When my doc told me to view recovery as a 2-4 month process, I heard, "you'll be back to normal in 2 months." When he said that my recovery would probably be on the quicker end of the 2-4 month spectrum because I'm young, I heard "you'll be in heels in a month. I also heard "it will only hurt for the first week," and I never heard the part about needing crutches for the first week and a half! I knew I wanted the surgery, so I just interpreted everything to mean what I wanted it to.

I will try to keep my patience going a bit longer and keep working on those tendons. Who knew they would be so temperamental!

Teddie, when do you expect to be out of the surgical shoe?