I had bunion surgery on my left foot exactly ten months ago. Compared to some horror stories that I have read online of others who have had the same procedure, I think that I fared pretty well. I was very thankful to this podiatry clinic in Singapore. I went from having a gaping hole in my foot that looked like something from an old Frankenstein movie, to just having a bit of a blurry scar. Here is my whole recovery experience.
My recovery process
The highlight of my recovery process was removing the metal pin that had been holding my toe straight.
On the day that I went to have the pin removed, the podiatrist sprayed the area with an antiseptic that was supposed to double as a slight pain reliever. He then grabbed the end of the pin with something that looked like a pair of needle-nose pliers and pulled. This is when the pin was supposed to just slide out, but I guess things had been going too easily for me, so it was about time for something to go wrong. As he pulled, the pliers just slipped off of the edge of the pin. The vibration from the pliers slipping off of the pin sent ripples of pain throughout my foot and shivers up my spine.
He grabbed the pin again, and the pliers slipped off again. Every time he pulled it the pin would move just a fraction of an inch, but because it was now wet and slippery from blood, the pliers slipped off more easily each time. After the fourth time, he looked at me with sorrowful eyes and said: “I am so sorry, I know that I am hurting you, but there is no other way to do this.”
He made two more attempts and then let me take a breather, realizing that each attempt was causing me excruciating pain. While he waited for me to recover, my podiatrist in Singapore explained that at some point I must have put too much pressure on my foot before the bone had finished knitting together. As it appeared that I had somehow bent the pin. This explained why it was now so hard for a supposedly straight pin to come out of a square hole.
After about three more attempts, the pin finally surrendered to our attacks and slid out. Wow, the pain that I felt the moment that the pin came out has got to be somewhere on the level of what I imagine natural childbirth to feel like! I had to sit completely still, tightly gripping my foot for about a minute, waiting for the pain to subside. However, after a few minutes, all was back to normal, so my foot was bandaged and I was sent on my way. The metal pin inserted to hold my toe straight was visible in an X-ray, six weeks after bunion correction surgery.
Coping after surgery
For those of you who are contemplating going through this procedure, let me pass on a few nuggets of wisdom that I picked up during this experience:
Do not use the stairs. At the time of my surgery, I lived in a flat near my podiatry clinic. Thank God that I had enough forethought to move my bed down to the first floor the day before my surgery. No, it wasn’t very fashionable to have a queen-sized bed sitting in the middle of my living room for two months, but there was just no painless way to climb the stairs on a broken foot. Also, while you are at it, think about moving other things that you will need closer to your bed.
Get acquainted with drivable shopping carts. Since you are not supposed to put any weight on your foot for the first few weeks while the bone heals, you won't want to push an ordinary shopping cart around 7-11. Your podiatrist probably won’t recommend it, and it may lead to your inadvertently bending the metal pin in your foot.
You also need to get some help. Being a single woman who lives alone I usually revel in my independence, but even I have to admit that there are times when it would be nice to have someone around to help with everyday tasks. For example: when you are on crutches, and you are trying to get grocery bags from the car to your front door or trying to carry a simple plate of food from the kitchen to your table. You do need both hands for the crutches, so you have no way to carry anything else. If you don’t have anyone who can help out regularly, be sure to have a cart or basket on wheels handy. That way you can place your grocery bag or plate of food in the cart in front of you and push it from behind while you walk with the crutches.
Final words
Well, that is all the wealth of my wisdom on the subject of bunion surgery and its recovery. If you are contemplating having this or a similar procedure done, the best advice that I can give you is to think beforehand about how you will get around and get everyday tasks completed. Then make arrangements or put processes in place that will allow you to still get those things done.
I suggest you go with this podiatry centre in Singapore, visit their website now to schedule an appointment today.
