bunionectomy surgery

I've mentioned a few times on this forum that my wife has a nasty bunion on her right foot (big toe). Yesterday, she had surgery where they shaved down the bunion and fused two of the metatarsal bones together. She's narcotic sensitive (gets very nauseous)so yesterday I spent 3 hours in recovery monitoring her before they would release her. Just like the last time (and we told them before hand about the previous problem), they were a little worried about her in recovery. But apparently everything went very well in surgery. This Dr. is apparently the one the nurses go to for their bunion surgeries; I think that speaks well of him. If all goes well, we will be hiking again this summer and following summer we'll go back to the alps for a real hut to hut trek. Except for the bunion, our hikes/treks in the alps were very succesful in her eyes. It could have been the drugs, but yesterday she was talking about going over there a few summers in a row (Swiss, French, and Italian Alps). I'm hoping this fixes her bunion problem.

Has anyone else here had this surgery? Any thoughts?

Chris

I appreciate hearing about this general issue, as I have bunionettes --- little toe side bunions. So not the same, but similar I imagine. My foot doctor told me to either be careful to get wide-toed shoes with enough toe room particularly on the outsides, or get expensive surgery and wait quite a long time before I would be back on my feet. So I've been very careful to always get shoes that work for me.

On the off chance that my dynamics will ever change, I'd be interested to hear how long it takes until she's back on her feet in general, and ready to do significant distance walking in particular. Best of luck to her (and to your Alps hiking in future).

Same here. The podiatrist who saw me for plantar fasciitis last summer was just drooling to work on my considerable bunions and horrible hammer toes (mostly hereditary--my mother had them and two of my children have them--but not improved by 5 pregnancies and a number of bouts of overweight). My point of view is that as long as they don't give me pain when I'm hiking, I'm not gonna do it! (That's also what the podiatrist I saw 15 years ago said.) It was bad enough to have to miss a summer and fall of backpacking this year because of the PF.

Please let us know how long her recovery actually takes. Thank you!

BrianLe and OM, the "plan" is 3 weeks with no weight on the foot, then she gets a "boot" to wear. Not sure for how long on the boot, but the entire sojourn will last 3 to 4 months before any significant walking/hiking takes place. I appreciate the support you two have given me in the past concerning my wifes' PF and bunion.

It's painful, but so far so good (toes have good circulation and no infection). She is on 4 meds; pain, antibiotics, blood thinner, and anti nausea (for the pain killer). Her foot is in a cast of sorts, but I can see one incision between her big toe and the next. With her, the instability in her foot was such that they fused two metatarsels with a small plate. If her foot had been more stable, they could have used a short cable to hold the big toe metatarsel in place for a quicker recovery. They seem to have a larger toolbox of techniques to pull from now days for these types of foot problems. Interestingly, it's usual reason is to be able to wear high heels; not to be able to go trekking with one's husband.

Time to exercise the avatar!

Chris

Interesting; recovery time sounds somewhat worse than when I had surgery for Morton's Neuroma (cut out about an inch of damaged nerve). I think there I was off my feet for a week or two, literally used a wheel-chair once (which is a fascinating experience that I think all healthy people should have, just so they're conscious of how wheel-chair bound people feel in social and other interactions).

But 3 months after my surgery I was starting a long backpacking trip. It was pushing things to do so, and I didn't have much chance to walk/train ahead of time, but it worked. So if it's 3 to 4 months before any significant walking --- sounds a little tougher on the recovery.

My best wishes and sympathy. I was sort of going nuts by the time it felt half-way comfortable to walk more than a block or so. I'm sure that she'll appreciate your patience and support.

Took bunion girl to the Dr. to have the foot inspected today. Passed with flying colors! Continuing on with the 3 weeks of no walking, to be followed up with a walking boot where she can use her heel only. It's 5 weeks of no washing the foot and wearing a cast. BUT, with the cast cover I got her, she can start showering again . I am also supposed to play "this little piggy" with her big toe every day.

Well, at 1 month Patty gets to wash her feet now. She is healing well enough to wear a removable cast, but still has 2 more weeks of no walking (for a total of 6 weeks). The removable cast is interesting; it straps in place and has an inflation system to hold/support the foot and ankle area. We also need to continue ice packing her feet at least once a day to get her prepped for physical therapy. The foot still needs to spend a lot of time up high relative to the heart, so she gets to have her feet up on the desk at work.

Finally, we are making some real headway in the recovery. Almost 8 weeks after surgery, she gets to walk without crutches in a thick soled birkenstock-like shoe. The first couple days were painful, but now she is sleeping through the night with no real pain. Its starting to look promising.

With Tax season upon us, and filling out all the finantial aid forms for all the colleges our daughter has applied for, today is a computer day. Happy happy joy joy.

Well, my wife is no longer bunion-girl. She is now wearing tennis shoes comfortably and doing regular PT. Occasionally, we will be talking and a fierce twinge in her foot will almost bring her to tears. But generally this is starting to look really good. I'll have to post a pic of the scar. We still have to be patient, but it is really coming along now.

Chris

I'm glad to read that your wife's surgery was going well, and I'm sorry I didn't see this thread when it came out.
Just to chime in my experience with a bunionectomy: it was great! I had it done in Feb a couple years back, and by that July I was able to do the Rae Lakes loop 40 miles. I may have to do the other foot as well, but I'm holding off for now. I would recommend it for anyone with bunion problems, though like any surgery, it has its risks. If anyone lives in the Bay Area and has Kaiser, I strongly recommend Daisy Sundstrom: she was beyond awesome, as a doctor and a human being.
My only real ongoing problem that surgery did not correct, is that I need to wear shoes with a wide toebox. The only brand that really works for me is Keens, unfortunately, because I don't otherwise think they are especially durable and wellmade. (If anyone with similar problems has a suggestion of another brand, I'd be interested to hear of it.).
And happy trails to your wife!
PS I also found it essential to get good custom made orthotics. I got a pair through Kaiser for $350 cost to me, a subsidized price.

I too need a wide toebox, or alternatively similar surgery on the little-toe side (bunionettes).
I used to use Golite shoes but they slightly changed them a few years ago so I switched to Asics. I've since hiked 3000 or so miles in Asics Gel Kahana shoes, longer than my nominal shoe size and in EE width and they've been excellent. The current models at least look like they should be about as wide (models sadly change often).

They also hold up well. On long trips I'm pretty firm about replacing shoes every 500 - 600 miles, 700 at the outside, and unlike the Golites, it bugged me to throw these out after such mileage; apart from a minor bit of rubber that always falls off the back after a couple hundred miles (not something really important) these are quite durable. Hiking through New Mexico with another fellow, when I got my replacement shoes in the mail he opted to take my old shoes as superior to what he was wearing at the time.

I make no guarantee these would work well for you (!). Feet are complicated and highly individual, but at least it sounds like we have similar needs here. Best of luck!

Brian,
Thanks for the input. I imagine your shoe needs vary from mine due to the bunionette, but I will happily check out the Asics. And I can relate to the matter of needing a larger size boot (like the old joke goes: "You know what they say about guy with big shoes? Big shoes, big bunions"). I'm up to an 11 1/2, and it annoys me how roomy I feel inside my boots. Years ago I use to wear them tight, which no doubt is terrible for causing bunions, but it always made me feel like it was better for feeling the terrain on x-country. Now I feel really too sloppy in my boots. Walking across a slope, they just sort of turn over on my feet, which really sucks:( It is really a drag. I don't know if you ever have that sort of problem.
I also definitely don't get good mileage like your Asics on my Keen's. One issue that comes up for me, though, is that I wear down disproportionately on my rear outer heel. Otherwise, my boots are in good shape. But I feel like with it worn down in that way, my foot strike becomes turned out, uneven, perhaps putting strain on my knees. I don't have "bad knees", beyond having just over-used them for too many years, but they do seem to give me trouble when I wear worn out-ish boots. Other people don't seem to give up on their boots as soon as I do, but it seems necessary for me. I wish I could get them resoled, like in the old days, but they may be broken down unevenly inside the shoe bed as well, I guess.