Failed bunion surgery X 2

[Grizzly7168]

Hi I am really discouraged right now I have had 2 bunion repair on the same foot in less than 2 yrs. I am now having to have a fusion done in that foot. Can anyone give me some advice on this procedure. I was told it would be a 12 wk recovery.

[cyberbarn]

I have just had my third surgery on one of my feet and still recovering. I had a bunion repair when I was 16, then I had it done again when I was in my early 50s as I couldn't stand the pain anymore. That only lasted two years, but it took another year after that for them to decide to let me have a joint implant rather than a fusion.

Often the literature says that fusions are the gold standard as they remove all the pain but pain isn't the only thing that concerns the patient. For me I would rather have a small amount of pain but a moving toe. I also don't do very active sports (tennis, jogging and so on) so they finally relented and agreed it would be better for me to have a silastic implant.

Having said that, the best surgery for you to have is the one that the surgeon is most familiar with as that will have a better outcome.

As for recovering, It can take a little longer for the bone to set than just a bunion correction, although it depends on which kind of bunion surgery you had. These days they have lots of options to use plates and screws which means earlier weight bearing.

Recovery will also depend on how much work they have to do. For instance it turns out that although I can't make cartilage I can make bone, and they had trouble getting the screws out from my previous bunion surgery. They had to do that before they put the silastic joint in. So my foot was more bruised than it would have been if the screws had come out easily.

The recovery shouldn't be that much different from what you have previously done, but the one really big thing with a fusion is that the pain from bone on bone rubbing as you walk will be gone.

Good luck, I hope it goes well!

[Grizzly7168 in reply to cyberbarn]

Thankyou so much for your reply. I am really looking forward to the day when my foot is pain free and I don't have to worry about infection in my big toe. I have had 3 rounds of antibiotics because of this. Because the toe has rotated onto its side and I am weight bearing on it the nail and toe have had at least 4 infections. Have you had this happen to you before ?

Have a great day

Janice

[cyberbarn in reply to Grizzly7168]

No, my toe was the opposite, it went varus, that is it went away from the other toes. But it is all lined up nicely now, everything is straight.

However if it doesn't stay that way for ever I won't be surprised. The same things that caused my toe to misbehave in the first place are still there, namely my hypermobility, so although I hope it will last me out, I am fully aware that it might not and I might have to have further surgery.

[Grizzly7168 in reply to cyberbarn]

I hope for your sake the dang thing stays where it has been put . Did your foot have to be in a cast or a boot for the recovery time ? I was in a boot for 8 wks after each surgery . I have a friend who has had 7 surgeries on his ankle ( pins and screws and grafts and fusion ). The last surgery he had about 10 wks ago he got a severe infection has had to have another surgery to clean up the infection in the bone and two rounds of IV antibiotics. Each time he has had to have his leg propped up so it was above his heart. Of course there are people who think it is their duty to tell me all about the complications that can happen. Try to not let it bother me but sometimes my mind does go a wandering. Have a fantastic day

[cyberbarn]

Each time I have had to wear the 'sexy slipper' as the nurses call it. And each time I could weight bear on the heal only, right from the start. I know it is different with fusions however, you need to be non-weightbearing for a few weeks.

However I also had strict instructions to not get up for anything other than toilet for the first three days, and then just toilet and food for the next three weeks with the implant. For the previous surgeries it was two weeks.

And yes, elevating and icing are your best friends! I used a flexible ice sheet from our cool box as it meant I didn't have to get up every hour or so to get the bag of peas out of the freezer which is what my surgeon recommended.

I set up a 'station' on my sofa. I had saved some big cushions from a previous sofa, so I could lay back with my feet up on the cushions and my head on pillows by the arm rest. I had a small table by me with books, telephone, bottle of water and glass, notebooks, pens, sewing kit, scissors, all my medication, thermometer, knitting, cameras, paper towels and some napkins and cutlery. i also had my laptop and one of those lap trays to put it on. Plus cables, for cameras and recharging.

I had all this ready before I went for the surgery so that when I got home I just went straight to the station and didn't have to worry about anything. I am a full time carer for my 21 yo son, who can do some things for us, but has severe chronic fatigue so I needed to make sure everything was in place.

I also filled the deepfreeze with home made 'ready-made' meals that he could just put straight into the oven for me. I even had soup in those silver foil takeaway containers so that all he had to do was slip it into the oven.

I always went upstairs to bed, and down in the morning. Keeping to routine helps.

And I had a great time for four weeks! Elevating and ice after the first week was all that I needed to keep the pain at bay (I can't take codeine and can only manage three days of NSAIDs before it affects my stomach) and it was sort of business as normal conducted from my station. Any delivers to the door I shouted for them to come in and bring things to me.

A fusion is a little different, you have to have the foot immobilised for longer and non-weightbearing. My surgeons have people in non-weightbearing cast for four weeks and then in a walking boot for further weeks. This is so different to when I had a fusion as a teen 40 years ago. Then it was non weight-bearing for 8 weeks, and a further four weeks of a walking plaster cast. But you can still have a good outcome, it doesn't all have to be scary stories!

I would happily have more surgery, in fact I am looking forward to having an implant in my other foot in a year or two when I am fully recovered from this one.

My surgeons and community nurse were worried about infection too, so I had antibiotics on the day and I kept a close eye on my temperature and for signs of infection so that they could catch it quickly if it happened.

Maybe it is just the old Girl Guide in me, I was prepared! But it meant that I had a pretty stress free and enjoyable time.

I hope you do too!