Sharing My Bunionectomy Experience

*This is a sponsored collaboration with Plastic Surgery Info Canada* What is the first thing that comes to mind when the word ‘plastic surgery‘ is mentioned? I could bet my babywearing slings and carriers that for most people it would be along the lines of a breast enhancement, nose reshaping or a tummy tuck. In the instance you are not aware, there are many other forms of plastic surgery carried out to help patients with reconstruction, and today I thought I’d share my own experience of having a form of plastic surgery back in 2015.

I briefly touched upon the subject during my pregnancy announcement article but wanted to go into a little more detail.

Ever since I was a young child in primary school (from recollection 10 years old) I had bunions on both feet. This may have been down to either being hereditary as my Aunt also had them or wearing the incorrect shoe size. Whatever the reason I remember being very conscious of them as a child and would absolutely loath P.E lessons when we had to go bare foot for swimming or gymnastics.

Fast forward a decade and the scenario hadn’t changed. I still had bunions and was that self conscious that wouldn’t show my feet to anyone. The left foot in particular was the worst of the two. Now if you can imagine for a second a golf ball attached to the side of one’s foot with the big toe doing a great job of bending 90 degrees into my other toes causing them all to slant to the left, that beautiful people is what my foot looked like (true story!)

Aside from not being aesthetically pleasing to the eye (something I became used to living with) it was the pain from inflammation that occurred on a near daily basis from walking and working out frequently that was starting to take its toll.

I had always been very sporty at school and my love for keeping active increased throughout my 20’s where I decided to train in the Martial Arts discipline of Kickboxing. Alongside my 2-3 weekly classes I also completed numerous HITT and bodyweight workouts. Couple that with a new found LOVE for OCR (obstacle course racing) my poor feet could no longer keep up with such demands.

Speaking as someone who has a high pain threshold, my inflamed bunions began to become intolerable and so an appointment with my GP was booked. Thankfully for me, he did not hesitate to refer me onto a specialist under the NHS and after a few initial consultations the decision was made to put me forward for a bunionoctomy. I had to wait the best part of 8 months before the day of surgery eventually came around. The 3rd June 2015, exactly 7 days after my 30th birthday celebrations with the other half.

The surgery itself was a success, but as my bunion was extremely severe the consultant had to perform a Lapidus Bunionectomy,means a cut or fusion had to be made at the bottom of the bone and repositioned using several screws!

Due to the amount of pain I was in upon waking up from the procedure, I was given 5g of morphine and paracetamol. After being monitored for 5 hours I was given a surgical shoe and crutches and sent home to begin the recovery process.

Honestly cannot WAIT until I get out of this surgical shoe, wear normal footwear and begin the process of slowly introducing training again. Monday’s follow up consultation couldn’t come quick enough!

A post shared by Dani aka @breakinboundrez (@thiswomansword) on Jun 29, 2015 at 1:06pm PDT

It took a total of 7 weeks to fully recover however my consultant did mention my bunion was the worst he has come across in the many years he has been completed foot related surgeries (how embarrassing is that?). I am extremely thankful to now be pain free, and whilst I still have a mild bunion on the right foot, it hasn’t been causing any issues for me to even consider having another procedure done for I do not miss the pain of being hit in the foot repeatedly with a hammer or the irritating surgical shoe!

Every year, more and more patients are referred to Plastic Surgeons to carry out aesthetic and re-constructive plastic surgery. Weather you have a Bunionectomy like I, a Vaginoplasty following childbirth, sustained life changing injuries following an accident or an attack I honestly believe that the use of plastic surgery can indeed change a persons quality of life for the better.