The first week after foot surgery, even getting to the bathroom feels like a big trip. If you’re on crutches or a knee scooter, getting yourself a glass of water is suddenly a whole thing. And that rug you’ve stepped over for ten years? Now it’s a tripping hazard. The rug you’ve stepped over for ten years is suddenly the most dangerous thing in the house.

None of that has much to do with the operation itself. It’s about the home you come back to, and whether anyone thought about it beforehand. Patients often spend weeks reading up on the procedure and barely an afternoon on the logistics. That’s a shame, because the logistics are the part you actually control.

Get your recovery instructions in writing first

Everything else on this list depends on your weight-bearing instructions. A few procedures have you walking in a stiff post-operative shoe within days, but plenty of others mean six weeks or more with no weight on the foot at all. Any foot surgeon Melbourne patients are referred to will expect these questions at the pre-operative appointment, so ask them:

  • How long do I need to keep weight off my foot? Will I need crutches or a scooter?
  • When can I drive again?
  • When’s my first wound check, and who takes the dressing off?
  • With the kind of work I do, when can I go back?

Write the answers down. On the day, you’ll remember about half of them.

Live on one level for the first few weeks

If your bedroom is upstairs, think seriously about sleeping downstairs for the first fortnight. Stairs on crutches can be done, but they’re tiring, and they’re where a lot of awkward stumbles happen. A fold-out bed in the lounge isn’t glamorous, but it puts the bathroom, kitchen and couch a few metres apart.

Then walk the route you’ll use most and look at it the way someone on crutches would:

  • Loose rugs and bath mats without rubber backing (pull them up)
  • Phone chargers, power cords and the dog’s bed sitting in walkways
  • A dark hallway between bedroom and bathroom, which is exactly what you’ll be shuffling down at 2am. Cheap plug-in night lights fix this.
  • Anything you use daily stored down low or up high, when it should sit between waist and shoulder height

The bathroom needs the most attention

You have to keep your wound and dressing dry, and trying to shower on one leg isn’t safe. A shower chair helps a lot. So does a handheld shower head, plus a waterproof cover for your cast or dressing. A toilet frame or raised seat helps more than people expect. Most of it can be hired from mobility equipment suppliers rather than bought.

Food, drinks and the carrying problem

Nobody warns you about this one. On crutches, you can’t carry anything. Not a cup of tea, not a plate, not a bowl of cereal. Both hands are busy.

So plan around it. Cook and freeze a week or two of meals before surgery. Keep a filled water bottle and some snacks wherever you’ll spend most of the day. A small backpack or a kitchen trolley with wheels sounds like overkill until you’re on day three and want a hot drink you didn’t have to ask someone for.

Build a recovery station for elevation

Swelling is the main thing working against you early on, and keeping the foot raised above heart level for much of the first couple of weeks helps control it. Set up one spot (the couch, usually) with enough pillows to prop the leg properly. Within arm’s reach, you want:

  • Medication and a written schedule for taking it
  • Phone, charger and the TV remote
  • Water, tissues and something to read

Line up help before you need it

If it’s your right foot, you probably won’t be able to drive for a few weeks. And if you drive before your surgeon says it’s okay, your insurance might not cover you. Sort out lifts to your follow-up appointments before the surgery. Kids, a dog that needs walking, a parent you care for: sort out who’s covering those jobs now, not from the couch.

Talk to your employer early too. Desk-based work can sometimes resume sooner with the foot elevated under the desk, while jobs that keep you standing all day usually need longer. It also depends on what you’re having done, since something like hammertoe correction is a different recovery from a bigger reconstruction. Your surgeon is the one to give you a realistic timeframe for your situation.

A few weeks of preparation for a few months of recovery

The patients who cope best with recovery aren’t always the toughest. They’re often just the ones whose water bottle was already sitting by the couch when they got home. Bring your list of questions to your next consultation with a specialist foot and ankle surgeon, and build your home plan around the answers.