Dealing with the Fear of Bunion Surgery

Do you feel fearful and anxious about bunion surgery?

You're not alone. I get a lot of email from people saying they're scared.

Understandably.

Bunion surgery is major surgery with the potential for complications out of your control, but one complication in your control, which you can avoid, is the stress you create in yourself by not managing your pre-surgery fear and anxiety.

In previous posts, I've written about how your fear may be your intuition telling you to do more research on your surgery, ask more questions of your surgeon, or even change surgeons.

Assuming you trust your surgeon and have done your due diligence, in this post I'd like to focus on your own emotional power and what you can control: the way you respond. Responding successfully comes from a series of conscious choices to think differently and direct your actions toward whatever it takes to create and sustain healthy feet. A healthy mind will help you get there.

Making conscious healthy thinking choices will shift your emotional state of worry and fear to calm and confidence, so focus on what you're telling yourself and if it's not helpful, change your thinking to something that is. Even something as simple as the self-talk statements such as the ones below can help quiet your fearful voice:

* "I'm grateful for my feet and the opportunity to take better care of them and myself.

* I'm doing everything I can to prepare myself and I can relax and let my surgeon and friends support me."

If you've been successful managing your fear, have already had bunion surgery, or are a bunion surgeon or nurse, what would you recommend people do to assuage their fear and worry and create more calm and confidence prior to surgery? Please click on the "post" link below and share your comments.

Thanks! Mary/Smiling Walker