Upcoming Foot Surgery

A little background first - I had a bunion removed in 2019 with a silicone implant. In 2022 I had to have the second toe on the same foot removed due to a salmonella infection (yes, you read that right). In the past 4 months or so my big toe has become increasingly painful while walking, my major source of exercise outside of gym workouts. I went to my podiatrist who said the implant is failing and if I don’t have it repaired I won’t be able to walk at all soon.

Surgery to repair it is on August 26. The surgeon doing the repair will take out the implant, replace it with cadaver bone and stem cells from my hip. I have a TKR on the same side, so they can’t do a nerve block or take my own bone from my tibia which is the preferred method. So I’ll be having general anesthesia most likely.

My question (finally) is has anyone experienced anything similar? He did say that my toe will be shortened by up to 1/2 inch. Will that interfere with walking - gait, ability? It will be stiff, but I already can’t flex that foot much. What am I up against? I am hoping for PT and will request it if it’s not mentioned.

Going from being extremely fit - biking 20-30 miles every weekend, and walking 5 miles 3x a week, all of which was cut off by a biking accident (hence the two TKRs in 15 months) and weight lifting fairly heavy for a 69 year old who now has completely shot rotator cuffs and can’t do that either, is certainly weighing on me. If I’m told I can’t walk 3-5 miles any longer it will be really hard to accept, even though I know eventually I will. But I could use some encouragement from someone who has BTDT.