The big reveal part 1. Plaster room and X-ray.

Sorry everyone. There you are, waiting on tenterhooks to hear about the casts coming off, to see the final result, and I go AWOL.

Apologies.

The excuses are that my appointment on Tuesday was right at the end of the day, and by the time we got home and put the Little Lady to bed and had something to eat it was bedtime. Plus, I haven't worked out how to take good shots in artifical light and the flash on my camera bleaches everything out close-up, so I needed to wait.

And yesterday was my birthday, and I decided that instead of blogging and taking pictures that I would see friends, go out to lunch, and generally have a nice day.

So, sorry, but this is the first chance I've had to write.

Regular readers will know that I had my casts changed after two weeks, then had the new ones on for another five weeks, so a total of seven weeks.

We went to the hospital and this time I had to have the casts removed before having the X-rays.

I was sent to the plaster room (last time my surgeon removed the casts) and they did the same thing - cut the bandages round my ankles and then wiggled the casts off.

The lady did start to pull my steri strips off but it made me so squeamish I almost cried so I begged her to stop and told her I'd soak them off at home.

Another nurse dealing with the lady next to me (no privacy here, this is the NHS) told me she had had one bunion done, and I got the usual "you were brave" comment about having them both done at once.

I have to say, I don't feel brave. I mean, I know the recovery has been more onerous as I've not been able to walk at all, but at least I don't have to go through this again!

After the casts were off I felt very vulnerable, so I put my velcro shoes back on and wow! They wrapped so far round my feet I had to fold one of the flaps under! Amazing just how big those casts were.

See how thin my feet look there!

In X-ray, I had the same girl again who had one of her bunions done. She was impressed with my feet, which was reassuring, and we talked about shoes. She said she rarely wears heels now and makes sure her shoes are soft and supportive. I guess I really am going to have to rethink my shoes for a while!

Once she'd taken two shots of each foot, I went back to wait to be seen by Mr Nugent.

Head on over to part 2 for the next installment.