Hi everyone! Today I’m going to be talking about recovering after my surgery that was a Knee fusion and Symes amputation when I was eight years old.

I’ll include some tips and helpful information that will hopefully help you or someone you know through the recovery process after surgery!

If you’d like to read my post about preparing for a hospital stay – read that HERE.

What is PFFD?

Proximal femoral focal deficiency (PFFD), also known as Congenital Femoral Deficiency (CFD), is a rare, non-hereditary birth defect that affects the pelvis, particularly the hip bone, and the proximal femur. The disorder may affect one side or both, with the hip being deformed and the leg shortened.

Because of this condition, I personally have had to wear a prosthetic leg from birth, and undergone operations to fix the deformed leg including having the foot amputated.



Tips after surgery:



Please don’t rush to get better:

Make sure to give yourself a break.

Your body will take it’s time to recover after such a trauma like surgery – so please don’t try to force yourself to be better quickly as this can damage the healing tissue and wound which will just end up delaying the recovery process.

I had to stay bed bound for about the first two weeks to a month after my amputation and I was so desperate to get up and move around – but I knew that if I did it would take me even longer to recover!

Keep notes of your medication routine:

After my amputation I was on a lot of different medication for pain relief and to relieve phantom pain – and it really did get confusing.

The best thing me and my Father did was write down the times of each medication and then a simple tick next to it after I’d taken it, this way I knew regularly what I’d taken and hadn’t taken.

It’s so easy to think you’ve forgotten and take an extra dose by accident – which can be very dangerous.. so please keep track of your medication intake!

Tell your Doctor if you are still in pain:

I was really struggling with shooting pains and phantom pains after my amputation and at first I was hesitant to say anything as I didn’t know if it was normal straight after surgery and if anything could even be done about it.

It ended up becoming unbearable so I mentioned it to a nurse and I was medicated straightaway which really relieved the pain.. so please don’t be afraid to mention whatever you are suffering with even if you think it’s nothing.

Try to keep your spirits high:

Going through surgery is so incredibly stressful and probably the best advice I can give you is to try and stay in the best mood possible.

It’s really easy to get down when you have stay in bed and aren’t able to do much..

some things I found useful were binge watching TV shows, listening to music, watching films, and having family and friends visit me often really kept me distracted. Also concentrating on my schoolwork as after all I was only 8 years old!

Staying clean without a bath/shower:

After my surgery it was so unbelievably difficult to get in and out of a bath and shower so what I was advised to do by my Doctor was to wash in the bathroom just on the edge of a bath with clean water, a sponge and soap.

This was so easy and helped me so much to stay clean and I always felt so much better afterwards! It still keeps you very clean and it’s also important to keep your wound clean to prevent infection.

It’s much better than just skipping a shower; or forcing yourself to climb into one which could damage your recovery process and be rather dangerous.

Listen to the advice of the professionals around you no matter how hard:

I really struggled to get into wearing my prosthetic leg again after my amputation.. it felt different and I was so hypersensitive about having to put my stump inside a prosthesis because it still had stitches and looked very new to me still – I felt I couldn’t do it.

My prosthetist and my Doctors were telling me that the more I practiced the more I would get used to it – but I didn’t listen and ended up being wheelchair bound for a year. After that year I finally started to practice wearing a prosthetic again they were right – now I can wear my prosthetic leg and I can walk without a second thought!

Eat and sleep well:

This goes without saying for most of us all of the time, but the amazing effects on our body from eating and sleeping better than usual have been proven time and time again. It’s a great idea to try and focus on eating better and enough while you are recovering so your body is getting the nourishment it needs, having a good sleep schedule and making sure you are getting enough rest will help you feel better during the day.

I really struggled after surgery to keep a good sleeping pattern and it made my phantom pains a lot worse as I was stressed and tired.

Don’t forget also to stay hydrated and drink lots of water! 🙂

Be honest about your feelings:

Surgery is very tough and most of the time you go through quite a bit of pain at first before things start to improve.

I was a very lucky child to have such an amazing family as I was going through my surgery and what helped me was being able to tell them when I was struggling with pain or just feeling very weak and low.

My family were extremely supportive of me and I think everyone out there should know that sharing your feelings and admitting you may be suffering in pain or just having a bad day – or even not recovering after surgery as well as you’d hoped is really important because this way you will get the support you need in order to be okay again.

I really hope that you all found this list useful and I will always add to it in the future if I think of any more points that I feel will benefit others out there going through surgery!

I tried to name the most important ones here that really helped me recover as a young child having an amputation. 🙂

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I hope you have a wonderful day and wish you and everyone you know the best of luck in any surgery you may be having soon or one day in the future.

As always; don’t be afraid to drop me a message! ❤

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