Second Opinions and more...

Even though I was excited about this "new" alternative technique, I still had my doubts because the technique wasn't heavily used yet for bunion surgery. Was this truly a technique just waiting for people to discover (ex. like with Lasik surgery)? Or was this technique not reliable and that was why surgeons don't perform it? I did not and still do not know the answer. What I did know is that Hong Kong is very advanced in a lot of what they do and I trusted their healthcare system to be reliable. Just because the US was not yet using this technique, did not mean it was not worth pursuing. Looking outside of the US can often help open our eyes to other ideas. Plus, I also had first hand communication from a few of Dr. Wu's patients and this was extremely helpful to me when researching my decision. 

One of the first steps I did was to obtain current X-rays of my feet and have them evaluated by the specialists. See below for a copy of my original pre-surgery X-rays. 

The deformity was not minor and I was a candidate for surgery should I choose to have it. I ended up asking opinions from a few orthopaedic surgeons/podiatrists that I knew. I can tell you this was both a good and a bad thing to do. It was good to get different opinions from different specialists, but unfortunately, almost all their opinions were different. A couple stated that the Syndesmosis Procedure (SP) would be worth trying, while others were adamantly against it, saying it would not work. The interesting part was that all the specialists I queried, had over 20 years+ experience under their belt, and all believed they were right. As a patient, it was very confusing and eventually I stopped asking different specialist's opinions because it was overwhelming. At one point, I was told that the decision was ultimately between the patient and the surgeon, and there must be an equal amount of trust between both parties in order for the surgery to be a success. The patient had to trust the surgeon and the surgeon had to trust the patient would follow their instructions during the healing process. 

Again, I cannot explain why this technique is not yet practiced in the US, but I am hoping Dr. Fellner and his group can start a successful trend to make this procedure more well-known. In my opinion, the concept proposed by the SP makes sense. There is less trauma than with conventional surgery and a successful surgery can also lead to better foot function overall. Besides correcting my bunion deformity, the surgery may also help raise my arch a little more which can improve the way I walk. My decision to have or not have this surgery was based on my communication with Dr. Wu and his team, my communication with Dr. Fellner on the SP, my communication with other surgeons/podiatrists, and also on the testimonials I was able to retrieve from Dr. Wu's patients. Some of the patient testimonials that I heard, were from patients who underwent the surgery several years ago. There were also patients who had undergone the SP surgery over 10 years ago, but I did not query them for information. All the patients I queried were happy with the surgery performed by Dr. Wu and so far, have not seen any re-occurrence of the bunion.

By August 2015 and after multiple (after multiple) communications, I was 90% sure I would proceed with the non-bone breaking surgery performed by Dr. Wu. My next step was to meet with Dr. Wu himself to have him evaluate me in person, and for me to also get a sense of who my doctor was. Since March 2015, I had not met nor spoken to Dr. Wu and felt this was an important step before I made my final decision. I would be performing this surgery out of the country (I live in California), and a decision like this would need lots of coordination.