June 4th, 2014
So, my right foot is 1 years old. As much as I anticipated the 1 year anniversary since my left foot surgery, this day came and went like any other day. This is a major sign of progress, because it means that I am not counting my days one by one any more. I am just living my life. I didn't realize that the anniversary had passed until a full day later. Truthfully, having less surgery on my right foot has really made it maintain its position as my stronger foot, even though it is 5 months "younger" in terms of days since its surgery. The left one is the one that I have to watch out for still.
At this point I can jog, I have become a great swimmer and am becoming a legit cyclist, and I can wear normal shoes. I just have to be careful with how often I wear wedges and other non-orthopedic/feet friendly shoes. In addition, I still haven't been able to get back into even a low pair of traditional heels. My inner fashionista cries sometimes, but it's ok that I can't wear heels, because I don't need to do anymore damage to my feet...and I have the best excuse ever not to have to deal with that pain. Every woman can agree that no heels are completely comfortable, some just hurt less than others.
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ReflectionAs far as I can report, both surgeries were a success, my life has been left better because of them, and I continue to get stronger every day.
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ReplyDeleteI am preparing to have a similar surgery next week. I have so many questions. I love stilletos and am concerned I may never wear them again. Do you see yourself ever being comfortable in them again?
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ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear that you have an upcoming surgery :0/ I wish you the best of luck!
To answer your stilettos question...I will tell you like my surgeon and physical therapist would: I am not going to say that you will never be able to wear heels again, but you have to be patient and take your recovery seriously, commit fully to your rehab exercises, and then only if your feet feel up to it can you wear heels again.
For me personally, probably not. I had surgery on both of my feet and I still have some residual instability. I can wear wedges because they have more surface area contacting the ground which spreads your weight out more evenly. I still only wear those on special occasions because for the few hours of wear time, I have even more hours of calf cramping to deal with afterwards. I am all about the cost/benefit analysis for decisions with my feet now. Sure, I could probably wear heels for a little bit, but I wouldn't want to deal with the pain and swelling afterwards or the increased possibility of injuring my feet.
Take a look back to the earlier stages of my blog to read what going through foot surgeries was like for me. I tried to put in some tips here and there. Also, check out my "Shoe Purging" post from April of 2013 that shows you all the shoes I had to get rid of. I have a box of all of my gorgeous heels in a box in a closet at my parents house. It is easier to deal with not being able to wear them if I don't have to see them in my own closet every day. I pretty much only wear orthopedic shoes now, Clark's, Naturalizer, Me Too, Orthaheel, Merrill, Keen, but I have gotten lucky and can find cute designer pairs every now and then that are feet friendly. I'll probably write a separate post showing my current shoe game once I get all caught up from my monthly posts for this year.
If there are any more specific questions you have, don't hesitate to leave another comment. Another source that helped me out was looking at the Foot Problems section of Healthboards.com. People posts all kinds of threads about various foot surgeries and are all in many different stages. That site helped me a lot and gave me the idea for this blog, since there is so little information out there!
Thank you so much for your response. I had no idea they were removing my heel until I read my pre-op paperwork and now I am panicking. I initially thought I was going in for a tendon replacement and arch reconstruction on my right foot. I was told that I probably wouldn't be able to drive for at least 5 weeks, that I needed to mentally prepare myself for the pain once the nerve blocker wore off and that was pretty much it. Your blog has been very helpful in preparing me for what is to come. Although my surgery is less complex, it appears there is a long road to recovery. Thank you for taking the time to inform others.
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