No normal shoes

[cjsmith]

Today I grabbed the shoes I'd worn to surgery and brought them to work with me. I figured while I was sitting at my desk waiting for a long test run I'd see what it felt like to put them on.

There is no way I can get into them. My mind boggles. It's hard to imagine how these feet ever got into those shoes. I've unlaced the left shoe all the way down and it is quite simply too narrow.

*sigh*

Comments

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Swelling?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing not at this late date, but maybe. I'll try again later.

Could also be:
- bandage (tho that's pretty minimal now)
- not wearing tight shoes for fifteen days, feet spread out
- foot permanently a tiny bit wider due to release of internal ligament

These are the widest mass-produced shoes I could find. It will be interesting to see what happens next.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wouldn't have thought swelling by now, but the other reasons you list make sense. And I must be tired, because at first I mistakenly read your first item there as bondage. :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

One-rack mind? ;-)

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

*rim shot*

A dirty mind is its own reward. ;-)

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Sometimes women's feet widen a lot during pregnancy from the relaxation of ligaments in preparation for childbirth. Could be a mechanical version of the same.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

*nod* yeah.

[erisian-fields.livejournal.com]

Like mactavish said, it could be the ligament. It could be you're not sufficiently healed enough to have shoes on yet.

Feet take a lot of strain and stress from walking around on them. They take a long time to heal. My heel spurs took over a year to heal. I tried cortisone ONCE and that nearly made me pee my pants it hurt so bad, then everything in my foot just felt WRONG and like I was still damaging things until the cortisone wore off. I refused to have surgery (my mom had it done and it hasn't helped her at all in the long run). I wore inserts in my shoes for a very long time.

Give yourself more time.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I admit I wonder how much permanent effect on my foot size there will be due to the fact that that one ligament was released. I didn't ask. Guess I'll find out eventually. :-)

Right, no worries -- I'll try again later. I do know that this was early (my doc said try shoes "next week" and it's Friday, so I was being sneaky even trying them on). Guess that's what I get for trying it early!

I would imagine heel spurs would take quite some time to heal. Are they asymptomatic now? (If so, congrats!)

[erisian-fields.livejournal.com]

The heel spurs took nearly two years to heal to something akin to comfortable. When I start feeling that stress in the plantar tendon, I make sure I'm walking around in shoes with the funky little split heel inserts as well as an extra padded insole. Generally, if I'm not walking uphill or on a raised treadmill for long periods of time, they don't bother me. I GAVE them to myself by using the treadmill at the gym with too much incline for too long too many times. I won't do that again.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'm glad you've got it down to, well, "manageable". Sounds like it was very annoying. Flatter treadmill work from now on, huh? :-/

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

yikes! here's hoping another week or so of healing will make it easier.

(i think my mom had to get new/bigger shoes after her foot surgery (to fix bunions, hammertoes, and um, something else). and i think she was advised to go to a real shoe store and get her feet measured for accuracy and proper fit. might be worth it when you're ready?)

*hugs*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yep, here's hoping. If my feet are healthy I don't mind jamming them into a way-extra-tight shoe and letting everything settle for a little bit. Any time I've gone without shoes (*any* shoe is "too tight") for a while, that's what I have to do. But it's not something I really feel like doing before I'm sure I'm healed.

I wish there were such a thing as a real shoe store. I'd love to get my feet measured that way. If I'd been able to do that twenty years ago I might not have these problems now.

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

there must be an old-fashioned shoe store somewhere in the bayarea. Do you have small feet? Maybe you can try stride rite then?