under appreciated

when i worked on the Kelly Tires account it was explained to me this way: people spend so much money on their cars and then they sit in them along with all the people they love and drive really, really fast. yet, they’re willing to buy the cheapest tire they can for all that to ride on. it does sound kinda crazy when you think of it that way.

i think it’s the same way with feet.

We walk, run, dance (well, some of us don’t dance), skip, stumble, play basketball...you get the idea. and all that with our full body weight on our feet. it’s no wonder people complain about their feet hurting a lot. They are so thin...it’s amazing that they even do what they do.

and i ramble on about this because i had bunion surgery last week. and i’ll be the first to admit (or rather that status probably belongs to my friend, jimmy) that when you say it it, sounds like nothing. something really old people do...shave a little bit off their big toe. (no comments about my being really old)

so,  a little primer on bunions. all stuff i didn’t know before.

A bunion is a structural problem of the big toe joint causing a boney prominence. Surgery is commonly performed to correct the problem. Surgery for bunions involves more than just simply shaving the boney protrusion. It typically requires that the deviated bones to be structurally realigned. Milder bunions are corrected with bone cuts close to the big toe joint. Larger bunions typically need a more "involved" bone cut or a fusion procedure to completely realign the structural problem. Bunion surgery usually involves breaking the toe bone (metatarsal) to correct the alignment problem that caused the bunion to form, this part of the procedure is called an osteotomy. The surgery also involves tightening the ligaments on the outside of the toe, and loosening of the ligaments on the inside, so the tension on the ligaments holds the toe pointing in the proper direction. Some surgeons opt to use pins, plates, or screws to hold the broken bone while it is healing. Others opt to allow the bone to heal without metal holding the position.It takes approximately six weeks for the bones to mend in the corrected position.

so what i need to do when people ask me from now on, is tell them i had an osteotomy.
it sounds so much more impressive.

the before shot. not a great shot...but shows the bunions on both sides of my foot 

and my toes starting to curl up onto themselves.

the during. one week after my surgery. it always cracks bri and me up how even at the cleveland clinic...the pinacle of world class care...they still write on your body parts with a black sharpie. YES! but even swollen, i couldn’t believe the difference in my foot shape. my bunions started forming when i was 19. so i never really thought they looked that odd because i’d lived with them for so long. i actually thought my feet were pretty. my kids thought otherwise.next appointment, ill take a picture of the x-rays.