Deciding to go through with surgery was my last resort. After a lifetime of searching for corrective and preventative measures I have come to the conclusion that nothing is going to work besides surgery.
As a child my mom noticed my toes bending under and decided to seek out a podiatrist to help with the problem. Well, this proved to be fruitless since all he did was give me some orthodic inserts that were supposed to "help correct the problem". All I remember is that these half moon shaped wedges of foam that were supposed to stay cupped under my toes always ended up pinching my pinky toe and constantly shifted out of place. After a few months of wearing them I began "loosing" them, and after a few replacements my mom finally called it a wash. As years progressed my toes continued to bend and eventually became rigid and inflexible.
Throughout high school I played sports and was constantly on my feet, which only worsened the problem, and into adulthood I began wearing heels and other fashionable yet uncomfortable shoes that pinched my toes and created calluses, corns, and blisters. Medical treatments got rid of the calluses, corns, and blisters, but left did nothing for my deformed toes. After years of advice from my doctor I finally made an appointment with my podiatrist Dr. Neal A. Mozen.
My first appointment with Dr. Mozen was back in January, and as soon as I entered his office I felt right at home. His staff was friendly and comforting and honest. Dr. Mozen suggested some other "corrective measures" that didn't require surgery. I told him to stop kidding himself. I believe my exact words were, "look, I've had these toes for 25 years and I've tried it all, nothing works, let's not kid ourselves here". He laughed and reassured me that if I was comfortable with surgery then he had no problem performing it. Several appointments later and a few injections into my toe joints, which were very uncomfortable (they hurt so bad that you have to be distracted from the pain, if that tells you anything), and here I am. Three days from surgery and feeling a little anxious (in case you couldn't tell by the rambling and multiple posts this evening).
I am having my second and fifth toe done on my left foot and my second and third toes done on my right foot. They are supposed to be removing a joint in each toe and shortening them. I took ten days off work, which is supposed to be sufficient. I am supposed to be confined to these surgical shoes for a month and a half afterwards, but will be able to return to work with very few restrictions. I'm hoping that I won't have to take off any more time from work because I'm trying to save the rest of my vacation for my trip to Vegas in May where I'm officially "debuting" my new toes. :0)
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