A couple weeks ago I had a shot injected into my foot. Just to do a brief recap (because goodness…starting from the beginning of this foot craziness would take forever) I had an MRI done before I got pregnant and my doctor said the best bet would be to do a shot. But on the day I had my shot scheduled, I found out I was pregnant 🙂 So we postponed the shot and Stacy okayed me to have it in my second trimester. Which started a couple weeks ago so I went for it with the shot!
My foot dr injected the medicine into the area that showed issue on the MRI. He basically told me that one of two things would occur. Either the shot would work, and I’d be healed. OR it wouldn’t work and we’d need to consider surgery after Leo’s birth. To say I was worried is an understatement. I do NOT want to go through surgery again. Especially not with a newborn. And especially not while breastfeeding. And I also don’t want the risks that come with surgery. Nor do I want to be in any more pain for any longer! Basically, this shot needed to work.
He said my foot would be in a good bit of pain for about four days and then it’d take two weeks for the shot to kick in. Um. My foot was in a bit more than a “good bit” of pain and it lasted longer than four days for sure! Which made me feel very, very upset and discouraged. I mean if it was taking longer for my foot to stop hurting after the shot than I had excepted, it probably wasn’t a good sign about it working!
Finally I stopped having the pain and felt back to normal. I wore my tennis shoes (with new, mega thick inserts) non-stop. Crissy stopped by my house and was like “why are you wearing shoes just hanging out at home?” haha. I ALWAYS wear shoes. Literally. I get out of bed and it’s the first thing I do. Same with getting out of the shower. Taking off my shoes is the last thing I do at night. My day revolves around my foot!!!
A couple days prior to Disney I decided to test things out. So I took off my shoe and messed with the area of my foot that is painful. At my appointments the doctor will press on certain spots and watch my reaction to the pain to gage how badly it is. I pressed and pressed on those areas and, while the pain was still there, it was MUCH less. I started crying immediately with tears of joy. There might be a light at the end of this tunnel!!! I told Zach and text Robyn and then decided not to tell anyone else haha. I was scared to jinx it. It made me feel VERY hopeful for Disney!
Since working with this new doctor I’ve adjusted my wardrobe a good bit. I mostly wear yoga pants and causal clothes now (barf, not my style!) so I can wear the tennis shoes and it doesn’t look stupid. But for Disney? No way. I decided to wear cute outfits and just rock the tennis shoes with them. If you’ve been to Disney (or any theme park) you KNOW people wear some straight up random stuff. And it’s not like I’d see anyone I knew so who cares!
At first Zach was hardcore insisting on a wheelchair for Mrs. Charlotte and I to use at the parks. But I was WAY less pregnant than when we took Kye for his first trip. Plus we only had the three of us adults. That trip my mom was there so she was able to help too with dealing with the stroller and the wheelchair. It would kinda be silly for us to get a wheelchair and then Mrs. Charlotte and I be taking turns pushing each other around in it haha.
She and I put our heads together and did talk Zach into just letting us rent an electric wheelchair for the two busiest days of the itinerary, IF we needed it. Since having my foot injury I’ve been to Disney two others times. Both of the past times were for a one day visit so we were pushing ourselves big time. One of the times was only a month after my surgery! Hands down, this was the BEST foot trip yet for me at the parks! I NEVER felt like I needed to rest for my foot. In fact, my foot NEVER bothered me!!! NOT AT ALL. And that’s FOUR DAYS at the parks!!! With only taking one of those afternoons off! So it was a LOT of walking. I never, ever felt like I needed a wheelchair at all. My foot never bothered me, not once! Like I told Zach, it hurt even with my good foot: just basic soreness from so much walking (especially when I’ve been so careful not to do a lot of walking due to my injury). I seriously am in disbelief about it!!!
Rockin’ the tennis shoes with a dress…stylin’ 😉
Once we got back home I was eager for my appointment at the doctor. ALL this winter I have been wearing either my tennis shoes nonstop OR I’ve been wearing “ugg style boots.” I have them in four colors so they match plenty of my outfits. They have a thick sole AND I can put my thick inserts in them from the tennis shoes so I feel okay wearing them rather than always wearing the tennis shoes. I am embarrassed that I wear the “uggs” to church though…but I just remind myself that it’s better than sneakers at church and I try my best to make it work and make it look okay with my dresses and stuff (I wear a lot of sweater dresses and leggings so it’s not super tacky I promise!).
Since I did SO great at Disney I decided on Sunday to push it a little. For the first time in MONTHS I put on non-ugg boots for church. I still picked out my boots with the thickest sole and least heal so they weren’t really all that cute but it was a BIG improvement in the looks department from the “uggs” 😉
Being that they aren’t the type of shoes that can fit the inserts, wearing them also meant no extra support that I’m used to. But it went GREAT! No pain at church at all! When I got home I put back on my tennis shoes again but I did wear the boots for my monthly grocery trip that afternoon…and again…no pain!
I went into my appointment this morning feeling optimistic. The area of issue is still tender to the touch but doing so great when walking is really what’s important ya know? I took Britt with me this morning and she was, of course, the star of the show 🙂
I filled him in on how the pain from the shot too awhile to wear off but how well it did as Disney and even about my boot wearing on Sunday. He felt the area of issue and it is still painful. But not NEARLY as bad. I even told him to press harder just to really test it haha.
He told me we’d for sure rather it be a situation where I’m not in pain while walking but the area is tender to the touch rather than the other way around. He said the reason it’s like that is that I just don’t have much cushion in the bottom of my foot anymore. He compared both of my feet so I could understand what he was saying and basically the “guts” of my foot don’t have as much protection on my bad food as they do on my good one. I didn’t ask why but I assume it’s due to the injury and all this mess following it. I also assume it’s not something that can really be fixed?
I have an appointment to go in during May. It’s an appointment we made back when I first got pregnant as he knew I’d be in my third trimester so we could for sure do the shot then. He told me he thinks we need to keep that appointment. We’ll evaluate how it’s doing then and possibly go ahead and do another shot in hopes that it completely heals me the rest of the way.
I asked what to do in the meantime. Should I keep testing it? Be cautious? He said I need to continue with the tennis shoes non-stop (and he gave me more inserts). I wore my ugg style boots today with the insert and he looked at them and said they are okay too. But that I do NOT need to be testing it or pushing it. He said with my lack of natural cushion in my foot that the cushion in my shoes is the main reason I’m not in pain when I walk and that the more I go without that cushion, the more I risk messing up the healing.
Which kinda sucks to hear. BUT I also appreciate his cautious approach. My other doctor? I had surgery and right after it he said “you’re good to go!” NEVER told me to buy better tennis shoes (the only ones I owned at that point were from middle school). NEVER said to be mindful of anything but just to do my thing and I’d be fine. I am MUCH happier to have a doctor who truly cares about my full recovery and is being cautious and patient about it.
Just like he will press my pain areas and watch my reaction to gage my pain, I watched him a lot during this appointment to gage his thinking. He was in VERY good spirits. Lots of smiling and seemed proud of himself. Which makes me feel very, very good too because that means everything is good news right now 🙂 And I feel confident that I won’t be needing another surgery as long as I continue to take it slow and easy and follow his instructions.
I did ask him about the warm weather. I mean by May I’m sure I won’t be able to rock the uggs every day anymore. He said that my shoe mission needs to be about the amount of cushion in the sole of the shoe. That I need to find things that have a thick sole but also a soft one. He said obviously our long term goal is to be able to wear whatever kind of shoes and with summer coming he knows I’ll need to wear flip flops and such. I don’t know about the idea of thick soled flip flops though…so I can’t think that far away. For now I need to be on the hunt for some thick soled non-hideous ballet flat type shoes. Like my ugg boots have been for me this winter, I think some good ballet flats can get me through Spring!
So I need your help!!! Back several months ago a few readers recommended some different options to me. One reader sent me the link to this blog and the ballet flats she found. I looked into them and they don’t look all that supportive to me? Also they are crazy expensive and she bought an additional almost $100 insert for them! YIKES!
Another reader sent me info on FitFlops and I actually showed them to my dr at a precious appointment and mentioned them to him at this one. He said that yes, something like this is what I need. He said to go around town or even go to Jacksonville and try a lot of different things on to find what will work for me. But y’all know life with two children. When the heck am I supposed to do that? So I may call FitFlops and talk to them about my options. I mean this isn’t tooooo bad right?!?! Some of the models look pretty cute! And they even do make sandals…
I know if you actually went to any of the links for the FitFlops then you are thinking “omg I can’t picture Emily buying $100 shoes.” Um. Me either. Which is why I haven’t yet. I’ve put off this purchase for a long time in hopes that this day wouldn’t come. I’m thankful to Mrs. Charlotte who bought me two pairs of my uggs for Christmas. And I’m thankful I already owned an additional two pairs of them. I have brown, tan, black and gray and it’s worked out great! To be able to have those same color options with the ballet flats will set me back $400. YIKES. But realistically…(and it makes me cry to think about this y’all so I probably won’t admit this again!) this may be a long, long issue for me. And these may be the only shoes I can wear from now on. So I might just have to accept the fact that shoes ain’t gonna be a clearance rack find for me anymore. (Sidenote: PLEASE no one comment about wanting to buy the cute shoes I can’t wear from me. I had someone say that before and it literally crushed me. I am NOT selling my other shoes. My goal is to be able to wear them again!!!!!!!).
Anyway…I know MOST of my readers are young and these kind of shoes tend to be an older woman issue haha BUT IF you have ANY suggestions on some non-hideous Spring shoe options for me that have THICK, SOFT soles PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know!!!!!!! Maybe ask your grandma for suggestions 😉
I am thankful for the good report. SO thankful for my pain free days at Disney. AND on our first non-rainy gross day I totally plan to take a walk around the neighborhood b/c I haven’t been able to do that in over 18 months! The future of my foot is much, much brighter than it was before. I am so thankful for the blessing of modern medicine. For that gut feeling I had to switch doctors. I’m especially thankful that the random first number I called on my list of local foot dr options happened to be the doctor I’m working with now. He’s truly amazing and I’m thankful. I trust him completely and have so much faith that he will help me get to the best possible place with my issues!
That being said, I still feel sad about it. I think I went into the appointment expecting him to say “you are HEALED!” haha I may have had my hopes too high. If I think about how long this journey has been I get super upset about it. And if I think about how long this issue could continue to be, I also get super upset. SO. I am only thinking one step at a time. Next step is: Find non-hideous good supportive spring shoes. Wear tennis shoes majority of the time. Wear other shoes for short time periods (like when I went to the grocery store I wore my tennis shoes in the car and changed shoes in the parking lot then changed them back when I got back to my car, I know so annoying haha). Go back to dr in May for the next step!
I’m just not gonna think about anything before now or anything after May and I think that will help me stay positive and help me avoid frustration! I SHOULD have asked about swimming though. Once it’s warm enough I’ll call up there and ask him what I should do b/c my kids LIVE in the pool once it’s swim weather and he told me before that barefoot in the pool is the worst thing for the foot. So awesome water shoes may also be part of this next plan 😉
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Definitely be careful and no pushing!!! The shot you got is a steroid and takes away inflammation so that you can heal but can give you an artificial sense of wellness (like systemic steroids do). Baby it girlie!
Hey there! I hopped over b/c I saw you linked to my blog. 🙂 Curious… what foot issues are you dealing with? Is it Plantar Fasciitis? I had the shot – I assume you're talking about cortisone? THey did not do it with an MRI – just shot it in where I said it hurt. He told me to quit PT and just do my normal thing. But it hurt for FIVE DAYS like a BEAST. Finally I put it up for a day and it got mostly better. But I still have a lot of weird feelings in it. Nothing like before, though. I have been pretty diligent about wearing supportive shoes and slippers, but no one told me to. I just figured it out from research I did. I wish I had a better doc. Sounds like you have a good one. ALSO, I do not recommend those ballet flats. You are right, they don't have enough support. The insert helps, but they don't have any stability at all. I can't wait for summer b/c my Orthaheel sandals are THE BEST. I have Orthaheel slippers that I wear at home, and mostly sneakers with storebought inserts the rest of the time. Wedges for church or occasional night out. I hope you achieve full recovery!