Morton's Neuroma Surgery: 4 Years, 1 Month Later

My blog is read daily by patients all over the world searching for information on Morton's Neuoma and Morton's Neuroma surgery. I have hundreds of comments under my original post. And knowing the information I've shared is helpful to so many is extremely rewarding for me still.

I've been asked repeatedly to give an update on my long term results and I try to respond in the comments when asked. But I know I have probably neglected to respond every time. And when I recently passed the four year mark, I started to think that perhaps I should write a whole new blog post just to bring those readers up to date.

The reason I originally wanted to share my MN journey was because most of the people who had gone online and shared information about MN at the time were those who had bad experiences. I found one person who had blogged helpful and reassuring information about his recovery and I wanted to do the same. I went into the procedure expecting to have good results and to do everything in my power to heal properly.


I was told by some people that this was an excruciatingly painful surgery with a difficult recovery; that often the results were not worth going under the knife. But my surgeon told me most of his patients had good results and that he expected a good outcome for me as well. I reasoned that the sooner (and younger) I had the surgery, the better results I would probably have. I was so confident in the outcome, I had surgery on both feet on the same day. I figured if I was going to have to sit around with one foot up, taking pain meds, I might as well sit around with both feet up and not have to go through the whole process twice. I have never regretted my decision.


For details on my preliminary recovery, my original posts and progress reports are still accessible on my blog. To make it easy for you, here are the links:

http://sharihowerton.blogspot.com/2012/03/all-about-mortons-neuroma-surgery.html

http://sharihowerton.blogspot.com/2012/03/taking-it-easy-doing-great-day-17-of-mn.html

http://sharihowerton.blogspot.com/2012/03/day-21-recovering-from-mortons-neuroma.html

http://sharihowerton.blogspot.com/2012/04/day-28-post-mn-surgery-exercising.html

http://sharihowerton.blogspot.com/2012/05/mortons-neuroma-surgery-recovery-ten.html

http://sharihowerton.blogspot.com/2012/06/15-weeks-post-mortons-neuroma-surgery.html

http://sharihowerton.blogspot.com/2012/09/six-months-post-op-bi-lateral-mortons.html

http://sharihowerton.blogspot.com/2012/10/seven-months-post-op-mortons-neuroma.html

http://sharihowerton.blogspot.com/2012/05/internet-research-is-valuable.html

I have answered a lot of specific questions in the comments under my posts; especially the first post. So please forgive me if I don't answer the same questions repeatedly. The answers are there if you take the time to read the comments.

Four years out from surgery, I'm doing just fine. You can barely even see my scars. And most of the time my feet don't bother me. I have not, so far, ever developed another neuroma. I am able to walk on my treadmill, use my elliptical, ride my recumbent bike and do other forms of exercise without pain. I have never been a runner, nor do I ever plan to be.

I still don't tolerate shoes well that put a lot of pressure on the balls of my feet, like high heels. I can wear heels for limited time periods without discomfort. But if I'm on my feet a lot while wearing them, or try to wear them all day, I will suffer some consequences. The pain is not as severe as the neuromas were. But my feet let me know that they don't like being abused in the language of aching and soreness. When this happens, I know I'm paying the consequences of my own choice to wear heels for too many hours. And I don't do it very often. I'm almost 57 years old. I know a lot of people my age (and younger) whose feet hurt when they're on them all day. Most of them have never had neuroma surgery. I've read that we lose the fat pads in the balls of our feet as we age. So I have no way of knowing if I'm managing a post-neuroma surgery issue or if I'm just getting older. I don't notice any swelling anymore, even when my feet are sore. But I will tell you that eating gluten does affect my feet in the form of inflammation. When I remove gluten, my feet rarely bother me. When I am eating gluten regularly, my feet are far more sensitive and achy. And I have other symptoms of gluten sensitivity, even though I am not allergic and I don't get sick.

Before my surgery, I could't even wear tennis shoes comfortably. I couldn't tolerate any shoe that put even a slight squeeze or pressure on my foot. Any fit at all triggered nerve pain. I was limited to Croc sandals (rubber soles) and Merrells. I still love Croc sandals with rubber soles. They make cute sandals these days; not just the clogs everyone is familiar with. The sandals I'm wearing in this picture are Crocs. But I also wear boots in the winter and tennis shoes comfortably now. No nerve pain. I choose my boots, sandals and shoes for comfort but I don't wear ugly shoes. It's no longer hard to find cute shoes and sandals that fit well and feel good.

When I see those extremely high heels and platforms, I cringe. I would never think of wearing shoes like that again. I used to. And that's probably what caused my neuromas. I would advise younger women to prioritize the health of their feet over high-heel fashion. I am not even tempted by outrageously high heels at this point because I've forgotten how to walk in them. I would hurt more than my feet if I tried to go back to those styles.

My mom has been gone since 1987. But before her cancer diagnosis, I remember a day when we were at the mall together and she was looking at shoes. I made fun of her. I was in my twenties and she was in her forties. I'll never forget her telling me, "Shari, you will also choose shoes for comfort one day." I wish I could tell her how many times I reflect on her words and wholeheartedly agree. She was actually right about so many things. And I wish often that we could laugh about the aging process together.


Comments

Unknown said…
I just posted on your other board but just curious when you felt "fully" recovered. I'm 4 months out and I do feel "pain" free. But my foot that had the surgery still gets sore and achey when I'm on my feet a lot, after I run, first thing when I wake up in the AM etc. Just wondering if/when that will go away. My surgeon said 6-12 months for most people?!
Tina said…
You are still so soon out of surgery and doing much better than most. I'm 10 months out and still waiting for that magical one year mark but not very enthusiastic about it since I continue to run with pain - more than before surgery. I would trade aches and soreness over the burning, stinging and "nervy" pains I continue to have. Sounds like you're doing fine. My life has changed after deciding to go through with surgery and I do regret it but still hope for a miracle at some point where the pain decreases. I went from running 30 to 40 miles per week to half that amount if not less and with much more pain. I'm not going to stop running until I absolutely can't take the pain anymore. So my very long answer to your question is be patient, it sounds like you're doing well at 4 months post-surgery, and on days you have the soreness and pain back off of the activity a bit and ice and elevate. I still bring a triple-layered ziplock bag of ice to work everyday and my surgery was in 8/27/2015.
Unknown said…
I'm so sorry you're having so many issues Tina! Mine is certainly mild compared to that. Though I am now having SI/glute issues but those started a couple weeks prior to surgery so not sure if it's related at all or not. I've had an epidural injection and now an SI joint injection. The SI injection seems to be working somewhat though I only had it done Tuesday and was told it takes time. My back pain is less, still dealing with the glute/piriformis pain.
Anonymous said…
I am experiencing more pain, swelling and discomfort from foot surgery, that included a neuroma excision, a tailor's bunionectomy, and a hammertoe correction of the pinky toe, all on/of the same foot, than what I thought I was signing up for. It has been 20 weeks (more than 4 months, less than 5 months) since surgery and God Bless this fine lady and her blog. Because from reading what "the professionals" write, I should start worrying about a stump neuroma about now, but from reading this blog, I'm thinking I should suspend judgment. And just want to say, Thank You, I have Hope again and feeling better already.
Anonymous said…
Hi. Glad your surgery worked out. I just wanted to post that after getting to the point where I would have to stop and take off my shoe after ten minutes walking, I started on cortisone injections and then a different doctor told me that killing the nerve between toe 3 and 4 was the answer. I decided to try some stuff on my own. First I started wearing wider and larger size shoes, which helped. Then I tried not wearing socks and I found that also helped. Since it's hard to find men's socks except in one size fits all, I tried making a 4 inch slit opening along the top of the foot in the sock thus relieving the compression. After several years of babying my foot there was a big improvement. A tight sock can still start to cause pain after a few hours though, so I try to take them off whenever I can. I still use the slashed open sock. hope this helps somebody. Sandals are a great idea for summer also, but be careful if you are not used to them - A friend tripped in sandals and got a nasty fracture.