Hallux Valgus (bunion surgery)

On October 9, 2018, I had an operation on my right foot. The big toe had been pushing its way to the right, forcing the second toe to move up. It was serious enough that I often had terrible pain walking, and I could not wear some shoes normally. For example, when I put on one particular boot, it felt like a nail or something was sticking into the shoe and then into my foot. When I removed the boot and felt inside, there was nothing. I didn't wear those boots any longer.

Here is the doctor's explanation two days after the surgery. I was still in the hospital.

The doctor had told me that there was a wire sticking out of my toe. I was intrigued by this, wondering what he was talking about. Below, you will see...

The operation went well, I guess. I wore a boot thing around my foot. I never had a cast. The sole of the boot thing was uneven, so my toes would never touch the ground. Nylon straps looped around the top of the foot. All was fine until it started to snow in mid-November. I had to wear two plastic grocery sacks around my foot and walk with a cane. It made for an interesting picture, I'm sure. I was given a seat on the marshrytka (a large van that operates as a bus) a couple times, which was nice.

This is the only picture I have of me with the boot thing and plastic grocery sacks. It looks all nice and tidy in the photo. After wearing such a thing for weeks, I got a bit sloppy and uninterested in making it look pretty.

Here is a picture from of bottom of my foot on October 16:

On October 30, I went in to have the wire taken out. I also asked him more about my future.

In this video, I ask the doctor if I can have the wire. He says he must throw it away. He promises to give me another one, but so far, he hasn't. It's just a piece of wire. As long as I can't have THE very wire that was in my foot, it's actually nothing big.

In this video, the doctor gives me more information about the second toe. I asked why we needed to adjust the second "hammer toe" if the offending big toe is now out of the way. 

Hah, hah, hah!! You thought you were going to get the answer didn't you? For some reason, the video stopped just as he was going to tell us why we had to manipulate the hammer toe. Here is the reason:

So that was about 7 months ago. Yesterday, I went for my first run outside--I had run on a treadmill a few times. There was no pain. The foot feels somewhat awkward from time to time, but everything is pretty good, in general. This morning, I played Ultimate Frisbee, my favorite game. Life it good. I swim a lot now, which puts no pressure on the foot.