I just had surgery on my MN, after not being able to walk by the end of most day's for 2 years now, on 12-16-08. I went through the inserts in the shoe, cortisone shots and all that good mess. I think it is the Dr.'s that you go to that makes all the difference. I went to the Podiatrist and after 4 months of using this and that he recommended the surgery. Then I asked my Family Dr what his thoughts about it were and he sent me to an Orthopediac Surgeon. He recommended not having any Dr operate on anyone unless the are a Surgeon because of all the extra schooling the go through. Makes Sense. The 1st Ortho I saw was spot on with his recommendation, after trying some different things to releave the pain, of the surgery that the podiatrist recomended but I had a lot of questions about it and he didn't have all the answers. He said he had done the surgeries before but after I was talking to him he didn't make me feel reassured that I was doing the right thing. He made me feel like he didn't care about me and I was to take what he told me as gospil. So, after asking all my questions he sent me to an Orthopediac Surgeon that specializes in the Foot and Ankle and what a difference. She made me feel so comfortable and answered all my questions and explained everthing in detail. If you have the surgery find a Foot and Ankle specialist not a Podiatrist or regular Orthopediac surgeon ( no offence, I liked my Podiatrist very much, but). I have no pain unless I put pressure on it but that is to be expected. I had the surgery throught the top of my foot and my surgeon will not let me take the dressing off for 2 weeks due to the risk of infection. I can go back to work on Monday but light duty only. I sleep through the nights with no pain pills and wake up in no pain. I due have pain as a hobble around the house and put pressure on the front of my foot but as long as I put the weight on the heal of my foot I am fine. I will keep updating my progress as time goes on.
I also had the surgery in Dec. 08 (the 10th). It has been 4 weeks and I am doing much better. My incision is on the bottom of my foot also. I was told by my doctor (a great podiatrist and surgeon) that the top incision can cause damage to other nerves and muscles they have to "bypass" in order to get to the correct nerve. I only had to take pain meds for 2 or 3 days. It was NO weight bearing for 2 weeks and the dressings stayed on that whole time. On week 3 my stitches were removed and I am able to walk without the surgical boot on week 4! YEAH. It is very tender and I am supposed to massage the incison and apply lotion to it a few times a day. It seem to be helping. I think the main thing to remember with this surgery is that it is a slow healing process. I have not had much numbness or tingling at all. Nothing compared to what I was having for at least a year before the surgery. I hope this made someone feel a little better about the surgery. So far things have been good with my experience
Just to give an update. The stitches came out after 2 weeks and the incision is healing nicely. I was on crutches for 2 weeks and am still using a cane for stability. Mainly outside right now with the snow and ice on the ground. The foot is still tender on the bottom of the foot under the incision but is very tolerable. I still am wearing the post-op shoe but will be trying to get back in my boots this weekend. Not a lot of pain, it depends on how much I walk on it. Bare foot hurts more than with the post-op shoe. I do not have any tingling or burning pain. The healing is very slow but well worth it.
I just had surgery on 1-16-09. From the top of my foot. I am having a problem with the swelling and it keeps opening up an bleeding. I am 6 days out. Not walking on it and keeping it elevated. However I had an Incidence the day after surgery. My husband drove me to get something to eat and we ran up on a bad wreck. We were the only ones there. I'm a nurse. I jumped out of the truck to try to help, Not that I was much help on crutches. The standing out there for 2 hours, it was a bad wreck. Both people died. My foot must have really swelled and started pouring blood. The EMS had to get it to quit bleeding, the stitches never came loose. It did it again yesterday 5 days out, just not as bad. Just wondering if the bleeding this far out is normal.
Hey all.
I just had my surgery 1-6-2009 for my left foot.
Prior to my second ever surgery in my so-far-short-life, I had had a benign tumor removed that was embedded in my calf muscles deeply about three to four years ago when I was in high school. Two years (estimation) after that surgery to remove the benign tumor, I had this intense pain in the ball of my foot where my MN was located. At that time I didn't know what on earth that pain was, so I had gone to my doctor and they sent me to my mother's orthopedic.
I had had only one cortizone shot on my left foot, and that was the time I went to my doctor -- and after a few days it faded away. Presumably, I now realize that it's a possibility that it wasn't in the correct spot. So, in turn, I learned how to deal with the pain until this year at school. It had gotten worse over the year, and whenever I walked -- no matter what shoes I was wearing -- there was this intense, terrible pain and a week before my finals last semester I had gotten up with cramps in the foot and could put barely any weight on it. Suffice to say, I camped out in my dorm room those three painful days.
So during Christmas break I opted to see my mother's orthopedic doctor, and I can barely afford inserts for my shoes (my insurance doesn't cover the expenses, surprise!) and I was skeptical about another shot. So I told him hands down I wanted surgery. January 6, 2009, I was scheduled for surgery and laid in bed for close to maybe a week and a half, foot elevated, ice pack on foot and all that jazz. Well, the past week I can actually put whole pressure on my foot, but occasionally I get this intense throbbing pain so I have to rely on percocet and two IBprofuns (boo, drugs) to dull it or get rid of it altogether; I as well, at times, have this feeling of me stepping on something -- it's not a sharp pain, just like this annoying feeling as though your sock was bunched in your tennis shoe and you were/are constantly stepping on it -- every so often.
Albeit it's only two weeks and then some after my surgery, I assume I'm doing fairly well but I am concerned deeply by the possibility that I may be suffering from worse pain than before the surgery. I have read very few success stories, but presumably they're just not caring to inform those of us about it because they're too busy walking around pain-free and don't give a second though to their MN surgery, only safe to say that they're not even worried about informing us about whether or not if they're pain free and their recovery process.
Has anyone (after a certain length of time) felt the pain recede, subside gradually? Or is it just as intense after you had the surgery?
I mean, it is obvious that a few months wouldn't necessarily kill the pain -- it seems only plausible that it'll take probably longer than four months to heal fully. I'm just curious, I suppose.
Happy belated New Year! I hope that you all are doing well and that the pain isn't as terrible.
I just had my surgery 1-6-2009 for my left foot.
Prior to my second ever surgery in my so-far-short-life, I had had a benign tumor removed that was embedded in my calf muscles deeply about three to four years ago when I was in high school. Two years (estimation) after that surgery to remove the benign tumor, I had this intense pain in the ball of my foot where my MN was located. At that time I didn't know what on earth that pain was, so I had gone to my doctor and they sent me to my mother's orthopedic.
I had had only one cortizone shot on my left foot, and that was the time I went to my doctor -- and after a few days it faded away. Presumably, I now realize that it's a possibility that it wasn't in the correct spot. So, in turn, I learned how to deal with the pain until this year at school. It had gotten worse over the year, and whenever I walked -- no matter what shoes I was wearing -- there was this intense, terrible pain and a week before my finals last semester I had gotten up with cramps in the foot and could put barely any weight on it. Suffice to say, I camped out in my dorm room those three painful days.
So during Christmas break I opted to see my mother's orthopedic doctor, and I can barely afford inserts for my shoes (my insurance doesn't cover the expenses, surprise!) and I was skeptical about another shot. So I told him hands down I wanted surgery. January 6, 2009, I was scheduled for surgery and laid in bed for close to maybe a week and a half, foot elevated, ice pack on foot and all that jazz. Well, the past week I can actually put whole pressure on my foot, but occasionally I get this intense throbbing pain so I have to rely on percocet and two IBprofuns (boo, drugs) to dull it or get rid of it altogether; I as well, at times, have this feeling of me stepping on something -- it's not a sharp pain, just like this annoying feeling as though your sock was bunched in your tennis shoe and you were/are constantly stepping on it -- every so often.
Albeit it's only two weeks and then some after my surgery, I assume I'm doing fairly well but I am concerned deeply by the possibility that I may be suffering from worse pain than before the surgery. I have read very few success stories, but presumably they're just not caring to inform those of us about it because they're too busy walking around pain-free and don't give a second though to their MN surgery, only safe to say that they're not even worried about informing us about whether or not if they're pain free and their recovery process.
Has anyone (after a certain length of time) felt the pain recede, subside gradually? Or is it just as intense after you had the surgery?
I mean, it is obvious that a few months wouldn't necessarily kill the pain -- it seems only plausible that it'll take probably longer than four months to heal fully. I'm just curious, I suppose.
Happy belated New Year! I hope that you all are doing well and that the pain isn't as terrible.
Foot is Great 2 1/2 months out and still Happy. Still a little swelling the Dr. said that it could take a few months to be back to normal. Still some tenderness and the occassional sharp pain but still worth the surgery.
I had surgery on 3/26/09 for a neuroma between my 2nd and 3rd toes. I have a great podiatrist and a very support GP, who repeatedly told me, "It's time... you're in good hands". I tried the inserts (a metatarsal pad, not orthotics), wide toe box shoes (SAS Shoes are amazingly comfortable... not exactly stylish, but man, do they feel terrific on your feet), and 3 cortisone injections over the course of 6 months. My podiatrist uses the injections as not only a pain reliever to try to get the nerve to calm down, but also as a diagnostic tool because if the pain subsides, even for a short time, that is a sign of a neuroma. When the 3rd injection only provided relief for a couple of weeks, we decided that it was time for the surgery.
I spent the first 3 days with my foot elevated about my hip for the vast majority of the time, icing every hour for 20 minutes and getting some type of activity (walking to another room or dangling off the side of the bed) for about 5 minutes each hour. Started with a little more activity on day 4, but still kept my foot elevated much of the time and iced 5 or 6 times/day. On day 6, I started icing the bottom of my foot (my incision is on the top... doc has done over 400 of these surgeries and doesn't go through the bottom because of the pain caused by walking on scar tissue and longer recovery time. Also said that the key is to cut the nerve up past the ball of the foot so that it is away from the part of the foot that takes a lot of pressure and stress. By the way, in over 300, he has never had to go back in to "revise" any of these procedures due to stump neuroma or other reasons). Anyway, back to icing the bottom of my foot -- that feels SOOO good! Days 7-8 I couldn't believe how much better I was feeling. Hurt to walk barefoot, but with the post-op shoe, I was feeling great. Ran some errands yesterday and was taking something to the basement last night when I stepped off the last step and had a "ripping" pain in the bottom of my foot that about brought me to my knees. I changed the dressing when my husband got home from work and noticed that the area I felt the pain was the same area that is badly bruised and swollen on the underside of my foot. I just overdid it, plain and simple.
So today I'm back to elevating my foot, icing it and back to pain medication. Going to take it easy for a couple of days and go for follow-up on Monday.
I'm with all of you, that this is a HUGE decision to make. Some things I've learned/considered are:
1. Do you have confidence in your doctor? You can get a 1 month membership to Angie's list to see if there have been any complaints about him/her.
2. I wanted a podiatrist to do the work because that's all this guy does is feet. And while the surgery is a big deal to the patient, this is about the most routine thing a podiatrist does. Mine did over 150 neuroma excisions in his residency alone.
3. Take it easy after the surgery. I had the surgery on 3/26 and am off work completely until 4/6. The week of 4/6 I will work from home (fortunate to be able to do that) and return to work the week of 4/13. That gives me about 2 1/2 weeks of just plain taking care of myself. Of course, the minute I started to feel better I overdid it, so don't have too much confidence that you're healing faster than expected. I'm resigned to the fact that this will be a lengthy process.
4. Prepare yourself for how much bruising and swelling there will be. That was the biggest shock for me... the bruising went all the way up to my ankle and couldn't believe it when I saw the bruises on the bottom of my foot. I've changed the dressing 3 times and each time new areas are showing up bright purple. I took pictures each time I changed so I could see how the healing was coming along. My toes were so swollen 3 days after the surgery that they all touched. Now the swelling in the toes is almost gone, but still a lot of swelling on the bottom of my foot.
5. Wear your post-op shoe... don't go barefoot. It makes a world of difference.
I'll keep you updated. So far I'm really glad I did this surgery. Walking was unbearable with the MN. If you are considering the surgery, be sure to talk to your GP and get a 2nd opinion. The first podiatrist I talked to about surgery was willing to get me into surgery the very next day and told me I could return to work the day after. I scheduled the surgery because I was in so much pain, but the more of, cancelled because I didn't have confidence in him. He didn't try any of the conservative treatments first, because in his opinion they don't work. He may have been right in my case, but the fact that this guy was willing to cut my foot open after meeting me for 5 minutes freaked me out. I went to my current podiatrist, built the relationship and confidence with him and I know I made the right decision.
Take care of yourselves! We'll get through this! And sorry I'm so wordy today. :-)
I spent the first 3 days with my foot elevated about my hip for the vast majority of the time, icing every hour for 20 minutes and getting some type of activity (walking to another room or dangling off the side of the bed) for about 5 minutes each hour. Started with a little more activity on day 4, but still kept my foot elevated much of the time and iced 5 or 6 times/day. On day 6, I started icing the bottom of my foot (my incision is on the top... doc has done over 400 of these surgeries and doesn't go through the bottom because of the pain caused by walking on scar tissue and longer recovery time. Also said that the key is to cut the nerve up past the ball of the foot so that it is away from the part of the foot that takes a lot of pressure and stress. By the way, in over 300, he has never had to go back in to "revise" any of these procedures due to stump neuroma or other reasons). Anyway, back to icing the bottom of my foot -- that feels SOOO good! Days 7-8 I couldn't believe how much better I was feeling. Hurt to walk barefoot, but with the post-op shoe, I was feeling great. Ran some errands yesterday and was taking something to the basement last night when I stepped off the last step and had a "ripping" pain in the bottom of my foot that about brought me to my knees. I changed the dressing when my husband got home from work and noticed that the area I felt the pain was the same area that is badly bruised and swollen on the underside of my foot. I just overdid it, plain and simple.
So today I'm back to elevating my foot, icing it and back to pain medication. Going to take it easy for a couple of days and go for follow-up on Monday.
I'm with all of you, that this is a HUGE decision to make. Some things I've learned/considered are:
1. Do you have confidence in your doctor? You can get a 1 month membership to Angie's list to see if there have been any complaints about him/her.
2. I wanted a podiatrist to do the work because that's all this guy does is feet. And while the surgery is a big deal to the patient, this is about the most routine thing a podiatrist does. Mine did over 150 neuroma excisions in his residency alone.
3. Take it easy after the surgery. I had the surgery on 3/26 and am off work completely until 4/6. The week of 4/6 I will work from home (fortunate to be able to do that) and return to work the week of 4/13. That gives me about 2 1/2 weeks of just plain taking care of myself. Of course, the minute I started to feel better I overdid it, so don't have too much confidence that you're healing faster than expected. I'm resigned to the fact that this will be a lengthy process.
4. Prepare yourself for how much bruising and swelling there will be. That was the biggest shock for me... the bruising went all the way up to my ankle and couldn't believe it when I saw the bruises on the bottom of my foot. I've changed the dressing 3 times and each time new areas are showing up bright purple. I took pictures each time I changed so I could see how the healing was coming along. My toes were so swollen 3 days after the surgery that they all touched. Now the swelling in the toes is almost gone, but still a lot of swelling on the bottom of my foot.
5. Wear your post-op shoe... don't go barefoot. It makes a world of difference.
I'll keep you updated. So far I'm really glad I did this surgery. Walking was unbearable with the MN. If you are considering the surgery, be sure to talk to your GP and get a 2nd opinion. The first podiatrist I talked to about surgery was willing to get me into surgery the very next day and told me I could return to work the day after. I scheduled the surgery because I was in so much pain, but the more of, cancelled because I didn't have confidence in him. He didn't try any of the conservative treatments first, because in his opinion they don't work. He may have been right in my case, but the fact that this guy was willing to cut my foot open after meeting me for 5 minutes freaked me out. I went to my current podiatrist, built the relationship and confidence with him and I know I made the right decision.
Take care of yourselves! We'll get through this! And sorry I'm so wordy today. :-)
I had Morton's Neuroma surgery over 3 years ago done by an experienced and competent podiatrist. He was about the 6th one I'd seen and the 1st to declare with confidence that he thought I had two neuromas in the same foot. The others disagreed concerning which space it was in. At the end of my rope I decided on surgery. I'd had at least 6 cortisone shots, tried various orthotics including custom designed by a podiatrist. I had the usual 3rd space neurome, and the 2nd space one was as big as my podiatrist had ever seen. He went in from the top with two separate incisions. Post-op, I'm not nearly as pain free as I'd hoped. Some days it seems much worse than others. I don't know how much it's a matter of coping and how much it's due to my foot being different now, but I'm doing more with the foot than I was. I'm still not biking in the hills (doing this daily brought things to a head, but I'm convinced the neuromas were there for almost 20 years [from my running habit] before getting critical) but I bike as needed around town and force myself to do whatever I need to do, generally ignoring the discomfort. I have characterized the situation for people as this: on a day to day basis, on average the foot improves about 1/10th of 1% each day. My primary care physician said "at that rate it won't have healed until you're 80," and I agreed!
This is my 2nd post. My registration on this site seems to have failed for some reason (I didn't get the confirmation email), so I'm called a guest. My first post was dated 4/9/2009. This is a follow up post after reading trhrough the thread. "One who steps" who posted on 12/19/08 had some good info there. My brother is an experienced surgeon and he told me that your best bet if you are going to have foot surgery is an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in foot and ankle. Some of the podiatrists are also quite competent to do an excellent job but your odds are better with the orthopedic surgeon. Their training is a lot more thorough. However, my surgery was done by a podiatrist (he was within my HMO, but recommended by a podiatrist outside my HMO. However, I had to travel to see him, a 60 mile drive each way).
For quite a while (really at least a couple of weeks) after the surgery I had to keep my foot elevated. This is my left foot, which had two neuromas simultaneously and I was told that two neuromas in the same foot is rarely seen. Multiple neuromas is generally in both feet, but my right foot is fine. It's nice to have one healthy foot just to know what a good foot feels like! Having had two incisions instead of one made the healing process that much more difficult, of course. My sister is a physical therapist and she provided me with a simple wheel chair that I could propel myself around in downstairs in my house. This made all the difference, because walking with crutches was very painful due to my foot not being elevated. Even 5-10 seconds with the foot dropped down brought on pain that was difficult to tolerate. I believe you can buy wheel chairs such as the one I had for not much more than $100. I was pretty comfortable in that light wheel chair, which was narrow enough to negotiate the downstairs nicely. Whenever possible I elevated the foot to at least heart level, which was the recommendation and my sensations confirmed the wisdom of this! I didn't really need much phamaceutical pain relief. The podiatrist recommended swimming for conditioning and I did some of that until I was ambulatory.
I was not provided with a special boot to wear after the surgery. They only issued me crutches and a prescription for vicodin.
Concerning top vs. bottom neuroma surgery, going in from the top is certainly more difficult technically. However, going in from the bottom, while far easier and more straight forward for the surgeon risks post-op healing problems and chronic pain associated with scaring. Therefore most Morton's Neuroma surgeries are performed from the top.
My impression is that cortisone in lieu of surgery can be effective but is more apt to be effective if you haven't had the neuroma for very long. This wasn't the case with me. I think I had the neuromas for almost 20 years, at least 15 before I was aware of symptoms that suggested I had a neuroma (in my case 2 of them). I used to be a pretty big runner until 1985 but don't believe that my activities since can account for my having those two neuromas. When I first experienced problems in the foot in 1985 I thought I had either plantar fasciitus (a sports medicine doctor told me this) and later, heal spurs. I think that the neuromas were there all along but only became evident to me about 2000. I didn't have them looked at for a few years after that.
I don't think I made it clear in my other post, but the foot is definitely a lot better than it was before the surgery. It doesn't feel anywhere near as good as the other foot (which is fine), but it's usable and I do what I need to do, a fair amount of athletic activity included. However, I'm still not as active as I was before I had the problem. I used to walk everywhere, bike everywhere including 50 milers, be a runner, but I may never resume that level of activity. Anyway, I'm keeping fit. The foot is getting better, I'm convinced of it, but as I said, very slowly, so slowly it's hard to notice progress. However, I think that right now it's a lot better than it was a year ago and a year ago it was much better than it was the year before that. Still, at times it just feels painful. Taking off my left shoe makes it feel better instantly! I often do that when sitting at my computer. It's not that it's intolerably painful, it's just that it feels better with the shoe off!
My podiatrist told me that the technique that he uses is to remove the neuroma and then push the cut end of the nerve back up into the muscle. This makes it less likely for problems to occur post-op. He said my neuromas were fairly large and that the one in the second space (they are far more common in the 3rd space) was as large as any second space neuroma he'd seen, and he's quite experienced. Second space neuromas are between the second and third toes.
On 02/23/07, "Guest" asked if anyone has heard of an athlete who successfully recovered from neuroma surgery. My dental hygienist was a competitive runner at Oregon University and she told me that she had Morton's Neuroma surgery in both feet then and she eventually had total recovery. I don't know if she resumed running, however. She said the recovery took a couple of years and I should be patient.
This is wordy, but I think a lot of people visiting this blog are hungry for information, so I don't feel bad about it. I'm GLAD I had the surgery! The day before the surgery the doctor told me I had 3 choices:
1. I could live with it.
2. I could try more sclerosing injections (alcohol). I'd exhausted cortisone (you can only tolerate so many before they start to wear away the tissues in your foot!), which wasn't effective and the alcohol injections hadn't helped either.
3. Surgery.
I was pretty confident in my decision to go ahead with the surgery, especially when the doctor told me that he was positive about his diagnosis, something that the other foot doctors were not. My podiatrist had had MN surgery himself, having been a competitive runner. He went the olympic trials one year in the marathon. He's a competitive cyclist now.
Xrays or even MRI's won't necessarily tell the story. You want to see a doctor who know's what they are doing. If you aren't sure, see more doctor(s). I have never seen more doctors (even close) than when I had this problem before I found one in whom I had confidence. I totally exhausted the pool of foot doctors at the local office of my HMO. Honestly, I think you are better off with PPO coverage for a potentially difficult condition like this (in terms of diagnosis and treatment).
BTW, I haven't been in the habit of walking barefoot for a long time, but when I try it now I don't like it at all! I'm pretty OK with shoes, but I've been very picky with shoes for my very wide feet for many years.
I'm 65 and took up yoga less then two years ago (~ 1.5 years after the surgery). I was doing "down dog" for a bit but soon couldn't tolerate the pain in my left forefoot. Now, I do down dog (tolerating the pain) but almost never attempt a 3 legged dog on the left foot. So, it's definitely getting better but it's not OK. Maybe someday. I had the surgery on 12/30/2005, which predates this thread. I was unable to find anything like this at the time. I found some online stuff, but this thread is amazing compared to what I was able to find in 2005. Many posts here aren't informative, but many are. My best advice is to do your homework and be a good advocate for yourself. 2nd opinions are EXPECTED in the medical field, especially when surgery is on the table. In my case, a 6th opinion was necessary before I was at all comfortable with what was going on in the offices. Good luck and good health!
For quite a while (really at least a couple of weeks) after the surgery I had to keep my foot elevated. This is my left foot, which had two neuromas simultaneously and I was told that two neuromas in the same foot is rarely seen. Multiple neuromas is generally in both feet, but my right foot is fine. It's nice to have one healthy foot just to know what a good foot feels like! Having had two incisions instead of one made the healing process that much more difficult, of course. My sister is a physical therapist and she provided me with a simple wheel chair that I could propel myself around in downstairs in my house. This made all the difference, because walking with crutches was very painful due to my foot not being elevated. Even 5-10 seconds with the foot dropped down brought on pain that was difficult to tolerate. I believe you can buy wheel chairs such as the one I had for not much more than $100. I was pretty comfortable in that light wheel chair, which was narrow enough to negotiate the downstairs nicely. Whenever possible I elevated the foot to at least heart level, which was the recommendation and my sensations confirmed the wisdom of this! I didn't really need much phamaceutical pain relief. The podiatrist recommended swimming for conditioning and I did some of that until I was ambulatory.
I was not provided with a special boot to wear after the surgery. They only issued me crutches and a prescription for vicodin.
Concerning top vs. bottom neuroma surgery, going in from the top is certainly more difficult technically. However, going in from the bottom, while far easier and more straight forward for the surgeon risks post-op healing problems and chronic pain associated with scaring. Therefore most Morton's Neuroma surgeries are performed from the top.
My impression is that cortisone in lieu of surgery can be effective but is more apt to be effective if you haven't had the neuroma for very long. This wasn't the case with me. I think I had the neuromas for almost 20 years, at least 15 before I was aware of symptoms that suggested I had a neuroma (in my case 2 of them). I used to be a pretty big runner until 1985 but don't believe that my activities since can account for my having those two neuromas. When I first experienced problems in the foot in 1985 I thought I had either plantar fasciitus (a sports medicine doctor told me this) and later, heal spurs. I think that the neuromas were there all along but only became evident to me about 2000. I didn't have them looked at for a few years after that.
I don't think I made it clear in my other post, but the foot is definitely a lot better than it was before the surgery. It doesn't feel anywhere near as good as the other foot (which is fine), but it's usable and I do what I need to do, a fair amount of athletic activity included. However, I'm still not as active as I was before I had the problem. I used to walk everywhere, bike everywhere including 50 milers, be a runner, but I may never resume that level of activity. Anyway, I'm keeping fit. The foot is getting better, I'm convinced of it, but as I said, very slowly, so slowly it's hard to notice progress. However, I think that right now it's a lot better than it was a year ago and a year ago it was much better than it was the year before that. Still, at times it just feels painful. Taking off my left shoe makes it feel better instantly! I often do that when sitting at my computer. It's not that it's intolerably painful, it's just that it feels better with the shoe off!
My podiatrist told me that the technique that he uses is to remove the neuroma and then push the cut end of the nerve back up into the muscle. This makes it less likely for problems to occur post-op. He said my neuromas were fairly large and that the one in the second space (they are far more common in the 3rd space) was as large as any second space neuroma he'd seen, and he's quite experienced. Second space neuromas are between the second and third toes.
On 02/23/07, "Guest" asked if anyone has heard of an athlete who successfully recovered from neuroma surgery. My dental hygienist was a competitive runner at Oregon University and she told me that she had Morton's Neuroma surgery in both feet then and she eventually had total recovery. I don't know if she resumed running, however. She said the recovery took a couple of years and I should be patient.
This is wordy, but I think a lot of people visiting this blog are hungry for information, so I don't feel bad about it. I'm GLAD I had the surgery! The day before the surgery the doctor told me I had 3 choices:
1. I could live with it.
2. I could try more sclerosing injections (alcohol). I'd exhausted cortisone (you can only tolerate so many before they start to wear away the tissues in your foot!), which wasn't effective and the alcohol injections hadn't helped either.
3. Surgery.
I was pretty confident in my decision to go ahead with the surgery, especially when the doctor told me that he was positive about his diagnosis, something that the other foot doctors were not. My podiatrist had had MN surgery himself, having been a competitive runner. He went the olympic trials one year in the marathon. He's a competitive cyclist now.
Xrays or even MRI's won't necessarily tell the story. You want to see a doctor who know's what they are doing. If you aren't sure, see more doctor(s). I have never seen more doctors (even close) than when I had this problem before I found one in whom I had confidence. I totally exhausted the pool of foot doctors at the local office of my HMO. Honestly, I think you are better off with PPO coverage for a potentially difficult condition like this (in terms of diagnosis and treatment).
BTW, I haven't been in the habit of walking barefoot for a long time, but when I try it now I don't like it at all! I'm pretty OK with shoes, but I've been very picky with shoes for my very wide feet for many years.
I'm 65 and took up yoga less then two years ago (~ 1.5 years after the surgery). I was doing "down dog" for a bit but soon couldn't tolerate the pain in my left forefoot. Now, I do down dog (tolerating the pain) but almost never attempt a 3 legged dog on the left foot. So, it's definitely getting better but it's not OK. Maybe someday. I had the surgery on 12/30/2005, which predates this thread. I was unable to find anything like this at the time. I found some online stuff, but this thread is amazing compared to what I was able to find in 2005. Many posts here aren't informative, but many are. My best advice is to do your homework and be a good advocate for yourself. 2nd opinions are EXPECTED in the medical field, especially when surgery is on the table. In my case, a 6th opinion was necessary before I was at all comfortable with what was going on in the offices. Good luck and good health!
Hi All,
I am the person who posted on 4/3 who had surgery on 3/26. I am happy to report that tomorrow will be 3 weeks since my surgery and I am far better off than I imagined I would be. This is my 3rd day wearing roomy shoes and as long as I walk slower than normal, I am virtually pain free. Periodically I'll feel a twinge or a sensation... it's not painful, just a sensation.
I hope that anyone who is on here checking out what recovery looks like because you are considering having surgery doesn't do what I did. I read through all of these posts and avoided surgery for over a year. all that did was give me a year of painful stepping. PLEASE pick a respected podiatrist and have the conversation with him or her, and don't get spooked by all of these posts. Everyone heals differently and just because everyone else on this board has had problems doesn't mean that you'll have them, too. By the way, I'm not exactly the picture of health, so I hope nobody thinks that I am healing faster because I am in good shape. I am 39 years old and am considered slightly obese, I don't work out and I don't have a terrific diet. But I did listen to my doctor and took plenty of time off.
Take care!
I am the person who posted on 4/3 who had surgery on 3/26. I am happy to report that tomorrow will be 3 weeks since my surgery and I am far better off than I imagined I would be. This is my 3rd day wearing roomy shoes and as long as I walk slower than normal, I am virtually pain free. Periodically I'll feel a twinge or a sensation... it's not painful, just a sensation.
I hope that anyone who is on here checking out what recovery looks like because you are considering having surgery doesn't do what I did. I read through all of these posts and avoided surgery for over a year. all that did was give me a year of painful stepping. PLEASE pick a respected podiatrist and have the conversation with him or her, and don't get spooked by all of these posts. Everyone heals differently and just because everyone else on this board has had problems doesn't mean that you'll have them, too. By the way, I'm not exactly the picture of health, so I hope nobody thinks that I am healing faster because I am in good shape. I am 39 years old and am considered slightly obese, I don't work out and I don't have a terrific diet. But I did listen to my doctor and took plenty of time off.
Take care!
After reading through a few blogs, I am still unsure about having my morton's neuroma surgery removal on May 6. I am very active, so the current pinch-lighting pain is really getting to me. I live in the city and can't walk around all day anymore, running is out of the question, and I'm so sick of the pain. I wonder if I am putting myself totally out of commission by having this surgery.
also, I'm terrified of being awake during the process. what the heck is "twilight sleep" anesthetic? My Dr. (very good guy) says I won't care at all once I am sedated, but I have freaked out during outpatient surgery before with a local.
what is it like?
also, I'm terrified of being awake during the process. what the heck is "twilight sleep" anesthetic? My Dr. (very good guy) says I won't care at all once I am sedated, but I have freaked out during outpatient surgery before with a local.
what is it like?
I was unconscious for mine. Request to be put out. They didn't even consult me on that, if I remember correctly. The procedure did not freak me out. Prepare to keep that foot elevated to at or close to heart level for a while. If you can score a light duty self-propelled wheel chair, you'll be glad you did.
I'm sorry to hear that so many of you have had problems after surgery to remove your neuromas, I have had surgery on both feet as well, many years apart and with two different doctors and very different results.
The first surgery, on my left foot was done 12-13yrs ago, in which they removed one neuroma in the third interspace and released ligament in the second. Incisions were on the top of the foot, recovery seemed like forever, but the foot was feeling really good until about 6mos ago, but I believe it's hurting due to favoring the other for so long.
The second surgery, which was done 3yrs ago, was on my right foot and I've never recovered and in a trip to a new podiatrist and an MRI along with x-rays have found out why. As it turns out, the surgeon opened my foot and didn't remove the neuroma, for one thing, while he was in there disturbed the bone on the third toe which cause it to shift and heal funny, AND he cut the tendon on the top on the second toe which cause it to drop (nothing can be done about this part). So in June I am again going under the knife to REALLY have the neuroma removed, repair the bone (cutting it, shaving some off, and pinning it back together). I am nervous, but know that when done properly, this surgery can be very successful.
The trick it seems is, first off to GET GOOD DOCTOR!!! Do your research here, I discovered in the small town I lived in that after the doctor that screwed up did the surgery no other podiatrist in town would touch me... Hmmm, wonder why? He's been sued so many times and is currently being sued and will lose his practice dues to screw ups like this, unfortunately for me it's to late for me to file a law suit. I wish you the best of luck in your research and will for sure post another thread after I recover to let you know how it went.
The first surgery, on my left foot was done 12-13yrs ago, in which they removed one neuroma in the third interspace and released ligament in the second. Incisions were on the top of the foot, recovery seemed like forever, but the foot was feeling really good until about 6mos ago, but I believe it's hurting due to favoring the other for so long.
The second surgery, which was done 3yrs ago, was on my right foot and I've never recovered and in a trip to a new podiatrist and an MRI along with x-rays have found out why. As it turns out, the surgeon opened my foot and didn't remove the neuroma, for one thing, while he was in there disturbed the bone on the third toe which cause it to shift and heal funny, AND he cut the tendon on the top on the second toe which cause it to drop (nothing can be done about this part). So in June I am again going under the knife to REALLY have the neuroma removed, repair the bone (cutting it, shaving some off, and pinning it back together). I am nervous, but know that when done properly, this surgery can be very successful.
The trick it seems is, first off to GET GOOD DOCTOR!!! Do your research here, I discovered in the small town I lived in that after the doctor that screwed up did the surgery no other podiatrist in town would touch me... Hmmm, wonder why? He's been sued so many times and is currently being sued and will lose his practice dues to screw ups like this, unfortunately for me it's to late for me to file a law suit. I wish you the best of luck in your research and will for sure post another thread after I recover to let you know how it went.
Hi all, just thought I'd add my story.
Had MN surgery 2 weeks ago through the bottom of the right foot. My doc is a foot/ankle orthopedic specialist, highly thought of in my city. He only goes in through the bottom of the foot, since he's had much better results that way (and if the surgery fails through the top of the foot, you have to go in through the bottom to remove the stump nerve anyway).
Stitches came out today. There's no way I can walk right now, but at least I should be able to drive by tomorrow. Fortunately, I'm home for the summer and am only taking a summer class I need to drive to.
I'm 19, and have had my neuroma develop since I was 17. Since I'm a gymnast, I've been taught to work through pain. At one point it just got so bad I could no longer walk at all, so I'd been in a walking boot for over sixth months before surgery. Injections didn't work, and orthotics are out of the question for a gymnast who works out barefoot...
The neuroma didn't show up on an x-ray, bone scan, or mri. So technically my surgeon went in 'blind' but the pathologist reports it was indeed a neuroma (thankfully!).
So, just because it doesn't show up doesn't mean it's not a neuroma... I went to one doctor at school who refused to believe it was anything but a stress fracture (never seeing that doctor again!) even after a bone scan.
Hopefully healing continues as is. Fortunately, I can deal with being on crutches for as long as necessary- the chance of forming irregular scar tissue should be very, very minimal if I baby my foot for the next few weeks.
Had MN surgery 2 weeks ago through the bottom of the right foot. My doc is a foot/ankle orthopedic specialist, highly thought of in my city. He only goes in through the bottom of the foot, since he's had much better results that way (and if the surgery fails through the top of the foot, you have to go in through the bottom to remove the stump nerve anyway).
Stitches came out today. There's no way I can walk right now, but at least I should be able to drive by tomorrow. Fortunately, I'm home for the summer and am only taking a summer class I need to drive to.
I'm 19, and have had my neuroma develop since I was 17. Since I'm a gymnast, I've been taught to work through pain. At one point it just got so bad I could no longer walk at all, so I'd been in a walking boot for over sixth months before surgery. Injections didn't work, and orthotics are out of the question for a gymnast who works out barefoot...
The neuroma didn't show up on an x-ray, bone scan, or mri. So technically my surgeon went in 'blind' but the pathologist reports it was indeed a neuroma (thankfully!).
So, just because it doesn't show up doesn't mean it's not a neuroma... I went to one doctor at school who refused to believe it was anything but a stress fracture (never seeing that doctor again!) even after a bone scan.
Hopefully healing continues as is. Fortunately, I can deal with being on crutches for as long as necessary- the chance of forming irregular scar tissue should be very, very minimal if I baby my foot for the next few weeks.
I had been suffering extreme pain for over 3 and half years before i got my diagnosis for a neuroma. when i first went to see a podiatrist they did suggest it was a neuroma but xray and scan didnt show anything so i was back and forward to podiatry with nothing helping my pain until eventually i couldnt stand the pain any longer i ask to see another podiatrist, as soon as i seen someone else they suggested i had the neuroma again but i thought because it hadnt shown up on xray or scan it couldnt be that but she said it possible it was too small at that point to see on xray or scan and was sure that this was what was causing my pain, eventually after referring me back to my doc who referred me to a consultant, i got another scan done, this time it showed a neuroma 7.7mm in size, got an injection straight after which never worked, so 5months after scan i had my surgery done on 19th may 09, just 3weeks ago. I was looking forward to things getting back to normal (pain free) but im not so sure now. Reading other stories on the condition has left me wondering if my recovery will be a success or not, only time will tell.