Every Sunday when my mother would come home from church, she would take off her high heel shoes and put them in the closet. She would rub her bunions and misshapen toes and remark, "I'll have pretty new dancing feet in heaven" and then she would smile. Of all things to inherit, I would have to inherit my mother's feet, but I didn't inherit her grace to smile about it.
I know that I brought a lot of it on myself by squeezing my feet into too tight shoes when I refused to acknowledge that my feet had grown a size after having babies. And I bought shoes based on style versus comfort, because after all, they didn't hurt all that bad. And heels were required at work in my early years and they were those little pointy toe things. The pointy toes are back in style, but at least now, they make the pointy part a little longer so that your foot fits in and the point extends further out. Back in "the day", you were expected to cram all of your toes into that little triangle at the end of the shoe. I wince at the memories.
Having said all that leads to the fact that I've ruined my feet and I'm paying for it now. When I see young women stuffing their feet into 5 inch pointy toed heels, I want to take them aside and have a motherly chat. What I have are bunions. That's an ugly word because it makes for an ugly foot especially when it goes from moderate to severe. And it's so hard to find shoes to fit because you have to buy them wide at the top to accommodate that big old hump of a bunion, but my feet are still narrow at the heel which means if I buy them wide enough at the top, they flip and flop at my heel. When I find shoes that fit, I buy one of every color. Seriously, I own at least ten pair of Easy Spirit Travel slides and many pairs of Keds. The only dress shoes I've found that fit decent are S'Biccas and I can't find them locally so I have to order them.
There's not much you can do about a bunion unless you want to have corrective surgery and believe me, I've considered it. So far, I've avoided having it done because you're off your feet for 6 - 12 weeks, and I think that would drive me stark raving mad. Plus here's what they do. It sounds painful...even more painful than having a bunion:
Severe bunion
Cuts away the bony excess at the head of the metatarsal bone. Removes a wedge-like piece of bone and realigns the metatarsal, which is secured with screws or pins. Corrects tendons and ligaments. Recovery takes 6–12 weeks. You may need to wear a short cast and use crutches. If the joint is beyond repair, it may be replaced with an artificial joint.
As much as I would like to place all the blame for my feet on ill-fitting shoes, Orthopedists generally agree that it's mostly about genetics. Thanks Mom! But at least I'll have pretty new dancing feet in Heaven. Save a dance for me, will you Mom?
I know that I brought a lot of it on myself by squeezing my feet into too tight shoes when I refused to acknowledge that my feet had grown a size after having babies. And I bought shoes based on style versus comfort, because after all, they didn't hurt all that bad. And heels were required at work in my early years and they were those little pointy toe things. The pointy toes are back in style, but at least now, they make the pointy part a little longer so that your foot fits in and the point extends further out. Back in "the day", you were expected to cram all of your toes into that little triangle at the end of the shoe. I wince at the memories.
Having said all that leads to the fact that I've ruined my feet and I'm paying for it now. When I see young women stuffing their feet into 5 inch pointy toed heels, I want to take them aside and have a motherly chat. What I have are bunions. That's an ugly word because it makes for an ugly foot especially when it goes from moderate to severe. And it's so hard to find shoes to fit because you have to buy them wide at the top to accommodate that big old hump of a bunion, but my feet are still narrow at the heel which means if I buy them wide enough at the top, they flip and flop at my heel. When I find shoes that fit, I buy one of every color. Seriously, I own at least ten pair of Easy Spirit Travel slides and many pairs of Keds. The only dress shoes I've found that fit decent are S'Biccas and I can't find them locally so I have to order them.
There's not much you can do about a bunion unless you want to have corrective surgery and believe me, I've considered it. So far, I've avoided having it done because you're off your feet for 6 - 12 weeks, and I think that would drive me stark raving mad. Plus here's what they do. It sounds painful...even more painful than having a bunion:
Severe bunion
Cuts away the bony excess at the head of the metatarsal bone. Removes a wedge-like piece of bone and realigns the metatarsal, which is secured with screws or pins. Corrects tendons and ligaments. Recovery takes 6–12 weeks. You may need to wear a short cast and use crutches. If the joint is beyond repair, it may be replaced with an artificial joint.
As much as I would like to place all the blame for my feet on ill-fitting shoes, Orthopedists generally agree that it's mostly about genetics. Thanks Mom! But at least I'll have pretty new dancing feet in Heaven. Save a dance for me, will you Mom?
Oh, Glenda.....love the title of this post...the content...and the ending! I have several friends who've had bunion surgery, and are loving their 'new' feet. Fortunately, it's not one of the genetic downfalls I've inherited...but I truly have enough other ones!! LOL! I hope we get dancing feet AND wings when we get to heaven!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Carol, I'm sure I will eventually have the surgery. I keep finding excuses not to though!
DeleteI love your picture at the end! My sister in law had that surgery. It wasn't easy but now a year later she's glad she did. Good luck and keep dancin...her on earth for now
ReplyDeleteHugs~
Sush, I've heard many success stories, and I've heard some not so successful. It's something I've just got to make up my mind to do.
DeleteFab post Glenda! The picture at the bottom brings my folks to mind ... they first met at dance classes and they always danced really well together!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up it was platform wedges - they looked awful (when I see the photos) but at least our foot was mostly flat and the toes weren't scrunched into impossible shapes ... as an adult I tended to wear no shoes or flat shoes. I do like pretty shoes for dress-up but never more than a two inch heel with a fairly substantial base! That two inch heel makes me a staggering 5ft tall which is really all the height I can manage.
Jane,
ReplyDeleteThe irony of it is that Mom never danced a day in her life that I know of. There was not much of an occasion for dancing in the remote countryside where they lived when they were young. And with seven children later, there was never any time.
Maybe it was her dream to dance. She did encourage me to dance. She paid for ballet lessons when I was a child and later I took ballroom dancing lessons. I was such a klutz though, I never really enjoyed it. Of course, I was pretty good at Chubby Checker's "Let's do the Twist". That doesn't require much talent or coordination though, does it?
Hello Glenda
ReplyDeleteMy Mother told the orthopeadic surgeon just what she thought of him after he explained all the gruesome details of the Bunion op. Forget it she said, how on earht can a woman be expected to be off her feet for that length of time. What she actually meant was she didn't want to miss the weekly dances she and Dad went to.
Sadly genetics does play a part and my big toes are at a funny angle - no way will I have 'that' op done though. Like Mum I can dance quite well without it lol
Take care
Cathy
I am so sorry about your painful feet. It sounds horrible. I have a cousin with bunions and I know how much she winces after pulling a double shift at the hospital. I cannot imagine having surgery and being off feet for 6-12 weeks. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteMy feet have never been friendly to shoes. I have always longed to be able to wear those cutesy stylish things but have been genetically blessed with wide Louisiana feet. Once the babies came.....it was all over for me.
The outlook that your mom had makes me smile and remember the order of counting my blessings. Thank you for the cheery thoughts today.
Blessings to you.