Personal journey with bilateral plantar fasciitis surgery
A couple of years ago I went to Muir Woods with my friends, Heather and Tomoko. We walked the path through Muir Woods (maybe a mile and a half) and we had to keep stopping because of the pain in my feet from plantar fasciitis. A couple of years ago it took us about two, two and a half hours to walk that mile/mile and a half.
A couple of weeks ago I was ready to try that same walk again. To me this was to be a victory walk. My goal was to prove that I could do it in better time. I made sure I stretched VERY well the two days before, the day of and a couple of days after. I didn’t want any tightening up of my muscles.
So my friend Heather and I (Tomoko couldn’t make it) took off on a Monday afternoon for the victory trek at Muir Woods. That’s us over to the left.
I was feeling pretty confident that I was going to be able to do this. We paid our entrance fee and headed down the path. We had a fun time taking pictures and walking. Pretty soon we came to some benches that I clearly remember having to sit on the last time we did this walk. Nope! Not this time. We just kept walking.
We made it to the fourth bridge, went across and, wow, it felt like a real mini hike going back because we were on a real hiking trail that was NOT level! How exciting! I still hadn’t had to sit down and we kept walking and taking pictures. Heather’s a great friend and she was just as excited as I was at what I was able to do.
We kept going up and down, up and down and eventually just down to the Visitor’s Center. I was ready to sit in the car at this point. My feet were hurting, but that didn’t matter. It wasn’t so bad that I had to stop and when we got back to the car we high-fived and were very happy. We had just walked two miles without stopping to sit! I was victorious at Muir Woods!
I was so excited and happy at what I just accomplished. I’m so glad that Heather was there to share it with me! Muir Woods is just north of San Francisco, CA and it is a beautiful place. Perfect for my Victory Walk!
My Victory Walk was about six months after surgery on my right foot and nine after surgery on my left foot. At first I said it wasn’t a real hike, but you know what? It was a real hike! It was just short in duration.
When I started thinking about having surgery for my plantar fasciitis I spent hours researching online. I could only find one personal experience with plantar fasciotomy and it hadn't been updated in a long time.
So I thought I'd chronicle my journey from beginning to end and post updates as time goes on as to how well the surgeries worked for me. I'll be having two - one surgery for each foot. I have bilateral plantar fasciitis.
I also created this blog so that my family, friends, associates and clients could easily check my progress and chat with me during recovery.
So if you're visiting this blog way after I've had surgery, I hope the information you find here helps. If you're one of my family members, friends, associates or clients, I hope you'll post lots of comments because your support will keep me going strong through post-op recovery.
Regardless of when you stop by, I'm glad you're here!
I am not a doctor or licensed professional. Information presented on this website is for educational purposes only and should not be used to replace the advice of your doctor, physical therapist or other medical or licensed professional. Information presented on this site is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure plantar fasciitis, foot pain or any other condition or illness. No statements have been evaluated by the FDA or other government or medical entity.
This is just me sharing my experiences with you. What works for me may not work for you or anyone else. If you have or suspect you have a medical condition such as plantar fasciitis or other foot pain, please see your physician immediately for proper care.
To see my current progress and recent posts click here or on the "Home" link at the top of this page.
Christina
May 26th, 2009 at 8:58 am
I went to Muir Woods again three days ago with some new friends. I couldn’t walk quite as much, but that’s okay. I still didn’t have to stop for a break!