Monday, February 8, 2021 (Over 6 years after having surgeries in 2014)

 Good morning! It's been a couple of years since I published an update. I thought it would be timely to do so today since I'm seeing more comment activity recently, and I just went to see my podiatrist last week. 

Full disclosure: this is a new podiatrist, as we have moved to a different state from where I got my Hyprocure implant surgeries done back in Dec 2014. The new podiatrist is highly regarded in the area, so I felt comfortable seeing him. He did indeed seem pleasantly surprised that I was having positive results at my age with the surgeries. I'm 40 yrs old now. Both Hyprocure implants are still in place and they are not causing me any discomfort. 

However, I'm seeing some other issues creep up now, relative to lower back pain which may be caused by a few factors. Mainly: I have hypermobility (as do 20% of people in the US); this is a fancy way to say I'm double-jointed with extremely flexible ligaments. In this new doctor's opinion, this makes me not an ideal case for the Hyprocure implant procedure, and he said that coupled with my older age, he would personally not have recommended it for me. He says that he's seen very positive results on this mostly with children and those with normal mobility. That being said, he was pleased that I've been happy with the results (up until now, I'm a bit lukewarm now vs 6 years ago). 

What I've been unhappy with recently is that I've noticed my feet seem to pronate more now than they initially did when I had the procedures done, and we suspect this is causing my low back pain. He said that due to my hypermobility, that the bones in my foot have adjusted over time to begin to pronate again, despite the fact the implants are in place. 

Also, due to covid, I have been working from home the last 11months, hence, I haven't been wearing shoes a lot as we don't go out a lot. My workouts consist of 6 days a week on my Peloton, which is sometimes the only time in the day that I'll wear shoes. This means I haven't been wearing my orthotics and that's further aggravated my pronation, leading to back discomfort. Therefore, I was fitted for new orthotics last week and will be getting some new motion control shoes to wear indoors as I walk throughout the house so I can use my orthotics more. This is definitely something to watch out for as some folks have transitioned to a work from home environment. 

He also recommended that I get some Vionic brand slippers to wear in the house, too, as they have more arch support. I'm excited to get my new orthotics in the next few weeks. 

Saturday, November 3, 2018 (Almost 4 years after right foot surgery, 3 yrs 8 months after left foot surgery)

It's been over 2 years since my last post, which means it's been almost 4 years since my re-do surgeries of the HyProCure implant. I'm still extremely pleased with the results. My husband and I welcomed our first child in Oct 2017, and I was able to run 3-4 times per week throughout most of my pregnancy (up through 28 weeks). My mileage had dipped down to only 3 miles or so, but it was great to be able to maintain a good level of fitness throughout my pregnancy last year. During my maternity leave (and my husband's paternity leave), we spent over a month with our newborn living in the Lake Tahoe area. I rebounded quickly from pregnancy/childbirth and was able to go back to snowboarding, skiiing and running with no pain.

I still haven't gotten new orthotics made, as there just isn't a reason to prioritize that doctor's appointment with everything else going on in life. The good news is that it isn't painful at all, so my HyProCure implants must still be in place.

I welcome more new comments and discussions on this blog. I appreciate hearing from all of you; its great that so many people want to use this blog as a medium for sharing their stories, too. Best of luck!

Friday, September 29, 2016 (Almost 2 years after right foot surgery, 18 months after left foot surgery)

It’s been almost a year since my last blog post, and I’ve received some recent comments/questions about how my feet are doing now. I’m happy to report that I’m still extremely pleased with the results of both of my HyProCure foot surgeries. It’s been almost 2 years since I had the HyProCure implant put into my right foot, and about 18 months since my left foot procedure.

I still have a good level of correction in both arches, and I'm able to walk and run without any issues. I usually run about 3-4x per week, about 4-5 miles for each run. I prefer to run outdoors, but probably only get the chance to do that about 1-2x per week. The good news is that I can run outdoors on any terrain or indoors on the treadmill without any pain. I’m still using the same pair of orthotics my doctor had made for me prior to the surgeries. I probably need to get some new orthotics made at some point since they’re about 3+ years old now, but it’s not urgent as I’m not having any pain/discomfort while running (I wrote a similar comment in my prior blog post about a year ago, so you can tell it’s not a problem, but probably a nice-to-have).

For anyone out there considering the HyProCure procedure for your feet, I still highly recommend it. The healing process seems to work best and most quickly for patients that are in good overall health, in good shape at a healthy weight and younger (ie under 50 years old). I’m fortunate that I fit that profile and have really been happy with my results.

Tuesday October 7, 2015 (10 months after right foot surgery, 6.5 months after left foot surgery)

Good morning! I've had some comments/questions posted on the blog which is great; please feel free to ask questions as I always make it a priority to respond as quickly as I can.

It's hard to believe that it's been over 10 months since my right foot HyProCure surgery and 6.5 months since I did it on the left foot! Things are going really well since my last post at the end of June. I've been running outdoors about 2-3 times per week, and doing Yoga and bike rides on other days when I can find the time. Most of my runs are about 3-5 miles at around a 9min/mile pace. I ran a 12K (7.5 miles) race on Sunday, and was happy to be able to finish even though I didn't feel trained for it based on the distances I'd been running (8:47 per mile pace was okay with me).

I got a new pair of running shoes in August; I stuck with the same ones I typically buy (Asics Gel-Kayano) although I probably could have went for a slightly more neutral shoe. I have some slight lower back soreness if I run distances greater than 5+miles 2-3 days in a row, so I try to space out my runs with a rest day or cross-training day in between them; or vary the distances. The guy at the running shoe store tried to talk me into going with a more neutral shoe as he thinks I'm having some over-correction at this point, so I might try a more neutral shoe if it really bothers me in the future. At this point, it's very manageable, and the good news is that I don't have any knee or hip pain (which was happening before my surgeries). At some point, I need to go back to see my doctor to get new orthotics made; I'll try to make it a point to do that in the next month or so and then report back on how things are going with my running.

Monday June 29, 2015 (7 months after right foot surgery, 14 weeks after left foot surgery)

Here's a quick summary table for reference of how long after each surgery until I reached the listed "milestones".

Summary of how long after each surgery I was able to reach each milestone
	Right foot (Dec 1, 2014)	Left foot (Mar 20, 2015)
Walking without crutches	4 days	2 days
Walking without the aircast boot	11 days	10 days
Sleeping with the aircast boot	11 days	10 days
Sleeping with the aircast brace	4 weeks	2 weeks
Stitches out	10 days	17 days
Walking comfortably	3 weeks	3 weeks
Walking for exercise	3-4 weeks	3-4 weeks
Wearing heels	8 weeks	6 weeks
Taking flights	3 weeks	2 weeks
Elliptical machine exercise	6 weeks	4 weeks
Running (treadmill)	12 weeks	6 weeks
Running (outside)	14 weeks	12 weeks

Month 5 (Right Foot) and Week 8 (Left Foot) Saturday May 16, 2015

What a difference 5 wks makes! Right foot is totally fine as it's been a little over 5 months now. And, the left foot is surprisingly good!

I started running at week 6. Out of the 4 surgeries I've had done (2 on each foot now), it's taken at least 12 wks before I can run so I'm extremely pleased. I had traveled out of the country to Vietnam just 3 wks after the surgery and my foot handled the long flights without any swelling. I wore sneakers/comfy shoes most of the time while we were traveling for the 9 days. No issues at all. Around week 5 for the left foot, I decided I'd try running on the treadmill. I was feeling really confident as I'd just come off my international travels with no issues plus had already been wearing shoes with a little heel. I ended up running 3 miles the first day, and then ran again two more times in the next week. On the 3rd run, I went a little further, up to 3.5 miles and felt quite some pain in my left foot near the surgery site. The pain didn't subside for about a week; I was taking some ibuprofen twice a day and back in sneakers. Therefore, I'll wait another week probably before I try running again (so that'll put me about 9 wks since the surgery), and I'll increase my mileage gradually. For my next post, I'll let you know how that goes. Also, I know it might be confusing as I've got two stories going on right now with each foot so I'll try to do a summary post describing the healing process and differences between the two.

Week 18 (Right Foot) and Week 3 (Left Foot) Thursday April 9, 2015

It's been quite a while since my last post which was at the end of January.

Right foot: It's now been 18 weeks! At around 10-12 weeks, I tried to start running outside and couldn't go more than about 1/2 mile without pain beginning to set in where I had the hyprocure implant surgery. I took a couple of weeks off and then went snowboarding in Colorado without any pain. I got in about 5 days on the mountain, and the most painful part was taking my boots on/off as they are a very tight fit which is required for the sport (not quite as bad as for skiing). At week 14, I then tried running again and was able to run 1.5 miles through Golden Gate Park. The next day, I ran on the treadmill and ran 3 miles without any pain. My suggestion to anyone is probably to go back to treadmill running first before trying to run outside as you can be more "planned" about where you plant your foot and your pace while running on the treadmill. I'd consider my right foot to be completely back to normal now; there's no pain and I can walk/run on it as I used to.

Left foot: I had my left foot surgery on Friday March 20, 2015. The first 48 hours were certainly more concerning than with my right foot surgery back in December. With the left foot this time, I experience extreme swelling and numbness. Even with constant icing, I didn't start to feel more "back to normal" until Sunday morning (2 days later). However, a positive to this is that I didn't really feel any pain since there wasn't much feeling at all in my left foot. Since then, it seems to be doing better than my right foot at this same point in time. Not much pain at all, I'm walking around all over on it, and I'm sleeping through the night just fine. This reinforces an important point: no two hyprocure surgeries will be the same, even on the same person!

With the left foot now at 3 weeks since the surgery, I've already taken a short flight from San Francisco to Seattle (we had a friends' wedding that I had to attend last weekend) and I'm comfortably walking around the city as normal. The stitches came out after 2 weeks and the bruising/swelling is so minimal, it's even better than the right foot was at the same since surgery. I plan to start cycling in May and then running in June. Once I get back into running, I will go back to the doctor's office to get new orthotics made. I'll post some pictures later this month when I have more time of what the incision site looked like and the x-rays once they took the stitches out.

Week 9 (Saturday January 31, 2015)

What a great 9 weeks it's been! In the last week, I've added elliptical machine workouts to my fitness routine (which was mainly just walking and weights up to this point), and it doesn't hurt at all. Also, wearing heels is now not really an issue. I can wear typical 2" to 3" heels to work and be in them all day for 9+ hours and my foot feels fine. As for running up/down stairs, the uphill is fine, while I still am a bit cautious going downstairs (so as not to place so much pressure on my foot). Otherwise, if all continues to go well, then I'll try to incorporate running again into my fitness routine probably in the next 1 to 2 weeks. I continue to be very pleased with the results!

Week 8 (Saturday January 24, 2015)

Finishing up 8 weeks since the HyProCure implant surgery re-do on my right foot, and it's healing so nicely. I've been taking long walks through the park, treadmill and to run errands. I'm very comfortable walking 2-4 miles at a time. I've done 4-mile walks now a couple of times in the last 2 weeks, and the only issue is that I wake up sore/tight the next morning around the site of the incision and actually more on the inside of my ankle. Not a big deal, I just take it easy for that day, and then go right back to a long walk the following day. Spinning is fine, but any jogging/running is definitely not fine. I tried to lightly jog a couple of blocks on my walk earlier this week, and it was painful. So, still no running, but it's only been 8 weeks. As for how my foot looks at this point, I am very pleasantly surprised that there is no scar - you can't tell by looking at my foot that I had a surgery. Also, I did have some stubborn swelling that would creep in on the inside of my right ankle, but even all that has dissipated, and my foot looks normal (except now I have an arch with great correction!).

Week 6 (Sunday January 11, 2015)

It's been 6 weeks since getting my HyProCure implant surgery on my right foot. I've been back and forth over how well the recovery has been over the last 2 weeks since I've written my last blog post. I've stopped sleeping with the aircast stirrup now in the last week, but it's hit or miss on how well I sleep. There are some nights where even the slightest movement in the lateral direction can create a pain so badly that I wake up with each one (ie almost every other hour in my sleep). Or, there are nights like last night, where I'm sure I moved around in my sleep, but I slept soundly a full 8 hours without any pain. I'm sure it's all a function of what I'm doing throughout the day.

On that note, I can say that I've been bustling through airports and have taken 7 flights through the last 3 weeks, and I seem to manage just fine as long as I'm wearing my running shoes with my orthotics. Or, I suppose any flat boot that gives my foot some room to "give"/swell as it needs to. The last flight I took was 3 days ago, and I had been wearing a cute pair of Sam Edelman flats (which are extremely comfortable!), but after wearing them all day and then heading home on a late flight Thursday evening, I was limping onto the airplane. I rested my foot for the 2 hour flight, but then limped off the plane to hurry to a cab to get home. It was much better once I got home and was barefoot throughout my house. What happened: by the end of the day each day, my foot has some sort of swelling on the inside portion of it. I find this odd as it's on the opposite side of the incision, but anyway, it happens each day as I'm on my feet a lot. I'm very active as you know from reading the blog. I've started doing upper body workouts again, and I walk around all the time around the city. It is irking that I still have swelling, but then again, I feel like it's healing faster than last time 5 years ago. To summarize on the shoes options, I would avoid ballerina-style flats (your foot will swell naturally throughout the day and they get too tight) and shoes with more than a 1.5" high heel. Good thing I have plenty of other options; I'm guessing that I'm still about 2 weeks away from exploring back into my high heel shoes options.

I'm not traveling at all for work over the next week, so I'll be working from home and taking it easier on my foot. Depending on how I feel next weekend then, I'm going to start doing some spinning and perhaps a yoga class. I can say for certain that my foot is clearly not ready for any sort of running or even walking for more than 1-mile at a time without breaks. However, I'm not discouraged as I'm only 6 weeks into the healing process now, and I remember that it was 12 weeks last time before I started running again. I'll have more to post next time on how spinning/walking exercising has been.

Week 4 (Fri Dec 26)

Coming up now almost 4 wks since my surgery. The last week has been great being on vacation and spending a lot of time with family due to the holidays. I've been wearing a variety of shoes from my running sneakers (with orthotics), low-heel Troopas (boots) and flat soft boots. I'm walking without any limp at all, and I'm comfortable in all styles of shoes. I'm going to stick with these 3 varieties of flat shoes over the next 7-10 days, too, just to help the healing process. Then, I might consider a different shoe (ie something dressier for work with up to a 1-2" heel). Also, same as last week, after a day of being on my feet all day (cooking, baking, shopping, etc) my heel is swollen. As an example, it was so swollen last night that you could barely make out any of my bones on the front of side of the heel around the full perimeter of my heel. However, after a full night of rest, when I awoke this morning, it was back to normal. There is still some tenderness to the touch on the inside of my right heel (surprisingly on the side opposite the incision from the HyProCure surgery). I did a better job of remembering to keep my foot elevated as much as I could if I was sitting at home or with some family members, and my foot is in much better shape this evening before I go to bed. Also, to be completely honest, it's still a bit uncomfortable to sleep. This is due to my foot being very sore if there is any sort of lateral movement (ie walking in a straight motion or flexing my foot up/down is fine, but trying to go left/right is not advised and is painful). I've been wearing the aircast stirrup brace most nights which helps, but I still wake up in the middle of the night I've moved around in a position that is painful to my foot.

Week 3 (Sun Dec 21)

It's officially been 3 weeks now since my HyProCure implant surgery on my right foot. As I didn't keep a blog on my first set of surgeries back in 2009, I don't remember too many of the recovery details. However, I certainly do remember that I couldn't wear certain flat shoes or shoes with some sort of heel (greater than 1/2") for a very long time. I think I'm recovering faster this time, as I'm able to wear flats, flat boots, troopas, etc all without any issues (heels up to 1" and no pain/discomfort at all). I spent the last week walking around quite a bit all over the city. As an example, I had a dentist appt on Wednesday, and walked to and from it (almost 1 mile each way). I did notice some soreness on my foot after all the walking on it by the evening on some days this week, but nothing too bad that didn't easy while I rested it during my sleep. I'm still sleeping wearing the aircast stirrup brace to really ensure there is no lateral motion of my foot at all for the first month. I've very pleased with the results so far. I'm beginning to wonder if part of the problem from my first surgeries was that the larger implant used back in 2009 (a size 8) didn't allow the implant to get into the joint deep enough so I may have suffered from a sprained ankle feeling. It's almost shocking to me how comfortable the size 7 implant feels with it's placement and healing. As for the incision site - healing very nicely; I'm just wearing a small bandaid but there is hardly any scabbing left. Also, the inside part of my heel leading up to the arch (on the opposite side of my foot from the surgery incision of course) is slightly swollen after a long day of walking and feels a bit tender, but that isn't unusual. All good news so far!

Days 10 - 14

It's been a busy 4 days; and I'm just now getting a chance to write about how I'm feeling as I round out the first 2 weeks for my HyProCure implant.

Day 10 (Wed Dec 10)
Finally got my stitches out! Dr Abe says I'm doing great; hardly any swelling and the x-rays show the HyProCure implant is perfectly in place. In the picture of the x-ray below, you can see the right foot with the green circle around the correctly-positioned HyProCure implant (the one the doctor just inserted Dec 1). Then, on the left foot, there is a red circle around the implant that is 5 yrs old and out of place (I'll need to re-do this foot, too). The before and after pictures are amazing when looking at the back of my foot. There is actually an arch now when I stand. I don't have any pain when I walk on it, however I'm very cautious and favoring my weight on my left foot. I should keep my foot wrapped for another 3-4 days of showering to better allow for the wound to heal. Also, it's time to start weening off the aircast boot. I've switched to an aircast ankle brace stirrup. All good news! As a note: my healing process is going very well; I'm very fit and in great athletic shape, which I think has helped. I also eat a mostly plant-based diet, and I've been taking extra Vitamin C each day which I've ready several studies saying it helps support quicker recovery.

Day 11 (Thur Dec 11)
I'm taking it easy all day today. I probably overdid it yesterday after the good news from the doctor's appt to remove the wrapping and stitches. Afterwards, my husband and I went grocery shopping and then out to dinner a couple of blocks walking from the house. My foot was actually a bit sore and swollen once I got home last night. I decided to retire the aircast boot and have switched over to the aircast stirrup brace. Sleeping was much more comfortable in the brace vs the boot. I've been wearing the stirrup brace along with my normal running shoes and orthotics for easily walking all over my house today. In the picture below, you'll see the before (left) and after (right) pictures of my right foot. The "before" picture was taken the day before my surgery, and you can clearly see the curve of my heel bone as there is no correction. On the right, is the "after" picture taken just 11 days later at the doctor yesterday when I was getting my stitches out. The correction is really incredible! Pardon the bruising/swelling of the inside of my ankle in the right picture; that is normal and expected after the surgery.

Day 12 (Fri Dec 12)
I'm exhausted; and ready for bed so I can get some good rest before our annual holiday brunch party tomorrow that we're hosting at our house. I spent over 6-8 hours today on my feet in my house (doing laundry, cleaning, decorating, baking, and preparing for the brunch). The bottom of my feet are actually sore from being on them all day long; probably aggravated by the fact that I've been taking it so easy the last 2 weeks since getting the HyProCure implant surgery and now have overdone it. Again, I wore my aircast stirrup brace all day with my running shoes plus orthotics.

Day 13 (Sat Dec 13)
The holiday brunch was a huge success! I woke up at 7am to start several of the dishes and get ready before our first guests were due to arrive around 11am. My feet felt great all day; I didn't wear shoes, just socks with the aircast stirrup brace. We had over 20+ friends at the house for most of the day. Such a great day and my foot is doing so well.

Day 14 (Sun Dec 14)
I spent most of the day watching football and cleaning up from the brunch party yesterday. Taking it easy today; no pain and still wearing the aircast stirrup brace with my socks (no shoes). Very comfortable.

Day 9 (Tues Dec 9)

Still feeling good; nothing new to report. Looking forward to getting the stitches out tomorrow!

Day 8 (Mon Dec 8)

Still feeling okay. I decided not to push it, and walked around all day with my aircast boot on although I really wanted to walk barefoot. I'll wait until after I get the stitches out in 2 days. I worked from home today so I spent most of the day sitting on the couch taking calls and working on my laptop. However, I spent most of the evening on my feet as I ran some errands (my husband drove us around the city) and then made dinner. Looking forward to getting my stitches out in 2 days!

Day 7 (Sun Dec 7)

I slept really well last night, and I woke up this morning with the least amount of soreness I've had since the procedure was done on Monday. I had some brunch plans with my girlfriends and went across town in taxis but managed all the flights of stairs without having any issues. Of course, I'm still wearing my Aircast boot. I'm almost beginning to wonder if I'm babying my foot too much…I'm not having any pain and I feel like I'm ready to start walking on it without the boot. I realize my doctor said to wait until I get my stitches out on Wednesday, which is three days from now. But, on the other hand though, I feel like I should start to push it a little bit so that I can recover quicker. I think that I'll probably see how I feel tomorrow and then take it from there with some light walking around the house without the boot on. I'll keep you posted! For now, I'm going to make dinner and then just relax tonight.

Which Brings us 5 yrs later to Dec 2014, and the first of my "Redo" Hyprocure Implant Procedures

2^nd set of surgeries to remove old hyprocure implant hardware, and insert new hyprocure implants (the redo of my prior surgeries from 5 years ago)

Monday Dec 1, 2014 (Day 1)

Arrived at the surgery center in San Jose and did all the typical surgery check-in procedures. As I worked with Dr. Richard Abe over the last few months, we determined it was best to remove the size 8 hyprocure implant and try for a smaller implant (size 7) and insert it deeply into the joint. Dr Abe prefers to use general anesthesia for his procedures, and was especially cautious with my procedure as this was not just a typical insertion since he had to remove the loose one first. He does dozens of these procedures a year, and I’m only his 3^rd patient to ever have them displaced (and the other 2 happened within the first month of getting the implant unlike me where it’s happened 5 years later).

The procedure took about 45min (including anesthesia and prep; I think Dr. Abe’s portion is less than 20min). I then took another 45min 1 hour in the recovery room to gather my bearings, drink some coffee and get ready for the long ride home from San Jose to San Francisco.

I was wheeled out to our car from the recovery room after my husband pulled it up to front of the hospital for me. The nurse had immobilized my foot in the boot that Dr. Abe had given me. It’s about mid-calf high and is meant to be worn both day & night (during sleep) for the first week after surgery so I don’t turn my foot left/right which could move the implant out of place. I got into the car and kept my foot elevated and survived the car ride home without any pain. I had a snack in the car and took the prescribed medications by my doctor; one pain pill of Percocet and one long-lasting daily anti-inflammatory called Mobic. I used crutches to get inside our house and then spent most of the rest of the afternoon/evening on the couch with my foot elevated.

I tried to ice the area twice, but it’s covered with such a thick bandage that I don’t really think it helped at all. So, I’m not going to ice anymore, and I’m honestly not sure if I’m supposed to do that or not. There isn’t a good documentation online or from my doctor of traditional post-op care. It’s really just stay off your feet, use the boot, and walk around no more than 15min at a time if you feel you need to.

Day 2

Slept terrible last night; I made the rookie mistake of not taking any pain pills before bed as I wasn’t feeling any pain and wanted to avoid having to use them. After sleeping only 2 hrs, the throbbing pain in my foot awoke me with quite a start. I also think I may have had my boot on too tightly and I will adjust tonight. My husband kindly got me my pain meds but they took a long time to kick in. I probably only slept a total of 4 hours last night, and I typically get 8 hours. I did indeed have my boot on the whole night. Of course, it’s slightly uncomfortable plus having my foot elevated was a bit awkward, but I know it’s for the best. The doctor asked me to stay off it yesterday and today, so I’m going to continue with the crutches and try not to bear much weight on it until tomorrow.

Day 3 (Wed Dec 3)

My foot was sore when I woke up this morning and took the first few steps on it. I used the crutches to get to the kitchen to make my coffee and then went over to the couch to elevate my foot and get to work as I’m working from home this month. After that, I really didn’t use my crutches for the rest of the day. The air cast boot is rather comfortable for walking as long as I pump it full of air before stepping around. I was able to shower (I taped plastic over my boot so it didn’t get wet) and walk around to the kitchen as I needed to. No more pain meds necessary; just the Mobic anti-inflammatory once per day as prescribed.

Day 4 (Thur Dec 4)

Woke up a bit sore as is expected in the morning after sleeping with the boot all night. Although I walked around without using the crutches at all. I remember from doing these procedures in 2009 that my prior doctor had frowned upon using crutches as he said walking on it as soon as possible actually helps it heal quicker since it doesn’t get as stiff. I’m not going to use them anymore.

Day 5 (Fri Dec 5)

Again, the soreness just happens in the morning. I’m able to go up and down the stairs to get the mail/deliveries as I work from home. I’m leaning on the railing quite a bit so as not to irritate my foot, and I’m not in pain. I went to a friend’s birthday dinner and took my crutches with me more as a feeling of security and kept my foot elevated on an empty chair the whole time. It was definitely sore at the end of the night from being out on it.

Day 6 (Sat Dec 6)

Less soreness in the morning, which is good. I figured out that if I wore my running shoe on the left foot to help equalize my height (as the aircast boot on my right foot makes me so much taller), then I can walk around just fine throughout the house. I did some light chores today and didn’t have any pain. I’m still taking the once a day Mobec as the doctor prescribed, but I have no pain. 

My Journey from 2009 to 2014 with the HyProCure® Implant

Prior history from 2009 surgeries – original Hyprocure Implant Procedures on both feet

I was born with flexible flat feet. I have full overpronation; completely flat feet. I cannot achieve full correction even with the best custom-made orthotics. I’m 34 years old, and a very active young woman. I run 3 to 5 days a week, I walk all over the city as I don’t drive, and I bike/spin, and I also snowboard often during the winter. Throughout my teenage years, I developed severe pain and shin splints from running, which progressed to knee and hip pain as I got older. I finally decided to do these surgeries for the hyprocure implant in 2009, as I was 28 years old and was having extreme pain which was limiting my activity levels. I was confined to running on a treadmill for a max of 4 miles, and would have to run every other day at best. I couldn’t wear stylish high heels as I’d be in pain by the end of the day.

I lived in San Diego at the time, and the doctor I’d been seeing for my custom orthotics and physical therapy recommended that I probably need to pursue surgery. She actually got me in touch with the doctor most well-known in San Diego for these procedures. The doctor did a great job (Dr Gregory Clark in San Diego). He used a size 8 implant in both feet, and it was done with just a nerve block for numbing pain; I didn’t need general anesthesia. My insurance company back in 2009 was not wanting to pay for the procedures so the doctor figured we could do this locally in his office (which was a very high-end, new office with very nice facilities/machines). It worked out just fine for both feet.

I did the right foot in April 2009 and the left foot Sep 2009. Both procedures went very well, and I had a very high quality of life enabling full activity without pain due to the severe misalignment from the overpronation of my feet. I’m trying to remember exactly when it was comfortable to wear high heels again… seems to be sometime about 8 weeks after each surgery. As for running, I believe I was back to running on the treadmill by 12 weeks. I’ll track it more carefully this time though since I’m documenting in this blog. I was able to wear a more neutral running shoe as opposed to one specializing in overpronation. Plus, I had a new pair of custom orthotics cast for my “new” feet.

As a note: the left foot I did on Sep 10, 2009 and had flown on a vacation from San Diego to Hawaii on Sept 24 just two weeks later. No complications at all from the 5hr flight and was fairly active on my foot with a lot of walking around, but did not go in the ocean for fear of risking infection to the wound (which is fine as the pools were fun and overlooked the ocean).

So, you’re probably wondering what happened then in the next 5 years to bring us to Dec 2014? Well, life has been beautiful. My quality of life is extremely high; I’m very active – working out over 4-5 days a week, and I live in downtown San Francisco and walk all over the city (I don’t drive). My favorite running paths are through Golden Gate Park to Ocean Beach or along the Marina or Embarcadero. I wear high heels whenever I want, and my feet were doing so well up until about the end of 2013. I noticed the correction in my right was nowhere near as good as it was 5 years earlier. The left foot seemed okay at that time, but the right foot was only about 50% of it’s original full correction from the hyprocure implant procedure in Mar 2009. I guess it was just slipping out of place. I continued to work out just as hard; I got new orthotics made with more correction and I stepped up my running shoe to go to a more supportive base.

By May of 2014, the right foot had lost almost all of it’s correction. I went to a local doctor here in San Francisco, and she told me that she never would have done the hyprocure implant on me to begin with as she felt I was too active and there wasn’t enough research done yet on the long term effects. Hence, she’s more conservative and typically doesn’t operate on patients. She suggested I stop running and wear clunky shoes with clunky orthotics all the time. I kindly thanked her for her medical opinioin but told her that I hold firm when I say that having these procedures done in 2009 was the best thing I ever could have done. My quality of life is so great from being able to be as active as I want and have no pain. I called my doctor in San Diego that had done the hyprocure implants and he suggested I get them redone, and he’d be happy to do them again for me as we had good results 5 years earlier, but it might be better if I found a doctor locally in San Francisco as I live there now. I agreed it was more convenient to find a doctor closer to home. After several days of research (I wanted to find a doctor that had performed a large number of these procedures), I had narrowed it down to two options and they were both over an hour away from San Francisco. I finally went with Dr Richard Abe in San Jose; he does several of these procedures a month and is a certified Master Surgeon with Gramedica (they make the implant).  My first appt with him was at the end of Aug 2014 and I immediately liked working with him.

Dr. Abe took x-rays of both my feet and confirmed the right foot implant had come out of the joint about 70% of the way. He said the left foot had come out a little bit but I still had enough correction that he didn’t think it was necessary to re-do the left foot yet so we’d focus on my right foot. We scheduled the surgery for Dec as he’s conservative with the recovery period and didn’t want me doing any flying for 3 weeks after the procedure. I travel a lot for work, so Dec 1 was the earliest I could guarantee that I could avoid flying for 3 weeks. I went in for another physical pre-op appt at the beginning of Nov and he took x-rays again. When comparing the Nov x-rays to those he took in Aug, we could easily see that the implant in my right foot was completely displaced now. And, the one in my left foot was becoming more displaced. By the time I went in for my surgery on Dec 1, I was noticing that the left foot is as flat as the right foot.

As several folks have asked me this: the two medical devices I recommend are the aircast boot and aircast stirrup brace.