Warning: These shoes may be hazardous to your feet.

That's the label that I think should be attached to every pair of high-heels that are purchased by twenty- and thirty-something-yr-old women: "Warning: These cute heels will look wonderful on your thirty-year-old feet, but they will start bunions growing which will pop out when you're over fifty."

Or, to paraphrase that new book by Nora Ephron.... "I feel bad about my feet." (Her title was "I feel bad about my neck.") And that's how I'm feeling this week-- bad about my foot, which has been hurting since we were up at the lake and I used that blessed wheelbarrow to move so much of that blessed dirt that was delivered and dumped onto our driveway up there. My right foot hasn't been the same since, and the little bunion which was at the side of that foot now seems bigger and more swollen. Not a good thing.

We spoke to a couple of friends...... my friend A in Pearland, who is a retired nurse, and told me not to think about surgery........ our friend J, a retired doctor, whose motto has always been "avoid surgery at all costs." I spoke to our friend K, who suggested I buy some good European walking shoes at a store downtown. We went to that web-site....... only two pairs out of the hundred that they offer caught my eye as being something that I would wear.

Then tonight we went over to young Miss C's house..... her dad helped my husband fix something on his car, and I was inside talking to C's mom and telling her about my right foot and how it's been bothering me since the dirt. Seems that L (C's mom) has already seen a local specialist and has scheduled her own bunion surgery for the end of July. She went to this doctor on the recommendation from two of her friends who have already had the surgery..... on both feet--- not at the same time. The doctor will only do one foot at a time, and he requires months of time inbetween each foot.

L gave me the name and number of the specialist..... I plan to call him and at least go and get looked at, and have x-rays taken, and see what he has to say. I've been reading about bunions on the Internet, and I already know that they won't go away, but will get worse over the years. Indeed, what started out as such a small little bump on my right foot about five years ago has only gotten a little bit bigger over these years. And genetics has a lot to do with this as well..... my mother has bunions, as do most of my aunts. I don't think either of my grandmothers had them, but they both wore those black "nun shoes" for most of their lives so their feet were never subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. The Internet also said that 88% of women will develop bunions. Why? Wearing shoes that are too narrow, or too high.

High-heels aren't the main cause of bunions, but they surely don't help your feet. And the higher the heel, the more pressure you're putting on your toes when you walk. And the more you walk, the more pressure. The more pressure, the more prone you are to developing a bunion. (Young Miss C couldn't stop giggling every time we said that word.)

I've already gone through all of the shoes in my closet. I took out all my highest heels and put them in a donation box for one of the charities. The information on the Internet said that the most important thing to consider when choosing shoes is that the "toe box" of the shoe be wide enough so your toes aren't squished together. I've never worn uncomfortable shoes, and I especially take care to get really comfy high heels...... but still..... if I get this surgery done, I don't want to have shoes in my closet that have heels higher than two inches. I don't want to have surgery twice, that's for sure-- not twice on one foot. I'm thinking that if I get my right foot done, then I would get the left foot done as well, after the right foot is all healed and back to normal.

When I think back to my working days, and all those high heels I wore-- all day long, walking up and down the stairs of the library.... walking back and forth to the coffee shop at lunch time.... in high heels from morning till night without giving it a thought. And my heels back then were all over two inches.

Oh well. I still have pretty shoes in my closet, and I can still wear them. Two-inch heels just have to be the new limit for me. I'll have to make up my mind about the surgery after I see the specialist. And I probably won't even make a decision on that until after C's mom has the operation done on her foot.

L said that they do the surgery on a Friday morning, then you go home in the late afternoon. They tell you to stay in bed for the weekend, with your foot elevated, only getting out of bed to use the bathroom or walk into the kitchen for something to eat. Other than those few minutes a day, you're supposed to just stay in bed and keep your foot up. Limited walking after that, with visits to the doctor's office for therapy two or three times a week for at least six weeks.

Can I stay still for that long a time?