Well, this post may be a bit unusual. But it is one of the best things I have discovered and it may help some of you. I got these beautiful bunions from my mom. Her toes used to make a right and a left turn at the big toe. I remember that she had some pain. Mostly because when we stepped on her feet, she went through the roof. I can't remember anything I ever did as a child that would upset her as much as stepping on her feet.

Well, 15 years ago I had my first bunionectomy with a plan to come back and do the other one next. But it turned out after forced wearing of sensible shoes for a year, the pain left the second foot. I've kept to the sensible shoes with an occasional dalliance for a special occasion. But my feet usually let me know I should not step out on them. Then, this summer, my other foot really started hurting again. Now my Sister Mary 5 is a martyr with pain in her life, and once I experienced just a bit of it, I remembered "this is for the birds." But insurance, decent insurance, is not part of our life at this point. So I thought I would just give a try to those yoga toes you see in the coupon books. Of course I wanted a deal on them, and found a coupon for $1 off Flex-Tastic. So off to Walgreens I went.

Now these look a bit like something you stick on your toes for a home pedicure. And at first my toes said something like "You've got to be kidding me." It was really a stretch and painful to try to force those toes in. And several just sat down and said "I don't think so." I skipped them, and did the best I could with the others. I tried it for 3 minutes and then got them off as soon as the buzzer beeped. Slowly I worked up to the goal of 10 minutes a day, and slowly those toes began cooperating. My pain has decreased quite a bit since then. If I have a day where they are bothering me, I now do this to help alleviate the pain after the shoes come off. My big toe is straightening up. My other toes are free to move about the shoe. The curl in my toes is lessening. Not a bad deal, and really an easier recovery than the surgery. So here it is for the world to see. Sorry I didn't take a before and after photo.