If you're looking for a miracle for your foot, you came to the right place in finding Dr. Thordarson. I had a previous bunionectomy from another surgeon at a different hospital that had complications & needed to be corrected. I heard that Dr. Charlton & Dr. Thordarson are good with revisions. I saw Dr. Charlton first & he immediately noticed I had hypermobility, which no previous specialist had ever brought up. This led me to a genetics test that revealed an extremely rare connective tissue disorder. Connective tissue problems can cause hypermobility, so he was very astute in picking that up right away. Suddenly all my health issues connected & made sense, & now I know how to manage my symptoms better. I am grateful to him for that-it's changed my life, just a year later. I later saw Dr. Thordarson, & he was the first foot surgeon who was confident about being able to correct the previous work. I was using a cane by that time. I'm in my early 40s & never needed a cane before the previous bunionectomy, so it was disappointing that I needed a device & ended up even worse than before the surgery. It felt like a burden to drag my foot along wherever I went, so I was walking less & less. I was starting to lose hope & thought I'd probably be disabled for life. I still had to keep my foot elevated 18 mos. post-op & the pain was significant. I'd been to 5 foot surgeons before Dr. Thordarson, & he could see in the first visit that I needed a more aggressive procedure with additional hardware. The first surgeon had just used one large screw, which failed to keep the bunion from coming back about 8 months later. Dr. Thordarson used about 6 smaller screws & one plate, which ended up working out perfectly. He's had a lot of experience with revision bunionectomies & he knew what he was doing. I felt my concerns were heard & understood & taken seriously, then later addressed as promised. I was shocked that I was able to get rid of my crutches & cane just a day after Dr. Thordarson's surgery. I should mention that in my previous surgery elsewhere, I was wheeling myself around on a rollable desk chair for the first week, then I had to use crutches for nearly four months. Despite Dr. Thordarson's work being more complex & involved, my recovery time was significantly less. Everything about the recovery process was smooth & easy. Even the follow-up visits were efficient yet informative. When I had an email question, I'd get an answer from his staff who would relay Dr. Thordarson's message to me within a day. However, the recovery was so straightforward (as straight as my foot now is!) that I rarely needed to get in touch. Speaking of the straightness of my foot, I had no aesthetic expectations. I didn't expect to ever walk in heels again. I was beyond that. I just wanted to be able to walk on my own again, walk more than a block, & leave that cane stored in the garage where it belongs. Well, the foot couldn't be more straight now. I've never seen a straighter foot in my life. It was so jagged & at such an extreme angle before the surgery that a bone was hitting a nerve & causing three of my toes to go numb after 5-10 minutes of walking, which meant I had to rest every 5-10 minutes. That numbness is gone. I can finally place my foot flat on the ground instead of walking on the outer edge, which has helped my hips become more even & less painful, & is also making me less prone to previously frequent ankle sprains. After the procedure with Dr. Thordarson, I asked him if he could remove the hardware once the bones had healed. He accommodated my schedule close to the holidays & removed all the hardware about 6 weeks ago. I am now walking as quickly as I can ever remember walking, even as a teenager! I was even able to wear heels & take dance classes again just a month after surgery. One more miracle has to do with the fact that I had problems with moving my big toe off the ground before Dr. Thordarson's surgery. My right big toe has a lot of flexibility, but the left big toe with the bunion was stuck at about a 12 degree angle. The right foot is at a 48 degree angle. Just 6 weeks after Dr. Thordarson removed the hardware, my left foot is already at a 42 degree angle, which is way beyond my or my physical therapists' expectations. And with more recovery time that left big toe could be moving as much as the right--which it never has before in my life. Gratitude alone doesn't express how much this brilliant, capable surgeon's work has changed my life. Being able to walk, dance, stand on my toes, feel the ground beneath my foot, wear heels, & get full sensation back after half a lifetime of problems is an immeasurable good deed. Not to mention that I barely recognise my foot because it's actually pleasant to look at now. I have a beautiful foot for the first time in my life, which was an unexpected bonus that, like the rest of this surgery, exceeded my wildest expectations. Highly recommended! read more
