I am extremely unhappy with the outcome of my left foot surgery. I originally saw Dr. Laura Schweger in November of 2016 regarding a bunion on my left big toe joint. At that time, she reviewed my foot, and "scared me into doing it quickly." She said that if I hit 16 degrees of angle in my big toe metatarsal, the surgery will be much more involved and longer recovery time with non-weight bearing for multiple weeks . She instilled a sense or urgency in me to do it sooner rather than later.
Previously in 2007, I had my RIGHT foot bunion fixed and an osteotomy of the 2nd toe -- that didn't fuse the joint! The surgery was done in California by Dr. Marc Selner, and was a huge success . I have no pain and complete range of motion/ movement of all of my right toes and
joints. Dr. Selner has retired, or I would have went back to him for this surgery on the right foot.
When I was thinking about the idea to fix the LEFT foot, I only had the positive point of reference from Dr. Selner on the RIGHT foot surgery to reference. Since the RIGHT foot was such a success, I anticipated the LEFT would be just as good.
When I met with Dr. Schweger, I explained my happiness about the previous surgery in 2007 with Dr. Selner, and how he didn't fuse any joints , and how important that was to me NOT to do any fusions. She never once indicated that she would be fusing joints. She may have used medical terms, but I didn't understand that it meant "fusions!"
When I signed the operative paperwork at Bend Surgery Center, I was also unaware of the medical terms and had no idea what I was getting into. *Remember my previous right foot surgery by Dr. Selner didn't have any fusions!
The surgery happened and I had extreme pain that was hard to manage afterwards. I was shocked and confused as to why I had all of these metal rods with balls coming out of my foot! I had NO IDEA she was going to do 4 out of 5 toes. She mentioned about a "possibility of the 2nd toe" but we never talked further about it. Since I had not complained of any pain in the other toes, I didn't think she would actually do anything to them. In her notes, I now see where she is indicating I had "hammer toes" - but again, I never complained of any pain in the toes. Just because they were ugly, didn't mean she should have fixed them if I had no pain in them prior!
Besides excruciating pain post surgery, the surgery was botched and I healed "dislocated" in toe joints 2, 3 and 4. Dr. Schweger kept blaming me and how I "healed" and thought I had an auto immune disease that caused my poor outcome. She sent me to an auto-immune doctor, and at my own expense, I paid for a complete work up. The results are included in this packet and I do NOT have any auto immune disease!
I have sought a 2nd opinion post surgery from Dr. Anthony Heinz from The Center. He said that he wouldn't have done it the same way , and that what Dr. Schweger did is unrepairable ! He said the best he could do is sew toe #3 to toe #4! He also said not to let anyone else do any further surgery on my foot.
I am 3 years out from that surgery this month, and have constant charlie-horse cramping in my toes and forefoot, pain and lack of mobility. I wake up at all hours of the night with my left foot charlie horse cramping. I am
unable to do the previous activities like jogging, walking, hiking, and regularly have to ice and elevate my foot for swelling. I wake up in the middle of the night with so much pain in the foot it makes me cry. I can't wear normal shoes, instead have to wear special shoes that cost more
money and regularly buy cushion insoles and expensive orthodics to help with impact. Even with the impact 'softening' - it doesn't change the fact my foot is in constant pain and messed up permanently.
I initially had a year of physical therapy which took lots of time and money. I have recently started back to physical therapy in a last-ditch effort to try to help the mobility, flexibility, swelling and pain. However, the physical therapist has said that he doesn't think it is going to get much better this far out. He said " further significant gains in pain reduction and improved function is poor."
Also, Dr. Schweger mentioned that I am the only one that this has ever happened to with her doing the surgery (that she does routinely). She makes it sound like it is some anomaly that happened to just me... That isn't true. I know of others that have had failed surgeries to one
degree or another. However, this is not about them. It is about me. And the pain I deal with every single day.
I have reached out to Dr. Schweger more than once to "fix" this or "make it right" and was met with the answer, "this is standard treatment and nothing was done wrong."
I am going to this great length to publicly share this personal experience so hopefully NO ONE ELSE WILL HAVE THIS HAPPEN TO THEM. read more