My MIL has impossible feet to fit. Last year I spent an entire day and traveled about 200 miles to visit nearly every specialty shoe store in our area only to find that she could not be fitted with shoes - her feet are just too fat and swollen (bunions, too!). She has forgotten this trip and wants to do a repeat performance - which I refuse to do.
We have also done the orthopedic shoes from the podiatrist - expensive - and she refuses to wear them. She says they 'hurt' her feet - we think she just thinks they are ugly. Unfortunately, what else do you do for ugly, swollen beyond belief, feet?
She is diabetic and SHOULD wear shoes at all times and she doesn't. Her feet are a mess. She still crams them into a 15 year old pair of lace ups that have sort of 'stretched with her' over the years - but they are nearly worn out. Her feet just sort of hang over the tops.
She gets these magazines in the mail and wants to order shoes from them. We have tried that a couple times and I have also ordered shoes from Amazon.com a couple times - but we must always send them back - losing money on postage each time. She just cannot wear a normal shoe anymore. That's what she wants and it just isn't possible anymore. Her arch is nearly 5 inches high - with swelling. Her feet look like little fat clubs - like she is walking on 4x4's..
If any one knows where a person can find some fashionable looking stretch fabric/lycra shoes for impossibly hard to fit feet - she would need an 8.5 and VERY WIDE and the height of the shoe is also a problem due to the swelling.
Her foot doctor has talked until he is blue in the face.
http://www.medicare.gov/coverage/therapeutic-shoes-or-inserts.html
There are many, many styles and some are really kind of cute. My mom got red patent leather mary janes one year! They were custom fitted with an impression made and measurements taken like they always are.
When she had some issues with swelling, the Dr, suggested another style and even though my mom likes the mary janes, went for it.
I suppose that she didn't want to tell the doctor that they mostly hurt her eyes and her sense of fashion.
Stick to your guns on the no more catalog orders, and no more traipsing around to fashion shoe stores. She now has a source for shoes, and one that is covered by Medicare to boot, so that is where she gets her shoes. I hope you don't have a lot of hassle about this.
Thanks for letting us know the outcome.
We saw her podiatrist on Monday and I took the New Ortho Shoes along with us - she only wears them to the foot doctor and this time I told her to wear her old regular shoes - that we were taking the Ortho Shoes back for either a refund or adjustment. This irritated her because now the doctor would find out that she does NOT wear the new shoes. :0(
I told the doctor that she refused to wear the new shoes. That she hated them.
She told him they 'hurt' her feet. He asked about how they hurt - what kind of pain, where, etc. I think I posted this elsewhere, but at this point, my brain functioning has been diminished :0(
She COULD NOT TELL HIM exactly how or wear they hurt her feet - she just said they 'hurt!' He looked at her oddly :0)
He whittled down the inserts at the heel so her foot sits lower in the shoe. He looked at her bunion and said it was obvious her OLD shoes WERE hurting her feet, her bunion was red where they were rubbing. He said he didn't see HOW she managed to cram her feet into her old shoes. He held up the old shoe next to the NEW ORTHO shoe and compared the toe box and put the insert from the NEW shoe into her old shoe at the heel to show her the heel was the same size - only the toe box was wider, longer and higher to accommodate her swollen feet. She just said 'no one knows what I go through. OH, Just wait until you are old - you'll know then!' (I can't wait!)
He trimmed her nails and callouses and put the new ortho shoes on her and she wore them home. She pouted all the way home and refused to have lunch out like we usually do when we go to the doctor. She is still pouting and won't come to our dinner table - eats alone.
I noticed she wore the New Shoes around her apt. yesterday. I went in to take her come chili and remind her to put her feet UP and asked her how the shoes felt since he adjusted the inserts. She said they HURT STILL MY FEET!
How can shoes that are 100% stretch material and have PLENTY of room for her feet - do not rub her bunion or toes - HURT? The insoles are smooth - no lumps or bumps. She still does not specify HOW they hurt. There's no winning this battle. She can wear the new shoes or her old shoes. Whatever she wants. But, NO MORE ordering shoes from a catalog, period. If you could see her feet you would know why. I will NOT be sucked into this again. If she needs shoes, she will talk to her podiatrist about them.
He asked her to describe the pain, where it was - was it burning, stinging, aching, rubbing - and she said 'all of them.' He looked at her as though he couldn't believe what he heard. He looked at her feet. She has a bunion. The shoes are stretch fabric. Her feet are swollen. The toe box of the shoe is more than adequate to accommodate her feet - no matter how big they get. There was PLENTY of length beyond her toes. Basically, she could NOT tell him why the shoes hurt her feet or where. (that is because they don't hurt her feet) She prefers to go barefoot even though he has told her NEVER to go barefoot - she is diabetic.
He held up the shoe she had worn to the office next to the 'new shoe' and told her that if the small, tight shoe she wore to his office didn't hurt her feet - then he could see NO reason that the new shoe, which had more width and depth in the toe box depth and more length could 'hurt' her feet. He felt inside the shoe - there are NO seams. The insert was clean with no pebbles, bumps, etc.
He put the 'insert' from her new shoes into the heel of her old shoes to show her that the heel of the new shoe was exactly the same width as her old shoe. She said the new shoes rubbed up and down on her heel because they were too wide.
He spent 20 minutes grinding down the heel of the insert so it would sit deeper into the new shoe.
After he was done working on her feet - he put the 'new' ortho shoes on her and they fit very well. She wore them home - but I am sure she will never wear them again until we go to the foot doctor. She has been pouting since we went tot he foot doctor yesterday.
Basically, she HATES the way they look. They look bigger and clunkier than her old shoes and she hates that. Why she cannot be 'honest' and just admit she hates the LOOK of the new shoes and tell the doctor the truth is beyond me. I just hope her old shoes never wear out.
Because of her very high instep and the thickness of her foot from top to bottom - the 'cuter' Mary Jane's, etc. won't work for her. She is stuck with the HUGE clunky ones - and they ARE huge. She can't understand why she can fit into her little 'Soft Spots' from 15 years ago and can't fit into nicer looking ortho shoes. :0( I even tried ordering new Soft Spots and we couldn't get them on her feet - even in a size larger than the ones she has now.
We just keep trying................ In the meantime, I will take these big boots (as she calls them) back to the ortho doctor. If he won't refund (which I seriously doubt he will do since she has worn them 3-4 times) we may just 'donate' them or even try eBay.
Oldcodger, I sympathize with your MIL. I started wearing orthopedic shoes when I was 39 and I quickly got over mourning for fashion shoes. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. The shoes available to me now are much more attractive and comfortable than they were a quarter of a century ago! I sure hope you find some help with the swelling and with locating suitable shoes.
She was fitted for new shoes at the podiatrist's office and just refuses to wear them - period. They are truly the ONLY shoes that will actually go onto her deformed feet properly and give her proper support. She doesn't want support - she wants what she wants. We see the foot doctor again next week - I will take the shoes back to him and see if there is anything he can do to address her complaints about them 'hurting' her feet. She also claims they are heavy and they are light as a feather. They are just much bigger than what she has worn up to this point and she does not like them.
She also does not lift her feet anymore and I think she is afraid she will trip or stub the toe of the shoe because they are much bigger.
Yes, specialty shoes are expensive. My insurance paid just a small amount toward them, but once I hit Medicare, they are completely covered if you have diabetes, as your MIL does. This is a great benefit, and it is based on the fact that foot problems in diabetics can be very costly, and the prevention of wearing suitable shoes is well worth the investment.
So, there is a potential source for comfortable, supportive shoes, fully covered by Medicare. That's the good news. The bad news is your MIL's expectations. She needs shoes that can be customized by a professional and she wants shoes out of fashion store. Sigh. That will be the hard part.
Yes, she should wear shoes all the time. My diabetes doctor insists that I wear water shoes from the locker to the swimming pool and even in the pool! No bare feet or open-toed sandals for diabetics! Buying out of a catalog is just a joke, and you've discovered that traveling to all the local stores is futile. I don't know how you get MIL to accept it, but stand your ground.
Good luck!
Of course I don't know what style your MIL wears, but I found these shoes in the Dr. Leonard catalogue - it is a discount healthcare catalogue. The shoes are made by Dr. Scholl, which has always been a good brand. They are described as comfortable, high-performance shoes that are perfect for walking, and exercising. They resemble sneaker/shoe all in one. And what so excited to me after all the long searching, they carry extra-wide widths. They come in navy blue, tan and white and are kind of a leather fabric cost between $26 and $36. These are the best I could find andshe loves them and says they are so comfortable. They also have a velcro flap the adjust to where you want to fit properly.. If you want anymore information, just ask me. They have been a life saver for me and her as they were impossible to find. Hope they might work for your MIL. Take care and good luck.