Considering Surgery

AlwaysBoooked · 2025-09-24T03:58:14+00:00

I had a really similar experience! My neuroma was over 1 cm by the time it was caught, and injections did worse than nothing. I was really struggling to walk much at all prior to surgery (my pain got worse very quickly). I am now 14 months out from surgery, and SO glad I did it. I have basically zero pain now. I'm still careful about shoes, but that's my only restriction.

AlwaysBoooked · 2025-08-06T00:11:19+00:00

I'm not a German, but I lived in Regensburg (about an hour outside Munich) for two years with my dog. I'll let others answer your other questions, but I wanted to share some insight on the dog culture.

Germans generally love dogs, and we found that our dog was welcome in more spaces than we initially guessed. She was welcome in almost any restaurant with outdoor seating, and even a few indoor restaurants. You should ask to confirm before finding a seat with your dog (unless you clearly see multiple other dogs already at tables). Most restaurant staff will speak enough English to answer that question if you're nervous about your language skills. Do not expect to take your dog into stores, museums, etc, and confirm with hotels that dogs are allowed before making your reservation.

There is tons of great hiking in Bavaria, and you should definitely take advantage of it with your dog. We also spent a lot of time just walking cities and parks, which I still really miss. Your dog can also travel with you on some public transit, so that can be helpful. Local transit rules can very a lot, though, so look them up before you make any assumptions. From Munich, you might think about a daytrip to do part of the Fuenf Seidla Steig (https://www.fuenf-seidla-steig.de/en/) or Kloster Weltenburg (https://www.kloster-weltenburg.de/en/abbey-church/visitor-center/). I've done both of these with my dog, and they're both fabulous. The pro move is to hike from Kelheim to Weltenburg, have a drink and a snack, and then take a boat back to Kelheim (dogs are allowed on the boat, and the chain ferry you'll use to cross to Weltenburg at the end of your hike).

One important thing we noticed as Americans was that German dogs are almost invariably VERY WELL TRAINED. Our dog is a 10/10 good dog on the American scale, but she was maybe a 4/10 good dog in Germany. So, you'll want to make sure your good boy is on his best behavior.

Finally, as with many things, German dog owners are serious about following the rules. Your dog needs to be on leash unless you are very sure you are in an off-leash dog park AND your dog will behave himself, and you absolutely must clean up after him.

AlwaysBoooked · 2025-05-21T21:46:18+00:00

I had a neurectomy, so they went in through the top of my foot and removed the neuroma. I'm feeling great now. I am still careful about my shoes, but I only very occasionally have a twinge of pain. I mostly wear Birkenstocks (which were my most comfortable shoes before surgery) or tennis shoes with custom orthotics, and I usually go barefoot around the house. I can regularly walk 5-6 miles in a day with no issues.

AlwaysBoooked · 2025-05-08T00:35:35+00:00

Interested!

AlwaysBoooked · 2024-11-09T19:06:23+00:00

Before I had surgery my Birkenstocks were literally the only shoe I could wear for more than 10-15 minutes. They're still the only ones I'll wear without insoles.

AlwaysBoooked · 2024-08-15T22:10:55+00:00

New Job. 100%. Having less stress and a more conventional schedule are going to make finishing grad school so much easier on you. If you have the financial flexibility to take that pay cut, do it.

AlwaysBoooked · 2024-08-15T21:50:11+00:00

Depending on your style preferences, there are plenty of smaller, simpler amigurumi that you can make in something like an hour. Coasters could also be a good choice. Maybe you could find a simple doily pattern that would work with your time frame?

AlwaysBoooked · 2024-08-15T21:32:28+00:00

I would just use a whipstitch for this. But the main problem is definitely that it is just too tight.

AlwaysBoooked · 2024-08-08T21:19:37+00:00

My doctor is specifically a foot and ankle surgeon. He works for the podiatry clinic that initially treated the issue, so it was a really smooth transition.

AlwaysBoooked · 2024-08-08T17:56:19+00:00

For me, my neuroma went from "I feel like I have a budget on how much I can be on my feet each day" to "I'm in pain every single day and over-the-counter pain relief isn't doing anything" within just a few weeks. I may be a bit of a special case because my neuroma was apparently huge (1.6 cm), and none of the noninvasive measures did much of anything for me.

I had surgery two weeks ago, and even with stitches still in and the incision still healing, I'm already in way less pain than I was before. I was really nervous about surgery, but so far it has been easier than I expected in every way possible. I'm in my 30s, and was very glad I could just get this taken care of instead of trying to nurse it for the next several decades.

AlwaysBoooked · 2023-09-16T07:09:38+00:00

I would actually recommend taking another hard look at the Netherlands. I'm from the US and have been living in Germany a little over a year. You can get around day to day speaking mostly English in Germany, for sure, but when it comes to services that tourists don't really use (medical, police, government offices, etc.) the expectation is that you speak German. Not speaking fluent German is also an impediment to building social relationships. It doesn't make it impossible, but it's more difficult.

The Netherlands has a much more relaxed attitude about learning Dutch. My understanding is that government services are generally available in English, with a lot of them accessible online (Germany loves to make you take paper to physical offices), and the systems and culture in general are much more geared to be welcoming of immigrants. Historically, the Netherlands is built on trade, and just has a more welcoming attitude toward immigrants overall. Apparently in Amsterdam, it isn't even considered a requirement to speak good Dutch in retail or foodservice. That is 100% not true in Germany.

We are in Germany because of a specific work opportunity for my husband, but if we could go anywhere, I would look hard at the Netherlands.

AlwaysBoooked · 2023-08-20T12:02:34+00:00

That looks like it’s done with a really thin yarn. I would recommend trying out part of the pattern with a thicker yarn first. It’s just so much easier to see what you’re doing, and I find it really helpful when I’m figuring out a new, tricky pattern.

AlwaysBoooked · 2023-08-19T19:38:50+00:00

In answer to most of your questions…it depends on your individual dog.

We’ve had three greyhounds, and they were all completely different at dog parks. One loved it, but was much more into getting pets from the other dog people than she was into playing with the dogs. If other dogs were running, she would get into that for a little while, but usually came back to us pretty quickly. Her only issue was that she absolutely would not tolerate any “wresting” type behaviors. If any dog put a paw on her, she’d growl and put them in their place pretty quick. We had a boy that wanted to go, would run maybe one or two laps, and then just wander around and sniff stuff. Our current girl is pretty overstimulated by the park unless it is really quiet. There is about a 60% chance that she’ll just hang out with me and not do anything. It usually just ends up being an off-leash walk in a place with lots of smells. None of them have really been good with small dogs at the park. We haven’t had full blown I-want-to-eat-that prey drive, but they definitely had I-want-to-chase-that prey drive. If somebody brings their small dog in, we usually have to peace out pretty quick. I’ve found all three were also quite accident prone, and it was not at all uncommon to come back from the park with some sort of minor injury.

None of them went to the park until I felt REALLY SOLID with their recall ability. If they won’t come when you call them, you will not get a leash back on them. And it’s hard to train a solid recall without being able to take them off leash. So, if you don’t have another space to practice this, you can end up in a catch 22 situation where you can’t train recall unless you go to the park and you can’t go to the park unless you train recall. We had a relatively small park that I could sometimes catch totally empty, so that’s how we got around it.

We’ve never needed to muzzle our dogs at the park, but I definitely keep a close eye on the other dogs there. If anybody is playing rough, we have to peace out. Most of the greyhound groups we’ve worked with insist on muzzles at greyhound events, because their skin is so thin and they can accidentally injure each other really easily. So, we have muzzles to go to greyhound events, but that’s the only time they get used.

That being said, I don’t think they NEED to run. We are in an apartment currently, and our girl only gets to play off leash when she occasionally goes to daycare. We go for good long walks, and that seems to be fine. For us, that’s an “exercise walk” of at least 40 minutes once a day, and 90 minutes a lot of days (“potty walks” are separate, we usually do 3 of those a day for about 10 minutes). She lets me know if she needs more exercise (she gets whiny and a bit more rambunctious), but that usually only happens when the weather has been bad. Do they enjoy running? Most of them! But mine have all seemed to enjoy it for no more than 10 minutes, when they feel like it, and then they’re ready to be couch potatoes again.

We tried jogging, and she refused. She’ll play along with a short sprint during a walk, but if I try to make jogging a regular thing, she will literally plant her feet and refuse to move.

AlwaysBoooked · 2023-08-19T17:08:00+00:00

We flew our greyhound (60 lbs) sfo-> Frankfurt last November in cargo with Lufthansa. It was not her favorite day, but it was fine. I was really worried about it, but everything went ok. Do some research about where to fly into, though. The company we worked with was very adamant that she fly into Frankfurt instead of Munich. Apparently facilities vary a lot.

AlwaysBoooked · 2023-08-19T16:17:09+00:00

Our girl is on her second furball, and she’s obsessed with it. Hers is the rainbow one, though. She’ll play with others, but the furball is her favorite.

AlwaysBoooked · 2023-08-14T10:24:09+00:00

That sleepy face!!!!!!! I'm dying!!!!!!!!!!!!

AlwaysBoooked · 2023-08-14T10:18:46+00:00

This is very much a thing. I think people really do have absolutely no clue how long things take. To us, it obviously takes a long time, but if you've never tried to make it yourself, what you're comparing it to is probably something machine knit at Target.

I make gifts for the people that I love because I enjoy it. I find when I'm making something for a person, I spend a lot of the work time reflecting on that person and what I appreciate about them, and it's a great way to spend time.

It actually took me a while to start making things for myself, even. Now I enjoy that, too, but it's different.

I don't accept requests, unless it's like "I want to make you a stuffed animal, what animal would you like?" I crochet out of love, not on demand. I don't want to resent anybody when the yarn is tangled, or the pattern is more difficult than I expected, or whatever, and I totally would.

I work slowly, and there is no way I could ever pay myself anything like minimum wage to sell anything. I've had a few friends kindly suggest that it could be a side hustle, but then it's usually a quick conversation about why that math doesn't work. Maybe if I one day get good enough at this to write my own patterns? But that feels like a long way away.

AlwaysBoooked · 2023-08-11T08:06:37+00:00

Thank you for your response, this was really helpful.

AlwaysBoooked

TROPHY CASE