08/26/2025
Patient Story: Foot Revision Surgery Offers New Freedom to Black Forest Retiree
Walking barefoot is something many take for granted. Most people can free their feet from shoes and socks to enjoy the simple pleasure of feeling the soft grass or cool hardwood floor beneath their soles. And some experts believe this practice is not only pleasant, but it also improves health—aiding sleep, reducing stress, improving circulation and benefiting posture. Jean, now 69, realized just how important the practice was to her after she was robbed of the opportunity for four years.
It all started in 2018 when a simple foot injury turned serious. “I just dropped something on my foot and bruised it. I thought, ‘oh wow, ouch!’ but then kept on doing what I was doing,” Jean explains. “That was a Wednesday. By Friday, it was really sore, so I had it checked at urgent care. Nothing was broken and I was sent home to rest. But by Sunday night, it was turning colors that should not be on the human body and on Monday morning, I knew something was very wrong.” She called her husband, Curtis, who left work to take her to the emergency room. There, they discovered Jean’s foot had a serious infection and had gone septic. Surgeries and treatments ensued; her providers resolved the infection (and saved her life), but her foot had been significantly damaged. For the next six months, Jean recovered but often required scooters and walkers to get around. At the start of the new year, it seemed like things might be getting better. But, then the infection in her foot recurred and she landed another weeks-long stay in the hospital. Jean again endured invasive treatments and surgeries to her foot. This time, however, the infection was defeated. By the end of 2019, Jean’s foot was infection-free and rebuilt. However, it wasn’t quite as functional as she hoped. “They had removed some of the bone that had gotten infected and rebuilt the front part of my foot. In doing that, one of the toes was left too long and there was a screw that was really bothering me,” Jean details. “Once I got into a regular shoe, it had to be well-padded. I tried to walk barefoot and the doctor told me I just shouldn’t. At that time, I just didn’t feel like pushing it. I had already been through so much.” After all, she was grateful to be alive and to still have her foot!
The next few years brought milestones such as Jean’s retirement from Colorado Springs School District No. 11 and more time spent enjoying their home and surrounding acreage in Black Forest. It also brought increasing pain in her knees. Jean was receiving regular steroid injections to manage the arthritic pain, but eventually, the damage was too severe, and she was referred to Dr. Douglas Adams of Colorado Orthopedic Specialists. In 2022, Dr. Adams replaced Jean’s knees in surgeries about three weeks apart. The knee surgeries brought relief to her knee pain, but the foot pain remained a nuisance. She mentioned it to Dr. Adams who referred her to Dr. Michael Simpson, a colleague within the same practice. “I met with Dr. Simpson and discussed my foot. He gave several options—everything from a fairly minor correction to rebuilding the foot; and he did not push towards anything, which I really appreciated,” she explains. The revision surgery on her foot sounded promising, but she wanted to wait until her knees were more fully healed.
“And right at the end of the year, I was ready. I could walk without pain and could probably walk straight if I didn’t have the pain in the ball of my right foot,” Jean recalls. She called Dr. Simpson’s office and soon the ‘minor correction’ surgery was scheduled for December of 2023. The surgery was a success and before she knew it, Jean was experiencing the freedom of bare feet once again.
“[The foot pain] seemed like something I could live with for a while and then I discovered I really like to be barefoot in the summer. And just because I'm getting older doesn't mean I should have to wear big clunky shoes all the time,” Jean reasons. “It's been very freeing to be able to get up and walk and not have my whole family wanting to wrap me in bubble wrap because my foot hurts and I can’t walk straight.”
For Jean and Curtis (who joined Jean in retirement last year), Colorado Orthopedic Specialists has been key in giving them freedom to enjoy their daily lives and will be important in helping them maintain their active lifestyle well into their golden years. “They are definitely going to be our go-to people as we get older, and our joints start to break down. You really just don’t appreciate how much you walk until you can’t do it,” Jean emphasizes.
