Foot Doctor Report

Yesterday I had my appointment with the podiatrist to see what is going on with my foot pain.  I brought my running shoes and wore my black boots so he could see the shoes that I wear the most.  I walked into the office a little nervous but excited to find out how to get rid of my pain.

The receptionist was gruff but efficient.  I had missed one thing on the new patient forms that I had filled out ahead of time...this seemed to annoy her...but I fixed it right away.  I sat down and waited about 90 seconds before they called me back. 

The nurse asked me a bunch of questions about my symptoms and entered the info into the computer.  Then she went to get the doctor.  Another 90 second wait and in walked Doogie Howser...I mean the podiatrist.

I made sure to tell him that I am a runner and a triathlete.  He is too...so I knew he would understand my desire to get rid of whatever was going on and get back to training.  As we talked about my pain and he pushed on my foot in many painful ways, he asked me if there was anything I did that alleviated the pain.  I said that a glass of wine does the trick.  He laughed...a good belly laugh...I consider it a personal victory that I got a foot doctor to belly laugh.

So he sent me with the nurse to get some x-rays.  When they were done, Doogie and I looked at the x-rays.  He said that he didn't see a fracture.  I said "that's good, right?"  He said "yes that's good".  But then he showed me a small dark area right on the side of the bone.  He said "you've got a bunion".  My response, without a moment's thought was "I thought only little old ladies got bunions".  He laughed again and said that anyone can get a bunion.  He said that he just did a surgery on a 16 year old girl with a bunion.

Along with the bunion, he explained sesamoiditis.  My sesamoid bones in the ball of my foot are causing irritation which is exaggerated by the pressure of the bunion.

So he went through a very detailed description of how we can pad my shoes and create special orthotics that have a cut out in the area of the bunion so that I can run.  He said that the eventuality is probably surgery to get rid of the bunion.  He said we could do what we could to prolong that.

The whole time Doogie was talking, I was thinking, why would I go through all that effort just to "manage" with the bunion?  Why wouldn't I just get rid of it and be done with it?  So I asked him.  He said "that's the athlete in you.  You're aggressive.  Most people don't want to take the aggressive approach."

So he switched to describing the surgery and what was involved.  I will be in a boot for 6 weeks.  Considering that it's my right foot, driving will be an issue.  He said that after 2 weeks I can take the boot off to drive.  I asked about running.  He said that I can probably start running again 4 weeks after I get the boot off.  I can swim right away, bike probably 2 weeks after.  But the bunion will be gone.  It only makes sense to me that instead of "managing" the pain, we get rid of the source of the pain.  Right?  I just don't understand why anyone would want to prolong the inevitable.

He fitted me for orthotics and sent me on my way.  The coordinator will be calling me to set up the date for surgery.

I'm trying to figure out the best time to do this...Ryann's college auditions are late January through February.  So if I schedule the surgery for mid-February, I will be finished with the travel required for those auditions.  I'll be in the boot until roughly April 1st.  Then I'll be running by May 1st.  He told me I wouldn't be half Ironman ready in 2014 but by the end of the season, I'll be in great shape to do some sprints and olympic distances. 

So the question is, do I trust Doogie to do this?  He told me that he has done hundreds of these surgeries and the practice came highly recommended to me.  But he seems so young!  So I'm putting my foot in his young hands.