Born with Wonky Feet

I went to see a surgeon (I will call him Mr. R) at Chelsea & Westminster on Monday and it  didn't go quite as planned. I went to ask about the possibility of an amputation and he said that he would never offer to amputate before preforming another surgery first. He has offered another operation which I have heard about and my wife has read a little into. It is called a triple arthrodesis which is where they fuse 3 joints in the hind of the foot, being the  talocalcaneal, talonavicular, and calcaneocuboid joints . He said that he would also break the heel and the front of the foot and put them in a correct position and then he would straighten and fix the hind of the foot in place with metal pins and plates. He also added that because of how complex my feet are it will be harder to treat.  The recovery is at least a year, with 3 months no weight bearing, and he would only do one foot at a time which means it would be at least 2 years of recovery, and that i...

So a couple of updates. First off I have rearranged my Arthroscopy, this is so that when I go to see a surgeon about an amputation I am not in casts so that he can examine my feet properly otherwise I feel it will be a waste of time. Secondly today I told my family about my choice of an amputation, or rather my wife dropped me in it (although this did make things easier) and in some ways it went better than I had expected but in other ways it went just as I thought it would. We have had a very long talk about it all and I hope it has helped them to understand. But I know that they will be there for me whatever I choose. I think it was more of a shock to them as I hide a lot of my pain from them and I sugar coat my problems, so it probably seemed like a bad decision at first. It is nice that they know now, it's one less thing I have to stress about and it means that they can get to grips with it sooner, just as I have. I just don't want to waste more of my life than I have ...

So yesterday I took my daughter to hospital to get the cast on her left leg changed because she cracked the heel. And I was talking to the surgeon who was doing it about amputations and the consultant that I am being referred to. Basically the consultant I am seeing will hopefully do it as long as it is an informed choice, so with a bit of luck I will be having an amputation. It is now just a waiting game...yay. But it is very odd as I am immensely excited, I feel like I should be upset that I will be loosing my feet and I suppose part of me is but then at the same time I just can't wait. The thought of being able to sit without being in pain, to be able to walk without having to stop every 10 minutes, to be able to run around with my daughters, to be able to exercise, to walk unaided, to be able to walk to fucking toilet at night without stumbling through the hall way or falling over and breaking tables (my daughter wasn't best pleased when that happened as it was her tabl...

I thought I would start a blog to keep track of my progress with treatment and as something for me to look back on. Also just in case there is anyone in a similar situation and wants to read up on others experiences. But first I should probably start from the beginning. It was a warm summers evening in Ancient Greece... I was born in February 1991 with Bilateral Congenital Talipes Equinovarus, or more commonly known as Clubfoot. My feet were turned inwards and upwards as the muscle on the inside of the foot is really strong and the muscle on the outside is useless.  These are my daughters feet as she was born with Bilateral Talipes as well, just so that you get an idea of what Talipes looks like. I had corrective surgery at 3 months, 7 years and 10 years old. The first operation, a posteromedial release, they basically just cut all my muscles and tendons and placed the foot in an aesthetically straight position. They didn't actually correct it as the Talus bone should b...