After months of not understanding and waiting and visiting doctors I finally got ’the verdict'. A little hook on my bone was causing this crazy amount of pain that prevented me from walking and standing, and it could not be removed. The solution was: prevent the foot from unrolling. This could be achieved by bringing shoes to a specialist shoe maker who would add a stiff sole under the shoe and make some additional changes that all together would help the foot ‘roll’ over the bottom of the shoe instead of using the foot itself.
The idea was: no moving of the foot would mean no scraping of the tiny hook. The bruising around this hook would diminish over time (guesstimate: a year) and I would regain reasonable mobility.
Wow.
[Now you also know why you see me wearing the same boots over and over! You can imagine I don't have many pairs since only 2 get covered by insurance and the adaptations are quite costly :-)]
THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKING
It took me a few weeks to get used to this new way of walking. I’ve had many walking problems in the past, and the irony is: I never walked more straight up than I do with my super adapted shoes! I felt like a marching soldier while walking on these shoes! It was a weird and unexpected experience and made me feel vulnerable at the same time. I walked so straight no-one suspected I was in pain. So walking through shopping streets or using public transport? I still got shoved or frowned uppn when using one of the last sitting spots because I am this healthy youn looking woman! Why bother looking out for me? (But well, that’s a subject for another blog.)
Although I finally had an answer on what went wrong with my left foot a nasty little voice kept bugging me: why did I have the feeling this was not the whole story? Why did I experience pain in my right foot as well? How could that be, since the diagnosis was based on the assumption I’d had ‘trauma’ in the left foot - how could then pain in the exact same bone in the opposite foot be explained? Was I crazy? Was I so obsessed with my foot I was imagining things?
But one day, when I turned on my feet towards the trash can in the kitchen and a sharp unmistakable pain went through the foot I decided I would no longer ignore this. I made an appointment and went back to the doctor who had helped me so well before.
BACK TO THE HOSPITAL
“Wow, you REALLY are a puzzle!” she exclaimed while she immediately scheduled additional tests and scans for me. We laughed, but I wasn’t sure it was funny to have a doctor looking at you like she’d never seen something like it before.
Some bone scanning and weeks of waiting later she called me. “I honestly still don’t understand how this is possible”, she told me. "You have damage/arthrosis in your right foot as well. On the exact same place you have a hook in your left foot. But this makes no sense! The hook in the left foot can only have been caused by trauma, but if that’s true we can’t explain this other arthrosis in the right foot! I will schedule your case in a meeting with specialist doctors where we go through difficult cases, and after that I’ll get back to you."
Ever watched Dr. House? I felt like on of those patients.
To keep the long story short: ‘Team Dr. House’ reviewed my case and concluded we will never be absolutely sure what has cause the symmetrical damage in both feet. But what they came up with is I might have had a very uncommon childhood illness that specifically influences the talus bones in children under 6 years old. After that the illness disappears, the bones stay a bit underdeveloped, and you can live your life without ever knowing. In my case? I might have challenged the bones a bit too much during my travels. Walking more than average with a backpack/extra weight on my back. The underdeveloped bones might be the reason why my left foot could be traumatised so easily by simply walking steps. It can also explain why the right foot got arthrosis as well: from compensating the pain in my left foot AND let’s not forget I kept on walking until 2 months after the ‘accident’ before even arriving at the first hospital.
FINAL WORDS
So there we are. My diagnosis. A childhood growth illness, causing underdeveloped bones in specific bones in my foot, which than got damaged while travelling (trauma) and overcompensating for that trauma.
Oh, there's still so many stories to tell. Like how it was like to return to my home country without having a home :-) Or, the unrelated to my foot travel stories themselves. But these are, and will be, and had to be written: the final words on my diagnosis :-)
All pictures on steemit.com/@soyrosa are created and edited by me, Rosanne Dubbeld, 2001-2018. Contact me if you want to discuss licensing or collaborations on creative projects :-)
Good to hear you are at a point where you can do something :)
Reading your post it reminds me in some case of myself, just other effects.
As far as i know, i most likely had a Vitamin D - defect, in other words "rickets", as a kid.
So i have all kinds of little sublte deformations in my bonestructure today.
Most noticable a funnel breast and my kneecaps are a bit more outside than they should be.
That only started to effect me as a 17 year old boy. After a little accident (my kneecap jumped out Oo) i could not walk, i couldn't even lay on my bed without having pain.
After doing some sort of physicaltherapy it got a bit better.
But it always came back fast if i overdue my knees too much.
After switching my diet, eating no meat, les animal products (espacially quit eating cheese and drinking milk), more fruits and vegetables and doing some workout it slowly got better.
But my breakthrough was using MSM, that helped me a lot, but thats only temporary i think.
Maybe you can apply parts of this i dont know :)
Have you ever checked your Vitamin D Level? ^^
Or have you took a look at your diet. There are a lot of vitamins, minerals and trace elements, which are important for the bones :)
even "extraordinary" ones like bor for example.
Just a few ideas to take a look if you want ^^
I wish you the best that you find what works best for you so you dont have this problems anymore :D
Have a great day <3
Thanks a lot for wanting to share your own story with me! And adding all the things that might help me since they helped you! :-)
I've certainly looked into diet as well. Actually, the thing that helps me, since arthrosis falls under the auto-immune illnesses like rheuma, is lowering my refined grains and sugar intake. So basically I've not eaten ANY grains for months, this seemed to help within 2 weeks, and after that I started eating 'some' grains again, but it's not a stock in my house anymore and don't miss it at all.
Also: add kurkuma, more vitamin D in the form of cod fish oil, more Omega 3 (salmon, yummm) and less Omega 6 (which is in a lot of oils). This all lowers your auto-immune response, which helped me with the pain AND as a bonus I noticed I'm not on a suger drive anymore, so I'm never hungry! (I used to need food every 2 hours, but I eat more proteins now and feel AMAZING, no 'blood sugar collapses' anymore!)
I'll look into some of your suggestions as well, I learned food is an amazing medicine :-)
Good luck on your own physical discomforts as well! Wish you all the best and health!
Glad to hear you finally have a diagnosis. What a difficult journey! Onwards and upwards, I hope.
Thanks @donovanpage! It was a difficult one indeed! But onwards and upwards from here as well :-) Thanks for reading!
It can be so hard getting doctors to listen and take you seriously, so I'm happy you finally got a diagnosis!!
Yes, it's a real fight sometimes! Thanks a lot @bitttermelllon (wow, lots of ttt's and lll's :D)
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oh man...
You need to stay strong :)
Tell me something honestly: Is this really YOUR story??? Really "unbelievable".....
Hey mammasitta, yes, it is, and I would say: unfortunately! Since I'm a bit saddened by your question (since it suggests you suspect I'm not an honest person) I'd like to know why you're asking me this?
I am truly sorry to hear about your story. It is a simple question because I felt sorry for many " dishonest" members before here since 2016. I did not say that you ARE NOT honest and just want to be careful and not believing everything. If you say that you have to go through such painful times, its very sad and I wish you lots of strength.
Hey mammasitta,
Although I understand you have your own stories and frustrations, please consider this the next time:
I'm actually shaking from your comment. This accident has left me in mourning for lost mobility (I'm only thirty years old and have to use a cane from time to time) and one of my biggest dreams (to travel the world) not coming true. It really does hurt someone questioning that. I've had a lot of pain from even writing down this story, which is not an easy and very vulnerable thing to do, and is part of my healing process.
The tone of your second comment definitely is better, but it's also clear you're still suspicious. You're allowed to be, of course, but please try to treat people with respect and room for doubt first. I am a positive thinking person and although dishonest people exist I would think the majority of people is honest, and therefore this is the way we should treat people when we have no information on them yet.
Thanks in advance,
Rosanne
After this respons mammasitta decided to mute me. I would think I was quite understanding in my comment considering how she treated me :-)
I have known @soyrosa for 15 years or so. And ever since I know her, her feet have caused major issues. How do you think that questioning her pain this way would make her feel? Wasn't it possible to use different words, in case your assumptions where wrong? "It's the tone that makes the music".
I would appreciate if you do NOT attack me. Its my right to ask. Thanks much and both have a nice Sunday and hopefully you get well Rosanne....@soyrosa
Class act muting people that question your way of communication. Just confirms enough for me. Just please look in the mirror. It is your right to ask... but just use different words!! Gosh...
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