Going to See a Consultant

Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy. I leave things too long and I wait for school holidays to be over before sorting things out.

I finally saw a consultant at the local hospital in October. He looked at my foot, sent me for x-ray (very quick - in department), discussed what might have caused it and was surprised that I had not yet been referred for physio.

He admired my orthotic and felt it was the right thing, but my foot was pretty rigid in the middle with very little ability to move. He referred me to physio which started there and then (physio also in the department) and then arranged to see me again in about a month to six weeks.

The physio gave me exercises to carry out and arranged to see me again in two weeks. Two weeks later, the foot was getting easier to move. It was still pretty rigid out of the shoe, but gradually relaxed and had got some flexibility back. She now tried me on weight-bearing exercises. These were not so successful and I went back in two weeks to confess that I was struggling to do them satisfactorily.

The Diagnosis?

My GP sent me for some tests including arthritis and thrombosis. My heel arch was swollen and that was where I was getting the pain.

As the results came back, he rang me on my mobile and sent me straight to A&E. I had tested positive for a possible thrombosis. A&E on a Friday night is no fun. I spent four hours before being injected with anti-coagulant. As there was no-one available to do an ultra-sound scan on a Friday night, or indeed over the weekend, I ended up going into hosipital for two more injections over the weekend before being cleared of thrombosis that Monday. By that point my stomach was black and blue!

My GP almost shrugged his shoulders, suggested that I try some of the stuff I had tried before to reduce inflammation and waved me off. I struggled on for another month or so, but it was still not getting any better, so I went back and saw another GP.

This time she saw straight away what he should have seen last time - my foot arch had collapsed and she recommended I see a Chiropodist.

About Me

I am a mother of two children and have found my increasing inability to walk extremely frustrating.

The first time I really remembering having a problem was at a Mama Mia party in December 2008. I was limping and unable to dance. The problem had started a couple of weeks earlier, but had just come on gradually. I had no idea what was causing it.

I changed my ancient trainers for new trainers, tried to take it easy and put my foot up and did all the things you would normally do for an aching foot, but the moment I started to do things again, the ache returned. It was easy when sitting down to forget I had a problem, but the moment that I stood up, my foot would remind me.

I kept going until the New Year, but the problem was getting worse and in January I booked an appointment with my GP.