Foot Woes - Feeling Old and Crabby

When we came back from our latest trip to Stockholm back in the summer, my right foot had a little tender spot on the inside edge a bit below the base of my big toe. .  I put this down to my shoes having rubbed it a bit, as we had  walked a lot while we were there as we always do, it's a very walkable place,  and assumed it would just get better on its own. It didn't, so I spent a shoeless week hoping that would help. It didn't. I was then struck by An Awful Thought and looked up 'bunion' on the Interwebthing. And then thought 'oh dear', and 'why me', and 'for goodness sake I never wore high heels', and then I looked at the bit that said 'medical attention should be sought as soon as possible' to correct the condition otherwise it only gets worse. 

So I went to the doctor and he pussyfooted round it a bit and tried to be kind by looking up the Latin name for bunion, but I said that was a waste of time, just call it like it is and what will we do about it. 

He sent me for an X-ray in case there was a fracture and that came back with a report saying no fracture, but I had a bit of arthritis in my big toe, which I have had for decades and knew about, and Freiberg's disease which I have also had for decades but  without knowing about it, since it is largely asymptomatic and has something to do with the head of the bone on your middle toe not fitting into something else properly. You can tell how closely I was attending.  Apparently it's prone to developing in teenage girls. Since it doesn't bother anyone or have any particular effect I rather wonder why Freiberg bothered to give it a name, but perhaps he wanted the immortality that comes with discovering a minor not-quite-problematic medical thing and calling it after yourself. 

And the other thing the doctor said to do was  refer myself to the podiatry unit at the hospital which I duly did, although it wasn't quite as simple to do as he thought it would be  and it involved a waiting list which is why, having started to notice the problem in md-August, and consulting the doctor about it in October, I have only just seen the podiatrist today. 

It wasn't the most constructive of meetings. It seems I am flat footed and it probably runs in the family. (Really?) I should have been wearing shoes with arch supports in the since the year dot. My problem will not get any better as there isn't much they can do, and it may well get worse, and I am headed for a nightmare with arthritic toes anyway. Thanks for that. 

That said there are things I can do, accent very much on the I.  I can buy my own witch hazel for the pain  and I can buy my own bunion protector with a wedge attached to keep my big toe away from the others on the foot. I cam also buy wide fitting shoes with arch support and no overstitching on the foot although when pressed as to where these could be sourced the answer forthcoming from the podiatrist was  basically 'not anywhere in Orkney, look on the Internet' 

She is going to order me some 'off the shelf insoles' and they'll let me know when they arrive and I can try them for a couple of weeks and then they'll review it but I should be aware that 'they don't suit everybody'.

Painful foot from here to eternity then.