The truth is out there.

I know, I know, it’s been a while huh? I have been writing for another blog which you can find here but I decided it was time to pick up on my own page, given that I’ve been working up towards another challenge. 

Since my last post I’ve been back through the system regarding ‘the toe’, the neuroma and the foot in general. After being told categorically that there must be a neuroma still in my foot, even though it doesn’t show up on a scan and not one single doctor can elicit ‘Mulders Sign’ (even whilst pressing so hard on my foot that it stops blood from flowing) I decided to give up on the system, stop trying to find answers and just live with the stumpy toe and pain that the foot caused.

Ignorance was quite blissful until I started to train for a trekking holiday in Nepal. After realising that another marathon was probably out of the question I sought a new challenge and signed up for a holiday, trekking to Everest Base Camp and other sights in the Khumbu region.  As I built up the hours of walking in preparation for the trip the pain in the sole of my foot became worrying. After a training day, which saw me ascend and descend Snowdon (walking up there, not taking a ride on the ‘lazy train’) I decided to seek help again and went back to the first podiatrist I’d ever seen many years ago prior to the neuroma, Tony Standering. 

Comfortably Numb.

At the start of April 2011, I returned to see my podiatrist and he scanned my foot again. The good news was that the neuroma had shrunk by 80% but the bad news was that the bones in my foot were rubbing the 20% of what was left. This was the cause of the continued discomfort and pain.

Robin, my podiatrist, (www.thebarnclinic.co.uk) was still keen to give the foot more time to heal as he advised that inflammation from the procedure could be the cause of the pain. Being the eternal optimist that I am, I went with that suggestion and agreed to try new orthotics to spread the weight across the front of my biomechanically deformed and useless tarsal area.

So the orthotics (http://bit.ly/mhkQnm) have been in my shoes now for just over a month and though my foot does feel eased when I’m wearing them, as soon as I go back to barefoot the pain revs up a notch, so I think I’m going to go again for another round of the cryo-injection therapy. Robin seems to think if we give it a really good blast this time around then there's a 50% chance the nerve might die back never to return again, which is a good and bad thing. It does mean I’ll have a patch on my foot which will always be numb; no nerve = no feeling; but it does mean that the neuroma can’t come back. Ever.

Goodbye, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodnight.