I think this post is likely to be quite lengthy, as it was a long journey towards having my operation, so grab a drink and get comfy!
I have had a problem with my right ankle since the age of 10/11. In primary school, I used to be part of the cross country team and competed in races every year, as well as the athletics team which also competed in some competitions.
When I was in my last year of primary school, I took part in a race - the same one I had done for the past 3 years except this one didn’t end so well. I finished the race and came in the top 30, but as soon as I stopped running I couldn’t walk. I was trying to go over to my mum and pap (he used to be a runner when he was younger, so he used to be near the end to cheer me on) but my ankle collapsed on me. The race was in a big park close to where I live and there were people from St.Johns ambulance there in case anyone got injured during the races, instead of having to wait for ambulances. I went over to them to find out what I had done to my ankle and why I couldn’t walk and they assured me that I had just pulled a muscle and it would be fine after a bit of rest. Clearly, that was not the case as I have now had an operation on that same ankle.
Fast forward a few years and I had been to see numerous doctors about why I was still in pain when I walked and why my ankle swelled up so much if I did anything physical at all. This meant that I was stopped from taking part in any sports and P.E lessons in school, which was very annoying as I had always done sports before I hurt my ankle. Most of the doctors said I had a very flat foot and that was causing all the pain, but I tried every type of insole including custom made ones and nothing helped at all. Eventually, I was referred to the specialist in Northampton and had x-rays and MRI’s to find out what was going on.
When my uncle was 9 he had similar problems and had to have an operation during which they discovered he had a bone missing from his foot, so he ended up having a bone taken from his knee to correct it. When the x-rays and scans came back they showed that I didn’t have a bone missing, but instead actually had an extra little bone which they suspected had actually been a fracture that had gone untreated for so long. However, this didn’t solve any problems. The specialist was actually extremely rude and told me that if I wanted anything done I would have to pay privately because no one would do something to a child. Of course this was extremely annoying because I had been having these problems for 5 years at this point and no one was willing to try and so anything to stop it, so I went back to my own doctor who referred me to another specialist – the one who carried out my operation and we finally made progress.
The first appointment I had with him, he suggested that I may have a condition known Marfan's syndrome which is a condition that affects the connective tissues in your body which multiple different physical problem such as hypermobility in joints or stiffness. This would mean that any treatment such as surgery to correct my foot could be reversed by my own connective tissue. (my tissues could cause my ankle to collapse again) I was sent for heart scans, eye tests and met with a Marfan's specialist, but the results indicated that I suffered with EDS rather than Marfan's which meant that operating was more of an option.
After many hospital appointments with multiple foot and ankle surgeons it was decided that I was going to have an operation to correct the non-existent arch in my foot. There was speak of two different operations that could be done one involved putting an internal brace into my arch to hold it in place and the other involved lengthening the outside of my foot which would push everything back into place somehow. (I’m not really sure how it works) After the surgeons had a meeting together they decided it would be best to avoid the brace as it was something that my foot could reverse again itself because of the hypermobility.
My operation was arranged for when I finished my A-levels, has I had already missed a month of school from having my appendix removed in October, which meant that my summer was going to be spent in plaster, not being able to put weight on my foot.
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