I had a foot/ankle fusion a year ago. The operation made my arch even higher (it was already high). This has led to only the outside portion of my foot touching the ground and my toes clawing to grip the ground.
I also have a malunion in my tibia and ankle arthritis. The surgeon was going to fix these, but decided the recovery would be too much, so went for the foot/part of ankle first to see if it helped, with the option to do the rest later.
I've not seen him since the operation. I've tried to explain the pain I've got (and a strange hard lump on the inner part of my foot), but they've said that the fusion looks fine. I've said that my ankle hurts and they say it's the arthritis.
I feel not listened to, the pain has gone to different areas. My toes hurt a lot, the arch is agony, I still cannot walk far and need a crutch. I cannot bend my ankle and walk with it completely straight, this was the same before the fusion as my ankle still doesn't work.
I saw a registrar the other day. He said he looked at the scan, but not what it showed. He said that maybe an orthotic would help (which I'm getting next week), so try that for 6 months, if not maybe have the hardware out. I was happy with that.
I went to go and my consultant came in and said he wanted to look at my foot. He seemed a bit annoyed I still have pain. He felt my foot and said take the hardware out, he said he will do it next month and left the room. The reg explained that there was a risk of damaging muscle and soft tissue, especially as there was scar tissue, that it may not stop the pain and other risks.
I've now got a pre-op but really don't want it. I didn't want the fusion in the first place, but somehow felt swept along. My MH was really bad after and I started self-harming for the first time in 14 years. I really don't want this again. I've not been spoken to about the benefits and am a bit annoyed no one has listened to me about where the pain is, only 5 minutes with a new registrar each time, now I've seen my consultant, but he didn't talk to me, just told the registrar that he was taking it out next month.
I have a staph infection in my nose, which I know will delay it anyway, but I wish I had someone to talk to first, I feel a bit bullied and my MH is fast deteriorating.