Update on the foot and ankle:
The orthotics gave me several months of activity that was almost pain free.
However, the pain in my ankle has recurred and is becoming a nuisance. My ankle and foot are permanently swollen, no matter what I do. (Yes, I do ice and elevate, every evening.)
If I sit for a while, I can hardly bear weight on my left ankle and foot for about five steps, then the pain gradually decreases and I can walk normally.
I think it's time to go back to my OS and ask for that referral to his colleague, who specialises in ankles and feet. I'll discuss this with my GP at my routine visit on Wednesday - he has a post-grad diploma in orthopaedics, so he's quite clued up and also easy to talk to.
I can't help feeling that the mid-foot arthritis is not the sole cause of my problem. I remember that 10 years ago, after my sprained ankle seemed otherwise healed, I had almost exactly the same problem, with severe pain on standing, after sitting for a while. It went away spontaneously, after a few months.
I still think that pain is somehow related to the sprained ankle and I don't want to go through having a triple arthrodesis, only to find that it hasn't cured the ankle and foot pain. The original OS recommended orthotics and PT, and they didn't do a scrap of good.
The MRI report (in Post #1) indicates that there is evidence of past damage to the talofibular ligaments and I feel much of the pain over the anterior talofibular ligament, as well as below the lateral malleolus (above the sinus tarsi), which my OS tells me is pain referred from the talonavicular joint.
My husband massages my ankle and foot and he can get some of the swelling over the lateral malleolus to go down. It hurts when he presses there, though. Is there a bursa there?
I'd be interested in your opinion,
@Josephine .