Light at the End of the Tunnel

You've heard me bitch and moan about my foot for about two-and-a-half years.

It started as a complaint that it felt like some bones in my left foot were rubbing together, causing some discomfort. And while I could still ride my bike, it hurt to walk or stand for any length of time.

I was used to pain: severe osteoarthritis in both feet would often flare, especially on cold, damp days. I've lived with this pain since my early 20s: I would take some ibuprofen and acetaminophen, but that would be it.

It took the return route from the 2016 Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour to change everything. A few kilometres shy of Elgin, Ontario, I was climbing a hill in a headwind. When I stood up to get more power in my cadence, I felt the snap and a sharp pain. I hobbled to Elgin and ended my ride.

From then, I can't ride more than about 25 kilometres before my foot gets too sore.

My doctor diagnosed my condition as Meuller-Weiss syndrome and referred me to a foot specialist. It took about a year to see him. His diagnosis was different: he told me that I had Köhler disease, which is similar to Meuller-Weiss but occurs at a younger age. He suggested that I've had this condition in both feet since my youth—I had had the corrective surgery for Köhler disease when I was in my mid 20s and it was suggested at the time that I have the procedure done on both feet.

I only did the right foot because the left foot wasn't as bad. The arthritis was all I could feel.

My new surgeon and I learned that the snap I likely felt on my cycle tour was a piece of bone that had come away from my foot. A CT scan showed the loose bone. Occasionally, it jabs me when I walk. The doctor is going to remove it.

Today is the day. Perhaps, as you read this post, I'm undergoing the procedure to remove that loose bone and correct the Köhler's. He'll be removing bone from either my hip or my shin (he's suggested both but at the time of writing this, I don't know where he's harvesting bone) and fusing it with my degrading bones.

I'll be in a cast for three months.

In winter.

If all goes well, I'll still need to receive steroid injections for my osteoarthritis, but once that is managed, I'll be pain-free. I'll be able to ride my bike again. I'll be able to ski, to go for long walks, to maybe even dance again.

If all goes well.

I've told my surgeon that if, after he opens my foot, the arthritis is so extensive that it makes the procedure difficult, to simply take the whole foot off.

We'll see how things go.

Tomorrow's blog post is already set to publish. Same with Monday's post. If I have no post on Tuesday, my healing has taken longer than I expect. If there's no post on Wednesday, something's gone wrong.

(That's me: Mr. Drama. Sir Doom and Gloom.)

Fingers crossed...