Clinical Diagnosis

SO....My first appointment with a Podiatrist didn't go so well. I left the appointment feeling as though I wasted my time and felt like I was cheated out of a $20 copay. I already knew that most Podiatrist didn't specialize in my condition and nevertheless wouldn't do the surgery. My hopes on this consultation was to 1.) Be clinically diagnosed. 2.) TAKE XRAYS 3.) To ultimately be guided to a person in the Chicagoland Area in the field that could perform the surgery.

The doctor seemed cool at first. He asked about my level of pain, asked about the shoes I wear, but told me basically that I should live with the condition since my pain level was at a 4. He explained that I should try inserts in my shoes, wear shoes that were a little deeper and had more width. He told me that he had only seen my condition in one other person in his 15 years of practice, and had never performed a Brachymetatarsia Surgery. I asked him did he tell that person the same thing he told me... his answer was yes. I explained to him that besides the pain that I am feeling that I was very embarrassed of my feet. I had explained that I had done lots of research on the web.. and this for some reason soured his attitude. As if you cant find credible source materials  i.e. Medical Journals there. He gave me a website to buy the inserts at.... sent me downstairs to take my XRAYS.... I came back up and said he wouldn't do the surgery (which I figured out at this point), didn't know anyone who performed the surgery, and asked me to go to his colleague who worked in the same office to have a second opinion. He was very adamant about not performing a surgery for cosmetic reasons and actually told me that it should be out of the question.

I was upset, not because he wouldn't do the surgery.... but he totally disregarded the pain that I had mentioned to him, physical and emotional. He never gave me a thorough exam ( I would come to learn about at a consultation with my current Podiatrist) and he was quite sarcastic. My xrays showed that I had a bunion, semi- dropped arch and that my toes on one of my feet where turned to help support the weight on one of my feet. He mentioned none of this IF YOU DON'T DO THE SURGERY JUST SAY YOU DON'T AND HAVE NO EXPERIENCE IN THE SUBJECT. DON'T TELL PEOPLE THAT THEY SHOULD LIVE WITH .....JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T KNOW.

I booked the appointment with his colleague and left and walked away from the surgery hunt for a couple of months. I was disappointed....but an upcoming vacation to Miami, Jamaica and Grand Cayman Islands would light that fire under me again.

Two good things came out of my first consultation...being clinically diagnosed and taking Xrays.
Reading other brachyers experiences, lots of consultations usually go like this........don't let it deter you.