Hi all, its a long one so feel free to skip but I'm looking for some advice...
I had a bunionectomy and joint fusion both feet, 2021 (L) and 2023 (R) and have had a relatively normal recovery aside from occasional pain apart from a gradual loss of movement in my left big toe which I saw the surgeon for and he said that was because my toe was drifting back over. Over Christmas last year I had pain so bad in the joint of my left big toe I couldn't put any weight through it and was walking on the side of my foot all week before getting anti-inflamitories from the doctors. the pain subsided to the point where I could walk on it again but then I noticed a lump on the top of my foot over the joint that wasn't there before.
so i went back to the podiatry at the beginning of January to see if I could talk to my surgeon again because I was worried that my screws had moved. and was sent to a different doctor who after I told him about the pain and then the lump, showed me my post surgery x-rays of my right foot, showed me where the screws were and told me it was capsulitis and that if I used an air cast for a couple of weeks it would go away on its own and if not he would give me a steroid shot. he also booked me x rays to show me it was all okay. (I have OCD so I thought this was going to be helpful to stop me from overthinking it.)
whilst I was getting my x-rays they noticed he had ordered them for my right foot instead of my left. (not the end of the world but it did make me worry more that it wasn't capsulitis, but I still ultimately chose to trust it because he's the professional.)
i had my follow up appointment today and he asked me how I was doing, and I let him know that there has been no improvement in the lump on my foot. he asked me what lump I was talking about saying that i never brought up a lump last time and asked me where my dad was so he could speak to him (I'm 22). I then showed him the lump, which you can see has a bruise from a top-down view and you can see it sticking out of the top of my foot from the side. he told me it was just the end of the bone and that there was nothing wrong in the x-rays. I asked him why i have the lump on my left foot then and not the right, and he guided me to the same area and said it was there, when there was nothing there. i told him i didn't understand because you could clearly see that it was bruised and he said it was just because of my shoes which i have been wearing since I had the surgery and before it and never had pain so bad before.
I asked him why the mobility in my left toe had gradually depleted and he said it was just because of the type of surgery I had, but couldn't tell me why it hasn't worsened in my right toe because i had the same surgery in both feet. and I also asked him about the cast because he said it would be fine in a couple of weeks and I wasn't expecting it to be completely fixed but i figured there would be at least some improvement. he said he had expected it to have improved by now but some people just take longer to heal.
i had a day last week where I had the same pain from putting pressure through my toe, and even felt it through the cast. so i was worried I was going to have another week of walking on the side of my foot which he brushed aside and asked me if I've considered taking pain killers. which i do, asked me what i take, and when i told him I take paracetamol and ibuprofen because he said it was an inflammatory problem, and he told me to try just taking paracetamol.
he told me that there was nothing else to say because he wasn't with me the first time it happened so I must have just missed it, but he said he could tell i was still upset so he should take me seriously and if i was his daughter he would want me to know what was wrong with it. he also told me that he could book me a second opinion so I could hear the same thing from a female doctor so i said that was fine and he's going to talk to her and make an appointment for me on Monday. he also let me take pictures of the side view x-rays.
i then went to my partners mum as my mum always taught me to listen to health professionals and trust them, but i know the lump was not there before that week at Christmas last year. I showed her the lump on my left foot and lack of lump on my right foot as well as the x-rays and she pointed out to me that she can see that the 'bone' is way bigger in my most recent x-ray compared to the last ones i had taken (before surgery 2018 and after surgery 2021). she also said she can see what she thinks is blood vessels or something and i believe what she pointed out there also gets more prominent over the x-rays. its also worth noting that i thought i saw some squiggly lines over the same area on the top down view x-ray but didn't ask him about it because he had already made me feel quite stupid. she suggested it could be a cyst pressing on the nerves? but she is going to come with me to see the other doctor for the second opinion.
so i really wanted to know if i was overreacting. i know that lump was never on my foot i've never been more sure about something, and I've also never had this pain. however, i am perfectly happy to take this diagnosis if everything he said is actually explained to me instead of the 'its nothing you're just overreacting because you have OCD' approach. if it does seem like something else, what could it be and can i request paper copies of my x-rays to show my GP as-well? should i even involve my GP? because i don't want to waste anyone's time anymore because thats how i felt coming out of that appointment, and still don't know why i haven't recovered at all with the rest like he said i would.
thank you so much in advance
horrible pain soreness in stump
Illness prejudice 
Worried
Phantom Pain
