Good News: I most likely do not need foot surgery.

Bad News: I was born with an accessory navicular bone (aka the rogue bone) that juts out. When something upsets this area, the connection between the navicular bone and this extra bone loosens, causing pain. This pain will probably come and go over the years, depending on my activities and footwear choices.

Ugly News: I’m being fitted for orthotics next week. These inserts will go in my sneakers and shoes. I also have to make sure I wear shoes with lots of arch support. So much for cute ballerina flats. 

If I don’t start to feel better in 3-4months of wearing orthotics, my doctor wants me to check in again. He feels pretty confident that this will help a lot, though. I was relieved that he wants me to be able to avoid surgery because apparently it would involve not only removing the rogue bone and reattaching the tendons, but also cutting out and moving my heel over. We’re talking six weeks on crutches, and maybe needing to do this in both feet. Not exactly a picnic.

At least now that I know what’s up, I can learn how to live with it and minimize negative effects. It’s so crazy that I’ve had this all twenty-five years of my life so far and only just found out about it. Apparently, accessory navicular bone is classified as a “rare disease” by the Office of Rare Diseases (I didn’t know there was one, did you?) and is estimated to affect 2-12% of the US population. Who knew? It’s nowhere near as cool as being a lefty, but hey…

As my mom put it, we all have our “stuff,” and if an extra foot bone happens to be my thing, I guess that’s not so bad. In the grand scheme of things, it’s almost kind of funny.