Need advice...
Long story short I (20F) just found out that I have a broken lateral sesamoid. I'm very active, work out most days a week, play a sport in college, enjoy hiking and backpacking, etc. It's very unclear when the injury happened, as I have been rehabbing from an acl surgery for the past 8 months, and my PTs and I all thought the pain in my foot was from a minor wound in the same spot that I had a few years ago. The pain is tolerable, on good days I barely even notice it. Running generally hurts (4-5/10ish) though. The entire situation is very strange and my dr says he's never seen anything like it. He is pretty convinced that the bone will never heal on its own and nothing I can do will make it worse, and because I am still rehabbing from my acl reconstruction I should just suck up the pain until I can have it removed. Offloading would cause me to loose most of my rehab progress, which would be absolutely devastating. Because I just can't get it done right now I don't have time for another surgery until next summer, but I might put it off until after college. I'm an athlete and I think I have a better chance to play my sport in the fall of 26 and 27 by sucking up the pain rather than voluntarily taking myself out for for surgery summer 2027. This seems like a very unusual way to handle this though. I was just really hoping to be cleared to play from my acl by the fall 2026 semester, as that was my third major orthopedic injury in two years. I have yet to try any insoles or orthotics, which I'm optimistic will help. But there's also a chance my foot pain continues to get worse until it's unbearable... any advice is welcomed. My ultimate goal is to be able to live a very active life. For my own sanity I don't have a choice.