Suffering from bunion and hammer toe

I've had this bunion and hammer toe for some time now, maybe a couple of years, and yes, it has worsened. I was recently referred to a podiatric surgeon and he told ,me he could not do the surgery because of arthritis in my large toe. He gave a toe separator and told me I could find others on the Internet. I'll be 72 in a couple of months, so no one should be surprised I have arthritis there. After seeing him, I dismissed the thought of surgery at that time thinking maybe that was best, but recently had unexpected excruciating pain in the foot, and it wasn't from excess walking or hiking, both of which I do enjoy. The pain came quickly one evening and after elevating my foot with a pillow in my bed, applying an ice pack and a taking a Vicodin pill, it finally subsided. I returned to my primary physician a few days later only to be told the surgeon had written in his notes from my appointment with him that "the patient decided not to have surgery", which was far from the truth. My primary, of course, was quite surprised and wanted to find out why he would do that. She suggested I make a second appointment with the surgeon and tell him "I decided to have surgery", even though I never said anything to the contrary. I plan to call him after this weekend.

Does anyone agree with this tactic, or does anyone think I need to face him and tell him directly that if he does not want to perform the surgery, he needs to refer me to someone else who will?

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