I went back to the doctor this morning for a check-up on my foot. Those of you who have been following the saga know that I was diagnosed with a metatarsal stress fracture seven weeks ago (for an injury that occurred on July 31). The good news is that the stress fracture has mostly healed, and I am cleared on that front to start working my way back to walking and then running.
The bad news is that my first metatarsal joint has other issues and is still both painful and inflamed. That is the source of my despair and why I haven’t made the transition out of the surgical shoe, why I gave up on walking after a few furtive attempts with Parker. To try and figure out what’s going on there, my doctor re-examined my MRI and X-Rays. There is evidence of a little arthritis, but no bone-chips, cracks or other damage. So he gave me a cortisone shot.
I’ve had several cortisone shots: two in my right knee (20 years apart), one in my left wrist, and one in my left ankle. Of those, the ankle was probably the most uncomfortable. Until today. Holy did that suck. Hopefully, it solves the problem, which as far as we can tell, is inflammation in that joint. I won’t know for a couple of days, but it is possible that this injection kicks the inflammation and lets me move on to start the reentry process. Best case scenario: I can start wearing regular shoes and walking a little at a time in a couple days.
But it is also possible that this is a temporary solution (or no solution at all) to a long-term problem. I will cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, I am going to grit my teeth until the cortisone kicks in (if you’ve experienced the joy that is cortisone, you low that these things get worse before they get better), and cross my fingers that it works.
[Creative Commons licensed image by Flickr user Steven Depolo]
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