Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Good news/Not so bad news

Somehow yesterday slipped by without me posting. I'm trying to post daily at least during the work week to stay current with my self. I can get so caught up in activity and busy-ness and the spinning of my brain that I rather effectively forget to pay attention to what's going on in my interior. The more in touch I stay with my feelings, the better I seem to be able to handle the drama of each day, and especially the yearnings of my inner binge-er. More on her later.

The good news alluded to in today's title is that I did go to the podiatrist on Monday evening after having an xray of my left foot, and I'm cleared to continue exercising, with modification. I knew that if I had a stress fracture it would not show up on a simple xray, and in the absence of any other significant finding on the film I would not find out much. And that brings me to the not so bad news.

The xray did show that I have a shit load of arthritis in the left foot, plus a lot of spurs along the bones at the top of the foot where my pain had been. I say had been, because after having a lot of pain Sunday, by Monday it was essentially gone, and truly but a memory by the evening appointment I had with the podiatrist. He said the fact that the pain was intermittent and hadn't really flared until I started jogging on it several weeks back suggested that there couldn't be a stress fracture as I'd have much more pain, even with regular walking. The degree of arthritis and spurring would be sufficient to cause the pain I had. And he also noted something I've known for years - I have totally flat feet. We're talking that when I walk on concrete with wet feet, you see the whole impression of the foot, not that cute little 5 distinct toe dots above a suggestion of foot below (think "hang ten logo"). Flat as a pancake. Feet this flat make one increasingly susceptible to arthritis, tendonitis, fasciitis, and an unappetizing menu of other foot maladies that age only aggravates.
So - no more jogging. My dream of someday running a marathon, or even a 50-yard sprint in a personal record-breaking time is dashed (pun intended). It's okay, I accept it and am just eternally grateful that I can still walk and exercise sensibly on it.

He put me on 600mg of Ibuprofen 3x/day for 4 weeks, at which time I'll see him again to determine if I should get orthotics or if any further treatment is needed. He finally suggested that I should consider taking up the lowest impact aerobic exercise of them all...swimming. I looked at him long and hard, then reminded him that would require me donning a swimsuit. He rolled his eyes and laughed, and I told him I wasn't kidding. I'm not anywhere near ready for an activity that necessitates me wearing a bathing suit in a venue where another human being might be within a ten-mile proximity. Not happening. Yet. After all, the URL for this blog starts with "willswimagain". And I will swim again. That goal was the genesis for the address of this blog. On July 21, I posted a copy of an email I sent to Lyn at Escape From Obesity about my journey, and about how it came to me that living my life apart from water represented just one way my weight has imprisoned me over the years.

Well, it seems I've been verbally meandering again, and now need to go and do some work here at work! I was going to talk a little about my inner binge-er, who has been making her presence known over the last 2 days (big shock, huh?) and who I've been able to calm with some tough love. But She, and You, will have to wait until later to hear about that. Here's to a binge free day.

1 comment:

  1. Dear Leslie, so sorry about your foot situation. But it is better to know about it now so you can look after it properly and not put the undue stress of jogging on it anymore. There's still plenty of things you can do - walking is the best exercise of any, and how about bike riding? Great fun and much less stress on the feet than walking.

    You will reach the stage when you can swim again. That freedom is your goal so you will get there.

    Best wishes,
    Bearfriend xx

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