October 19, 2011

Stubborn!

So, this lovely ankle of mine is one stubborn pain in my... foot. After New Orleans, I did three more sessions of physical therapy. Swelling and bruising continued. I even started popping more blood vessels, my physical therapist thought it was due to the swelling. I kept up my dose of Ibuprofen 3x/day and I was seeing no improvement.

I had my follow up appointment with my doctor, last I was there was when I got the cortisone injection. I went in knowing something wasn't right. It had been over 8 weeks since my sprain and improvement was minimal. Most sprains heal in 6 weeks. I supposedly had a minor sprain. Yet, here I was, a mess: swollen, bruised and tender to the touch. I haven't made strides in PT, the cortisone shot was no help AT ALL. I wanted a MRI. Before I could even ask for one, my doctor suggested that was the next step. I was relieved. I was concerned I'd have to seek out another doctor at start at square one. He said the MRI will catch whatever he's missing, and we'll go from there. If the MRI comes back normal, all he can do is cast me to give the tendon time to heal. He's avoided doing it so far for obvious reasons, but since I haven't responded to other treatments that would be the next step. He also suggested I go to PT therapy twice a week, because I wasn't benefiting from the 3x/wk routine. I chose to cancel all my appts until I got results back from my MRI.

Swelling has reduced greatly since I stopped Physical Therapy. In turn, the discomfort has been far less. Achiness remains, as does the tenderness, and I still can't walk down stairs normally, but the reduced swelling is welcomed.

I had the MRI done last week. I see my doctor today for the results. I'm nervous, but anxious to find out what's up so I can get back to normal. I'm coming up on 10 weeks of gimpiness and to say I'm over it is an understatement.

I am fearful of what's next. November has shaped up to be extremely busy - San Francisco, Amy and Nicky's visit, Dirty Heads concert, my dad's visit, Thanksgiving, Black Friday shopping, and the weekend in Oakland/San Francisco. I need to be mobile.

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