Relief!

It all happened so suddenly, yet it's been in the making for 2 years.  Two years ago I injured my foot after hitting it against a piece of wood.  While it hurt a lot for about 3-4 days, it started to get better.  Therefore I decided to let it continue getting better and not go to the doctor.  It continued as a nagging pain through the spring and summer and hurt too much to run, jump, land heavily on it.  It was like a stabbing pain inbetween two bones in my foot and left my toes with a numbing feeling at at times.  I decided that next fall, after seeing that I was wearing out one side of my shoe more than the other since I was walking on the side of my foot, that I would head to the doctor, a podiatrist.  His thought?  The tendons.  Three appointments later, a dose of prednisone, and I was wearing a big bulky boot that only served to hurt more than help.  I decided that he wasn't on the right track so I headed to an orthopedic doc in Lafayette.  After x-rays, he thought it was a stress fracture so it was on to one month of physical therapy.  While the therapy helped strengthen my ankle and such due to the year of walking differently, it never got to the source of the pain. They released me telling me it would get better.  After another month of not getting better, I went back to the doctor who ordered a MRI which told them nothing.  A cortisone shot later and his diagnosis?  Tendonitis (for a year, really?).  So I went on home and continued to deal with the issue in any way I could.  I used non medicated callous pads to help cushion the area (on the advice of my chiropractor) which helped.  Ice packs, wraps, whatever.  In March, I got into a doctor from Muncie on the advice of my dad.  He now thought it was a Morton's Neuroma but recommended me to another doctor in the same building.  However he had a long wait so it was going to have to wait until after camp was done.  So two days after camp was over I was back to the doctor and his thought was that I tore the ligaments in my foot which led to scar tissue.  That scar tissue was more than likely irritating the nerves in my foot.  He injected with a different combination of drugs and he injected deep into the foot.  It was to be a more diagnostic tool than a cure.  For if it worked, it meant that we were on the right track.  If it didn't, he didn't really know of a next step.  Obviously, I was praying it worked.  And worked it did.  For two months, I was basically pain free.  A few twinges every now and then but I could run and do most everything.  When did that end?  Right before I left for Yellowstone.  The days of long hiking were not very fun.  I was able to get back to the doctor in November and although he gave me another shot, he only gave me a half strength one due to the limited amount of fat and tissue in my foot and his recommendation was that surgery was the next step.  I decided to not go for surgery right away as, well, that's just not something to rush into.  However that second shot didn't work as well and although it took away some pain, it didn't take away all.  So I called the doctor's office about three times trying to get a hold of someone to talk through options.  I didn't hear back for two weeks and just as Amie and I were talking about it, they called back (literally just as we were talking).  I talked through options and it appeared surgery would be it.  And as we were talking, someone cancelled their surgery for that Friday (this was a Wednesday) and I agreed to get it done sooner rather than later.  In my line of work, winter is a good time to be off.  I'll admit to being very nervous but I found a very willing best friend (Amie!) who would drive me to Muncie and back.  Here we go, the end to a 2 year ordeal that left me frustrated and depressed at times.  Constant pain that no one could fix.  We left early Friday morning to head to a pre-op appointment then bummed around Muncie till the 3:30 surgery.  Thankfully I was not going to be under general anesthesia, just an ankle block and some "happy juice" so I wouldn't care.  I remember that after they injected the "HJ", I thought to myself, "I don't feel anything.  Wait.  Whoa.  I'm dizzy.  And it tastes bad."  :-)  The worst part were the 6 injections to make my foot numb.  They wheeled me in and 17 minutes later, wheeled me out.  I remember every part and even could "feel" them working, although I felt no pain.  I remember the room being very cold and telling them who my dad was (and they knew him).  After spending a little time in post-op, they wrapped up my foot, put it in a boot, and sent me and Amie on our way.  A stop at Taco Bell, CVS, and Dairy Queen on the way home and finally, home.  It hasn't been too terrible.  A lot of time on the couch.  The painkillers definitely wipe me out a little more than I'd like.  While I can't do much now, I am looking forward to see if this will work once and for all.    I remember the doctor coming in after the surgery asking if I felt better because I look relieved....if only he truly knew how relieved I felt.

For now, just call me "gimpy" or "hop-a-long", I've responded to both.

I've seen a lot from this angle.

My pretty foot 2 days post surgery.