What the heck did you do to your foot?

I hurt it.

I'm working on getting it better though.

What I did, though?  Well, I rolled it/twisted it last year at Leakycon, on the first day, and then proceeded to attend Leakycon (I was.not. missing out!) for the next 4 days.  I took a couple days of rest afterwards and it was feeling better but once I stopped the rest it got bad again.

Rinse and repeat.

I would rest it, it would get better for a little bit and then I'd have an extra long day or busy day or it was Tuesday (meaning that sometimes I don't know why it hurt more) and it would get bad again.

I could still walk on it though.  The first few steps in the morning were horrible, but it warmed up or stretched out or whatever and it would be better.  If it was a really long or busy day, it would be bad bad bad that night. I'd ice it, elevate it, and occasionally take some pain meds.  It's the foot I use for the foot pedal at work as well, so that might have helped keep it from healing all the way.  Quite a few of my coworkers have foot, ankle, and hip injuries from using the foot pedal.

I had had an x-ray about 2 weeks after the injury happened and it showed soft tissue swelling but no breaks and all the doctors assured me it would get better - here have some vicodin (which didn't help, by the way).

And so it continued until about a month ago when I got up in the morning and couldn't put any weight on my foot.  I tried resting and wrapping it with an Ace bandage and icing it, but it didn't get better.  I would suck it up and push through to do what I needed to do or wanted to do (cause that was about when Gramma was visiting) and then cry when I could sit down again.  At Robert's and Gramma's suggestion, I put on Robert's walking boot that he had from when he broke his ankle and was able to walk again.

I hate the boot though.  It's heavy and awkward and hot. It throws my balance off - which I didn't have the best balance before - and makes me more clumsy. I've run into walls (not face first, I'm like pin-balling off walls occasionally) and the other day I stepped on my other foot. How? I have no idea.  I've tried to be careful, but I've nearly gotten Yoda and Leia who like to lay down directly behind me when I'm in the kitchen, and Timmy who is all black and still insists on laying in the middle of the hallway in the middle of the night and you can't see him, and I kind of kicked Carus with it the other day (oops). Also, I can't drive with it on. I don't want Robert to drive me around most of the time because either I'm waiting for him to go somewhere or I have to listen to him whining about me hurrying up (grocery shopping). Sometimes I make him drive me and sometimes I take the boot off, drive myself where I need to go, and put the boot back on.  Driving doesn't hurt (which weird?).

The doctor didn't assure me it would get better and throw more pills at me this time.  I think the boot made it really clear how much it hurt to walk on it and she ordered an MRI thinking perhaps I had little bitty stress fractures that don't always show up on x-rays and I could be rebreaking over and over.

I don't.  The MRI showed that I have posterior ankle impingement (That link is a Google search if you want to read up on it.) and that I have an os trigonum which usually isn't much of a problem except that one of the bones of the ankle that is supposed to fuse before or in adolescence (between the ages of 8-11) didn't fuse in my ankle.  Which is a rare common anomaly (meaning that it happens and doesn't cause a bunch of problems so it's considered normal) occurring in less than 7% of all adults.  My doctor actually sounded excited telling me about this because she had to do some research on it before calling.  It was like, "this is so awesome! I learned something new!" which is adorable. And she referred me to a specialist since she wasn't sure what else could be done beyond rest and ice and medication for pain.  The foot has a LOT OF ANATOMY, YO!

Yesterday, I went to see a podiatrist.  We really like this guy. We've seen him before for Adam's ingrown toenail removal.  He's funny and informative.  He takes the time to answer your questions and explains things very well, all while making you laugh.  When he first came into the room, he introduced himself, shook our hands and then turned to me conspiratorially and asked if I knew this guy while pointing to Robert. He diagnosed me with plantar fasciitis and recommended orthotics for my shoes, no more barefoot walking, stretches and exercises, and a steroidal cortisone shot. The first three things were easy; the shot was not.  It wasn't bad - my anxiety over how much it was going to hurt was worse.  It did hurt; it's a shot, but it wasn't the worse shot I've had. He injected it in my heel near the arch of my foot. When he finished he asked if it hurt, I said yes and he said, "I didn't feel a thing."

Last night, all was fine and well with the shot - until I got really really hot. Robert said it was the medicine in the shot - he has had 5 of these shots in his spine and SI joint in the past month or so - and I wanted to cry (but that could be hormones or September or stress or I'm just a big baby). I slept last night like I had a fever I was trying to break.  Even with a fan on me all night I was roasting.  This morning is better, I think. At least I'm not overheating.  I have the boot on again - with an orthotic in it - and while it's not 100% better, I think it is a little improved.

So yeah - that's where I am.  My foot still hurts. I still have to wear this stupid boot. I'm still going to complain about it, I don't care if you had to wear it longer Robert.  But hopefully this is the first step (heh, pun) to helping it get better.