Day 4 of 35: Swimming Group!

I found a swimming group!! So excited!

They meet Monday - Friday at 5:30am and swim for 1 1/2 hours!!! There is a coach that helps with technique and leads the workouts.

Through my previous stress fracture I did some swimming, but always wanted someone to help me with technique and workouts - well here it is!!!

I am going tomorrow to meet them - but I am pretty scared about the temperature! It is a heated outdoor pool - it has been getting really cold here in the mornings and I don't want to freeze to death!!!

I'ts not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life; it is how you handle what happens to you. 

Not looking forward to tomorrow. Going to work for the first time back in the boot and crutches. I have to face everyone's questions as to what happened again - and questions and comments on how I should probably choose another hobby - oh and how did the marathon go - and yada yada yada. I think this kind of stuff is the most difficult for me.

Day 4 of 35 means it is the 4th day of the initial 35 days. My next appointment is December 14th which would be 35 days. This doesn't mean the boot will go away on the 35th day. I am just counting them down until I go back. When I looked back on my previous SF I realized I didn't document anything.This time around I am going to track it - so this is mostly for me - but also for anyone that wants to see how an injured person copes with the unavoidable, for the second time.

Day 2: Verdict is in, again.

When I got to the Dr's office I was still praying hard that it was not a break or a fracture. I still had a little hope that it was a pulled muscle, strain or sprain.
Part of me was not convinced it was another stress fracture because the pain this time is much worse. I can not walk on my foot. When I step I have to put all the weigh on my heel. Try walking like that, it takes forever to get anywhere and it starts burning other muscles in your leg. If weight starts shifting anywhere else in the foot is so unbearable. With my previous fracture I could walk all day on it. Even after the diagnosis came in I was telling people that I didn't believe it was a fracture (but you can't argue with an x-ray!).

He immediatly did an xray and then started feeling my foot asking where the pain was. After he was done feeling around and before viewing the xray - he said well, its a stress fracuture - then he flipped the xray on zoomed into the 3rd metatarsal and clear as day - it was a solid crack straight across the neck of my 3rd metatarsal. Much more clear, visibile and bigger than the one I had before. He said - wow you have almost broken that thing in half!!

At this point I wanted to cry, I wanted to just throw my hands up and give up. I wanted to pinch myself and wake up from the nightmare I have been living in for the past 2 weeks.

He didn't stop there, he pulled out his peice of paper and went to town on what I had to do...

1. Stress Fracture -

the neck of the 3rd metatarasl right foot.

2. Boot

3. Crutches.

4. NO weight at all on the foot -

if you need to go to the fridge have someone go for you or use the crutches

5. Ibprophen for pain

6. Follow up in 5 weeks.

Then he turned to me and said "see you in a few weeks!" And that was that.

So easy for him to say to me. His easy simple words were the hardest words for me to digest. His quick 5 minutes were the worst 5 minutes for me. And now I will spend the next 6-8 weeks dealing with his easy words and fastest 5 minutes.


Now I am trying to figure out WHY I would get another one in a different foot. Is there an underlying cause??

Day 1: Stim Treatment

When I woke up this morning I was kind of excited. I knew I was going to see someone about my foot. I have been stuck in the City all week with work so I haven't been able to get any where with what is going on! I met my coach at UT and we hobbled over the the Sports Physical Therapist department.

I knew I probably wasn't going to get a definite answer as to what was wrong, but at least I would have someone giving me their thoughts!

When the therapist looked at it, she immediately thought it was a stress fracture. I think most medical examiners automatically assume runners with feet pain have stress fractures! She felt around for pain and it was located in the metatarsal area. She pulled out her tuning fork and touched it all over the bones in my foot. There was nothing. Usually, she said, if there was  break or fracture it would be painful. I didn't feel anything. She said that this was a good sign!

After all of that she hooked me up to do some Stim Treatment - which is Electric Stimulation.

It felt like I was being electrocuted!  I had to sit with this on for 15 minutes. It was supposed to help numb the pain and help with inflammation. It actually just localized the pain - rather than it being all over the foot it was more central (between the 3rd and 4th metatarsal). After that she wrapped me up in an ace bandang and I was on my way!

The therapist also suggested I break out my boot from before and start sporting it around....

 I decided to not wear it in public yet. I want to see the Dr. first. I also decided if I do have to wear this thing I am going to bedazzle the heck out of it!!!

NYC: Injured Again

More details to come after my doctor visit.

A short recap - the Monday before NYC I got this pain in my foot, so I went to the Dr. He x-rayed it and saw nothing and told me to go for it and have fun. It was probably nothing. He told me not to run until the Marathon, just to stay off of my feet.

I attempted the NYC Marathon after the doctor said I was good to go. I should have listened to my gut feeling and stayed out - but I went for it and made it mile 5 and now I am not walking. I am still in NYC for work and will not be back home until later tonight. First thing in the morning I am going to see a trainer to get a first opinion.

PRAYING and PRAYING this isn't serious.

There are tons of fun highlights from the weekend that I will recap later, but right now I am trying to get past the pain in the foot I have and get it taken care of.