Stress fracture update.
Slightly more convenient than last week.
Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal.
It has been five weeks since my stress fracture. I’m not going to lie, things have been very inconvenient.
The official diagnosis.
Four kaiser visits, xrays and a bone scan have concluded my injury to be a stress fracture of the cuboid bone.
The plan was four weeks in the boot while completely staying off it with crutches. After that, I can mix in cross training to mercifully start shedding my holiday weight. After four more weeks of cross training I can carefully begin to add in some running. Probably sometime in mid-January.
It is going to be a slow process but if you plan on running forever, this will eventually be a small spec in the rear-view mirror.
I have been enjoying the holidays and trying not stress too much about it.
Getting around.
After some serious chaffing of the under arms from the crutches and total inability to walk Holly, I invested in a knee scooter rental on the Monday after Thanksgiving.
That little bastard is a death trap.
The first block of the first walk with Holly I superman’d over the handle bars and was sprawled out on the sidewalk at 5:00am. Not a great start.
After some getting used to, I was successfully navigating the neighborhood with Holly in no time.
She only escaped my grip once to attempt murder on a local cat.
Thank god she failed. That would have been embarrassing.
The ridiculous interpretation of a doctor’s note.
My boss wanted a doctor’s note indicating any work restrictions since I was obviously in a boot and on crutches. We have another co-worker with a broken foot who has been home from work for almost two months so he wanted to be sure. Without getting into too much detail. My HR department inexplicably misinterpreted a seemingly straight forward doctor’s note.
They wanted to keep me home from work until January; which was ridiculous. I successfully argued my way back to work with only two missed days thanks to a snarky response from the podiatry doctor.
I probably should have waited a week or so and enjoyed the vacation.
The month in the boot.
The first week in the boot seemed endless. The second week went a little better once I got the hang of the knee scooter.
The real test was going to be week three.
Stacy was out of town all week on business and my goal was to survive two walks per day with Holly without injuring an additional body part or being an accomplice in the genocide of the neighborhood cat population.
That week actually flew by and the final boot week was a breeze filled with holiday parties and The Last Jedi.
Before I knew it, I was back at kaiser for my follow-up appointment.
The follow up appointment.
Even though the x-rays were negative the first time around, for some reason, they wanted to do x-rays again to see the status.
Not surprising, x-rays were negative. The doc did a few mobility tests and gave the go ahead to ditch the boot. I asked about soreness I had felt in my foot and he said that can persist for up to two months which made me feel better about walking.
So far, only a day out of the boot, my foot has been pretty sore in the injured area. After an internet deep dive looking for an explanation, I have determined it is scar tissue and/or atrophy of the tendon from a month of inactivity.
Amazing how finding a plausible reason makes your fears and the pain diminish. The mind is a powerful thing.
New year, new you.
My body has been out of motion for a solid 5 weeks after North Face. Starting a new routine could be difficult.
There are a million articles on returning from a stress fracture online but I wanted to read a personal experience. I found a blog from a women who was in the exact same stage as I was and offered a lot of comfort and practical solutions. Her key cross training seemed to be aqua jogging and the spin bike.
I have been a little surprised at my utter lack of motivation to get back to cross-training. I am getting a little too comfortable with my laziness. I need a schedule to get things moving again.
I’m planning to explore the local public swimming pool to get the lay of the land for aqua jogging. I am definitely intimidated by that process. In my experience, lap swimmers can be quite territorial.
The plan is a mix of aqua jogging, spin bike and some outdoor cycling for the next few weeks with a healthy dose of walking Hollywood.
I need to be smart and take things slowly.
Hopefully the next few weeks will go as quickly as the last few.
