Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Relief in Sight

For the last 2 years, I've lived with pain in my heels/feet. For the longest time, I blamed it on just getting old, but last year decided to go to a Podiatrist. The x-rays showed large bone spurs on both of my heels causing plantar fasciitis and tendinitis. After several months of therapy, foot straps, shoe inserts, and pain killers, the pain subsided a bit, but is still there. He kept hinting at surgery but would never commit. The therapist suggested the cardio I was doing at the gym wasn't helping, so I stopped working out, which caused my weight to go back up, which has caused my blood pressure to go up.

Monday, I went in for my phsyical, explained all the aches and pains of being 48 (and that's not a secret because if you are ever around Tucker, he shares my age with everyone). Of course, my blood pressure and weight gain is a huge concern, but working out has become very painful due to the foot/ankle pain. And for me, I loose weight (and keep it off) if I can at least walk 3 miles a day. Instead of putting me on high blood pressure medicine immediatley, he wanted to try to see if we could correct the other problems first. My doctor recommended an orthopedic surgeon who was able to see me Tuesday. The orthopedic surgeon took a look at my x-rays, explained the options of therapy and possibly surgery and then he said the magic words "I'm not a plan A , then plan B type of guy - my gut feeling is, therapy is only going to relieve some of the pain, but your probably going to need surgery anyway since those bone spurs are pretty big."

I said "when?" He said "June 9", and I cannot tell you happy I am. We'll do my left foot first, then my right foot in the fall. I realize crutches won't be easy for a few weeks, and wearing a boot in the heat of summer will be very stylin with my shorts, but to know that I will finally be able to stand up and walk without pain is such a relief. I never thought I would be so happy about having surgery but I am so ready.

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