Excuse the sarcasm of the title. What I am writing about today is far from lovely. I’ve been in pain pretty much all the time walking, some of it due to my Achilles tendon still recovering, but some new things have come up. I’ve already written about the plantar fibroma I mysteriously acquired, and trust me, I wish that was all.
Problem number two: I’ve had problems with swelling and pain on the outside of my ankle. You know how the ankle bone sticks out on the outside? Well, I have so much swelling there that it blends right in with the rest of my right leg and foot. It’s not normal swelling, though– it’s harder than you would expect, but still squishy. So far I don’t have an answer to what that is. I’m hoping that my surgeon will be able to help me out with it when I go back to see him in two weeks.
Problem number 3: I apparently now have fat pad atrophy in my heel. I’ve been trying to do some research about it, and I guess some unlucky people get it after prolonged non weight bearing (greater than six weeks), and I was on crutches for ten weeks. From what I’ve been able to read about it, it should toughen back up again after walking on it for a few weeks, but mine doesn’t seem to want to. I don’t know if it’s just going to take longer than average, or if it will stay that way. My physical therapist told me “hopefully” it will get better eventually, so I’m trying to be patient. All I know is that when I stand, my right heel squishes out to the side and the back and my left heel doesn’t. I have gel heel cups in my shoes to try to alleviate some of the pain. I can definitely feel my heel bone when I walk barefoot, and it’s really uncomfortable. I think that’s probably the biggest source of my pain as of late. At my last physical therapy session, my therapist tried to tape my heel so that all the fat is pushed back to directly underneath it. It seemed to help some, and I think it’s worth trying one more time to see for sure if it’s a viable option in the short term. Here’s what it looked like. you can even see the fibroma in the middle of my foot in the picture.
I’m trying not to get discouraged, but it is rather frustrating. I was hoping to have most of the pain behind me. I knew it was going to be a slow process, but if I could just walk without pain for more than a quarter of a mile, I’d be thrilled. I’d be even more thrilled if I could work a whole shift without feeling the need to sit and rest it every hour. I almost never get breaks at work, so having to just power through all that pain probably isn’t helping matters. I don’t know what I’m going to do when my boss goes on vacation in a couple of weeks because we’re still short a member of management, which means if he doesn’t get coverage from outside of my workplace for a couple days a week, I’m in big trouble. I absolutely cannot be working fourteen days straight with no days off when I’m barely managing my four days a week as it is. I worked five days last week and it almost killed me. I could probably manage full time hours while he’s gone and see how it goes again, but to be expected to work a 55 hour week when 30 is difficult is unreasonable. I’m going to have to get a note from my surgeon to help back me up if he’s going to give me a hard time about it. I would love the overtime money to help with the costs of physical therapy, but I can’t set my recovery back. I’m really pretty frustrated my boss hasn’t hired someone in the six weeks since the last full time assistant manager transferred. I’m doing my best, but I’m genuinely struggling. I want to be able to do more, but I still have so many physical limitations.
Life's A Ride 