Tag: tendinitis

New Year, New Goals

On By LeraIn Life2 Comments

Happy New Year to everyone! This is the time of year most people set new goals for themselves, but I’m still working on my goals from last year. That’s not to say I haven’t edited them a little bit, though!

I want to talk a bit about 2019, first. Those of you who have been following me know that it was a hard year for me. I had a long and challenging recovery from insertional Achilles tendon repair that forced me to constantly push my goals back. Then, when I thought I was doing okay (save for the mysterious foot issue unrelated to my Achilles tendon), I hurt my hip while working toward my goal of running a 5k. Then there’s work, which I can’t go into too much detail about, but I can tell you that my boss took a new job and his last day was the day after Christmas. Since then, it’s been total chaos and it hasn’t even been two weeks. I’m expected to act like a full manager without the benefit of more pay, and I’m not going to stand for it much longer.

Given everything, to say I’m looking forward to a better 2020 is an understatement. I’m trying not to get my hopes up so I don’t get disappointed, but I feel like this year should be a good one. Last year I had a pretty good bike year despite everything, and I rode 1,766 miles! That’s not even for a full year since I only was allowed to ride again in April. I think I can do better this year, though, and my goal is 2,100 miles. Since I live in Michigan, the weather can be unpredictable in winter, but so far I’ve been able to get out a couple of times a week. I expect things to take a turn eventually, but I’m certainly enjoying this mild winter!

My first ever 5k was supposed to be February 15, but I’m probably not going to be able to run it. I’m going to discuss the practicality of it at physical therapy Tuesday, but I don’t think it’d be a good idea to push myself too much. I’ll probably have to wait until March, so I’m already bracing myself for the bad news. I have a follow-up appointment with my doctor for my hip in a week and a half, and I’ll be sure to ask about resuming running.

Moving along, I’ve still been having trouble with my foot, and I have an appointment set up with another doctor for a second opinion. I still don’t accept that it’s only arthritis going on when at one point that same doctor thought there was an impingement of some kind. I got the name of this new doctor from my physical therapist, so I’m hoping he’s good. He’s published research about foot/ankle issues, so I feel pretty good about seeing him. My PT originally had suggested I see someone about an hour away because that surgeon also has a degree in PT and is supposed to be amazing, but he’s not taking any new patients. If that changes in the future and I’m still having problems, I’m definitely calling for an appointment. I just wish I knew what was still wrong with my foot. Last week, my PT tried taping my ankle so my fibula didn’t move so much, but I’m not sure it helped much. I wouldn’t mind trying again on a day where I’m going to work after my session instead of a day off. In other news, I started wearing a heel lift to correct my short right leg. I had worn one when I was a kid, and then again temporarily about ten years ago, but not since. My PT says he’s hoping it will help my hip settle down, and it seems to be helping a little bit.

I feel like this update is a little disorganized, but that’s what my life feels like right now. Having no boss at work means a lot of extra work for me since there are only a handful of reliable people there. I am struggling physically with the increased demands of the job, not to mention the stress is giving me mini panic attacks. 2020 is starting out as a struggle, but things are bound in improve from here. I’m hoping to do a semi local 30 mile bike ride this year, run at least five 5k races, and maybe pick up martial arts at some point this year if I’m ever able to. I’ll have an update again after my appointments mid-month, so until then, take care!

November Update

On By LeraIn Life, runningLeave a comment

I’m having a day where I’m feeling pretty low. I had a follow-up appointment with my surgeon today to see how taking the meloxicam every day was helping me. This past month was the least amount of pain I’ve had in a very long time, which has been nice, but I was out of medication three days ago and I can already feel the difference in my pain level. My doctor offered to let me keep taking it if I was getting blood work done occasionally by my primary care doctor, but I declined for the time being. Apparently it can cause kidney damage with chronic usage, and that’s not something I really want to deal with. I’m young and healthy, so the chances of that would be low, but I don’t want to risk it. I would rather get to the root cause of the issue my foot is having than just masking it by taking medication all the time. He said to call if I changed my mind, so at least he’s leaving the option open.

In other news, I still don’t know what’s going on with my foot. I just can’t believe that all of this pain is from the tiny bit of arthritis in my subtalar joint. It just doesn’t feel like joint pain. I feel like something is being pinched, and there seems to be some soft tissue swelling in my right foot over an area where there’s an indent in my left foot. I’m not saying the arthritis isn’t causing some mild pain, but I still don’t think that’s the whole story. Now I don’t know what to do. My doctor just told me to come back as needed, but if he isn’t going to explore any other options, then I don’t see the point. I obviously don’t have the level of expertise that he does, but the fact that the joint injection I had a while back didn’t help more than a couple of days tells me that there’s something else happening, especially since even the doctor was surprised by it. I have the option of trying another injection if I feel like I need it, and I might try it again shortly before my 5k.

An unintended consequence of the meloxicam was how much it was masking my true level of hip pain from my gluteus medius tendinitis. I’m feeling more pain in the last couple of days than I was while I was still taking the medication. I’m diligently working on the stretches and exercises my physical therapist gave me and icing my hip a couple of times each day, but if this hasn’t started to improve by this time next week, I’m going to have to call and ask what to do. I’m still hoping I can avoid formal sessions because I want to get back to training, but if I do have to do them, it’s better to start as early as possible. It’s already been three weeks since I hurt myself, and I really miss running. I’ll do whatever I have to in order to get back to it.

Well, I suppose that’s all I have for now. Hopefully the next time I write, I’ll have some good news to share with all of you.