Injury updates...

Blisters and bad knees!!!!

I think I ended up with about 5 blisters on each foot from the walk. They were big and they were painful! I was able to drain the fluid and alleviate the pain. However, once they started to heal, they itched like crazy!!! I would have loved some sandpaper carpet! They have since healed, pretty much completely. I have nice new skin on the bottom of my feet now. :) I went to the Doctor the day after the walk because my achilles tendon on my right heel was bothering me. I had a knot on it and whenever I flexed my foot, I could feel something rubbing together under the skin. I also didn't have full range of motion in my right foot. I could move it up and down, but couldn't move it in a circle. The doctor said I had severe tendonitis and a slight sprain in my ankle. She figured that I was probably walking unnaturally to compensate for the blisters on my feet, and thus caused irritation everywhere else. She put me on an anti-inflammatory and sent me for knee x-rays.

The anti-inflammatory seemed to help with everything but my knee. It took about 2 weeks for my heel to heal enough to wear an athletic shoe. But, I was still having more and more difficulty with my knee. (I've had problems with it for a long time ~several years~ but now instead of just making creaking noises when I went down stairs, I was having a lot of pain.) The x-rays came back normal so I was referred to an orthopedist. I saw him this past Wednesday and he diagnosed me with a strong case of chondromalacia, also known as "runner's knee". I will start physical therapy 2 times a week for 3 weeks on Monday. If this doesn't relieve the pain, he will try giving me a shot of cortisone. As a last resort, if the cortisone doesn't work, he said he can do arthroscopic surgery and clean up the cartilage under my kneecap. I'm hoping the PT helps and that I won't need the surgery.

Tricia went to the doctor about her knee and after having an MRI, she was told she had torn her miniscus. She had surgery the week of Thanksgiving and seems to be recovering well. You can follow her progress at her blog, www.blakelyfamilyblog.blogspot.com/.

I hope to do better with my blogging....I'll be sure to update on how my PT goes and the progress with my knee.

I hope to update again in a few days with a few pictures from Thanksgiving.