Long story: Ok. So, a little over two weeks ago, I kept asking my mom if my ankle looked a little swollen, thinking from a bug bite (I had a bug bite down there), but my mom didn't think it looked swollen. Then on July 13, I went for a run. I was running on the edge of a road to where it went on the gravel shoulder. I think I stepped wrong, but I kept on running, it wasn't a big deal. After that run, I asked my mom again if my ankle looked swollen, from a bug bite, and my mom said no. I think it hurt a little when I got done.
The next morning was a Monday Morning Run. I got up usually, ate some food, but my ankle seemed to hurt a little... but not bad enough to stop me from running. It then occurred to me that I stepped wrong yesterday while I was running. I went for a 6 mile run, but for the last mile of it, my ankle really hurt, pretty much limping. I haven't ran since then. So, I decided to take a couple days off from running, treating it like a sprained/twisted ankle. I TRIED to take it easy, ice it, and take motrin and tylenol. But, it only got worse.
Then, on the Friday, I walked around Valley Fair all day, which probably didn't help much, because the ankle only got bigger. The next morning, Saturday, I woke up with this rash like thing on the inside of my ankle.
I was at my grandma's, so, my mom, my grandma, and myself were all the more concerned. So, we went into Urgent Care. The doctor there said it wasn't a sprained ankle because my entire ankle was swollen, and with a sprain, only one side would be swollen, depending on which way you twisted it. She took an x-ray, it wasn't broken. So, she thought it was either lymes disease (which we were just up in North Dakota, walking through long grass, infested with ticks!!!), an autoimmune disease (which my grandma, aunt, and maybe mom have all experience. I say maybe my mom because when she was in college she had a mysterious condition, where both her ankles to knees were swollen and she had a fever. So, mine isn't as bad as my mom's, but you never know!!), or a joint ankle infection. So, the doctor at Urgent Care tapped my ankle, to get the fluid out, to check to make sure it wasn't infected.
And holy cow, I have never had that done, and I was shaking. I had to have my mom kind of squeeze me and not let me see what was going on. After that I felt so sick! I have never felt that way before. Almost like fainting, but not really, or throwing-up. But once I got outside, to the nice warmness (I HATE air-conditioning), I felt a little better. I hadn't eaten for a while, so I think I was maybe also really hungry. The doctor put me on amoxicillan, so that in case it is an infection, I can get it stopped right away. So, while my mom went to get me the medicine and a Naked juice, my friend and I (Oh yeah, my friend was with me the entire time) went over to Punch to get some pizza. I hadn't ever eaten at Punch, the pizza was a little different, but good. My mom got me a Green Machine Naked juice, which looks disgusting, but tastes great (it says that on the bottle and it is totally true!).
After we got some lunch, the doctor wanted me to get a blood test. Super scary, and once again I squeezed my mom's arm, but it wasn't really that bad. The blood test was to check for lymes disease and an autoimmune disease. Both came back negative (since they were negative the doctor told me to quit the medicine she put me on). When my mom talked to that doctor last, she still hadn't gotten the ankle joint infection test results back (and still don't, so who knows if we ever will), but she didn't think I had a joint ankle infection. She thought I maybe had an autoimmune disease, even though it came back negative, and suggested that we go to a doctor that treats arthritis. Arthritis can be a symptom of an autoimmune disease.
All this last week, we have been trying to figure out what is wrong with my ankle. It was only getting worse. We thought it could be arthritis, a stress fracture, and all the above. Thank goodness we had scheduled an appointment with a podiatrist a while back for this last Frinday, thinking I needed orthotics. This podiatrist is supposed to be great!
My brother went to this podiatrist last summer, and the way my mom described him, I thought I was going to be going to this 80 year old, mean doctor, wearing old blue jeans, a stained, white t-shirt, old sneakers, and in a run down home that was converted to a doctor's office. But, no, it was in a nice building, and the doctor was nice. He wasn't 80, probably in his 50s, and he wasn't dressed the way I thought he was going to be dressed.
The podiatrist, took an x-ray, but didn't see any thing in that looked broken (x-rays don't show everything). He said it is a really bad sprained ankle that got ran of for 6 miles. The reason my entire ankle is swollen is that sometimes when you twist it one way that then you go back to much the other way then too.
Then, he gave me one of those walking boot things, and we had the crutches that I am suppose to use. I AM SUPPOSED TO STAY OFF MY FEET!! Also, he put me on some medicine, to take down the inflammation and pain. He told me to ice under my knee because that is where a major artery is and on my ankle, even though it is wrapped, and keep my foot elevated.
I AM GOING CRAZY!! I can't really do anything. I love running, gardening, cooking/baking... moving around. I can't really do any of it, even sleeping in my bed is hard! Everything takes way longer.
Today, I got together with some friends and they helped me get going on knitting hat that I started a couple years ago, and then couldn't figure out which direction to go since it is a circle. We knit and had supper, we had a good time. I am going to have to figure some things out to keep me occupied.
My mom is so glad that all this has happened while the coach is is Norway for three weeks. She is sure that he would have kept me running on it... making it worse. Then, the friends/teammates reminded me that he would be calling me like 3 times a day, checking in with it, because that's what is does (he doesn't have much else to do).
No comments :
Post a Comment