The Whole Foot Story

It seems I have alluded to the whole story about my foot, but have not actually told the tale in sequential order.

Here goes:

I have not run for any reason other than chasing children or playing games since breaking my right ankle over a hurdle in junior high track.  My friend, Babbs, asked me to join her in training for the Run Like a Mother 5K on Mother's Day.  As it was March, we had plenty of time to train.  We each downloaded C25K apps and cheered on each other.

3/14/12 - First run, wearing sneakers. 

               C25K Week 1 Day1  - 8 sets of jogging 60 

               seconds, walking 90 seconds

3/17/12 - W1 D2   

3/18/12 - W1 D3  (first bout of jello legs)

3/21/12 - W2 D1 - 5 sets of jogging 90 seconds, 

               walking 2 minutes

3/23/12 - W2 D2 

3/25/12 - W2 D3 (right heel pain, knee sore when 

                I put on shoes - took off shoes and ran 

                barefoot - NO PAIN anywhere, 

                calves a little tight post-run)

3/31/12 - W3 D1 - 2 sets of jog 90 seconds, 

                walk 90 seconds, jog 3 min, walk 3 min  

                (calves very, very tight)

4/1/12 - W3 D2 (calves unhappy)

4/10/12 - W2 D1 (calves tight, but improving)

4/12/12 - W2 D2 (calves looser)

4/14/12 - W2 D3 (I feel great!  I LOVE running!)

4/16/12 - W4 D1 - jog 3 min, walk 90 sec, jog 5 min, walk 2.5 min, jog 3 min, walk 90 sec, jog 5 min  (I was determined to finish the final 5 minutes.  With one minute to go, my body was clearly tired and wanted to stop.  Employing mind-over-matter, I kept running; however, I tried to modify my form.  When I get tired, I over pronate my left foot and strike hard on my outer heel.  Knowing this about myself, I overcompensated by trying to land more on my mid-foot/forefoot to relieve pressure on my heel.  I did not really hurt from landing harder on my mid-foot/forefoot while running.  

See the blister on my heel?  That's from running when too tired to keep good form.

4/18/12 - W4 D2 - Made it through the first part of the set, got about a mile from home, when pain started radiating from my forefoot to my knee.  I had to stop and walk home.  Walking was highly uncomfortable and felt more as if I had jammed my toes or bruised them.  I had no swelling, no bruising.  

4/21/12 - Last day of running. Toes still hurt.  I find myself clenching them when walking barefoot.  Shoes do not seem to make a difference in clenching them.  Thinking they are merely jammed or tight, I attempt a run.  I make it 0.78 mile and cannot continue, so I limp home.

I finally realize something is wrong, go home and RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevate).

4/30/12 - Foot feels better in the morning, but after shopping for several hours, the pain returns.  Time for some self-diagnosis.  Of all the sites and videos, these three helped the most:

My ankle felt very tight from walking funny, so this explanation of a sprain helped.

Ah.  2nd metatarsal pain. That's it.  Pressing on my second metatarsal hurts badly.  When walking, I feel pain in my 2-4 toes/metatarsals.

Yep, I'd better rest the foot.

Despite my toes hurting when walking, the pain seems to come from the 2nd metatarsal.  There was a video from this same doc that said stress fractures do not appear in x-rays for at least 3 weeks.  I figure since I already own a boot and an ace bandage, I can RICE and let myself rest and heal.

Week of 5/14/12 - I start to realize I've done very little on my foot and yet the only time it does not hurt or twinge is when it is elevated.  I feel no difference between walking in the boot or bandage, sneakers or flip flops or even barefoot.  It has been 4 weeks since hurting my left foot and it is about time to get a professional opinion.

Finally, on 5/18/12, I called around to get in to see someone - anyone - with imaging equipment in the office to find out if I actually had a problem or was just being a weanie.

The x-ray showed this:  Notice the weird whiteness in the 2nd metatarsal of my left foot?  The podiatrist blamed long-term barefoot running as causing long-term damage.  If you'll recall from my list, I ran barefoot a sum total of 7 runs.  He ordered a CT scan.

At this point, I wanted an orthopedic surgeon/sports medicine doc, and (thank you, God) landed on the phone with my original ortho's office doctor.  If you can enlarge the page of the radiologist's report, you can read all the scary bits.  Regardless, notice the tooth shaped *something* just above the joint?

5/22/12 - I meet with the ortho.  The visit ended with a plan to get a bone scan to discover if a) a stress fracture existed and/or b) if there is growth or activity in the lesion showing in the x-rays and bone scan.

5/24/12 - Bone scan.  I can see quite clearly on the screen that the shape shown in the x-ray and the CT is bright and lit. Can you see the teardrop black shape?  Now see how it appears to be outlined in white, with a pointed tail at the top?  That is what I saw when looking at the bone scans.  It was bright as could be.  That means I definitely have "activity" in that area.

This is not great, but also not necessarily disastrous.  I have an appointment to see the ortho Tuesday 5/29/12.  My best guess is he will send me to a specialist and that a needle bone biopsy is in my future.

Then again, as Giles pointed out, I do not have a shingle outside my door that says "Doctor Fancy Lady" and we are just guessing.

That is the story to date.  Surely it is nothing, but it is so much better to be proactive and figure out what is happening with my left foot.  Prayers are always appreciated.