PROGNOSIS: NEGATIVE

Nah…Just kidding…it’s not that bad.

I saw the podiatrist yesterday and he put me at ease by being very cool and casual about everything. I was all in a panic about my heel and my bunions, almost like I expected him to say, “unfortunately, we need to amputate.”

But I guess when you’re a foot doctor you see stuff that’s way worse on a daily basis.

They took x-rays, and it was pretty gross to see what the bones actually look like inside my foot. It just looks painful!

In hindsight, I would have had the nurse email me the x-rays just for blog funsies, but I didn’t. So use your imagination (remember, that thing we all used before television?)

He said -which I already knew- that I would have to get them fixed at some point. But he also said -which I suspected- that I would know when it was time and it wasn’t necessary to do the surgery any time soon.

Some day, I’ll be in agony all the time and I’ll have to make the call. For now, he said as long as I can still run and walk without too much pain, I’m okay. He just said not to wait until I’m 75 and my toes are all grown together and I can’t walk at all. Okay, I think I can handle that.

As far as the heel, the outlook was a little more vague. He said I’m doing everything right — icing, massaging, popping the anti-inflammatories like peanuts; but I’ll just have to wait and see and start running again when I feel ready. Since I tried -and failed- to run on Sunday, I’m going to take a few more days off and maybe give it another go this weekend.

They did make casts of my feet for custom orthotics, which was kind of fun. He said the orthotics would both help with the plantar fasciitis and also would help slow the progression of my bunion growth.

I’m on a bit of a diet right now, even though I hate that word. I just need to watch what I eat since I’m not running 30 miles a week anymore — especially since grandma and paw-paw are going to have enough food to feed an army this weekend. Grandparents sure love to feed you, don’t they?

This was breakfast:

Mean green smoothie and the equally mean New Orleans chicory coffee from TJs. Seriously. If you haven’t tried it yet? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Have a great day, cyberkittens.

Peace –

UPDATE: One thing I forgot about the doctor visit: he said usually the runners he sees are all stiff in the Achilles, ankle and calf areas but I’m very flexible and that’s a good thing; it’s going to help me heal faster and stay limber. YOGA, PEOPLE. Weeeee! Loosey goosey! Okay. Bye now.