Bob Marley - Everything's Gonna Be All right

4-25-12  I am feeling better and everything little thing is gonna be alright!  I know that , now that I am out of my funk that lasted a few days.  I don't know if I will be running the marathon on May 26, but I do know that I'll be running again and things are going to keep moving forward.

So, Monday I checked with my insurance company to see what an MRI would cost.  Approximately $1000 and for that type of service, not provided by my primary physician, year but provided by an in service provider, I have 90% coverage after I meet my $1500 deductible or $3000 per family deductible.  None of us go to the doctor except the kids for well care visits which are counted differently.  Net story, I have spent $00.00 towards my deductible (I guess that should be viewed as good because that implies I am healthy).  The MRI would be paid totally out of pocket.  The $1000 question, do I need this or is there an alternate route to go.  At the time I was struggling over this, I was honestly pretty depressed.  Monday was a bad day for me.  I went to the office but wished I had worked at home because I kept getting all teared up over this crap.  I talked to Mom, talked to Teresa, texted with Kai, texted with Bob.  I finally made a decision that I would move up my appointment with the Orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Gittins and see what he would recommend.  The doctor that I had seen over the weekend is a partner of Gittins, but that doctor does shoulders. 

In the meantime, my pain has not subsided.  It sort of feels better when I rest for a while, but then when I start walking, it comes right back.  Driving the car makes it worse with the motion of flexing your foot back and forth as you apply the brake.  I also work in a very large building. I do a lot of walking from the parking lot to the building and then once inside, from one wing to another to go to different meetings.  Our CEO described the building that I work in like taking the Empire State Building and laying it on its side.  Here is what Wikipedia says about it:

"The facility—¼ mile from end to end—houses approximately 10,000 employees in a space equal in square footage to the Empire State Building. It is the largest JPMorgan Chase & Co. facility in the world, and is also the second largest flat office building in the United States, second only to The Pentagon, from which the McCoy Center has borrowed its way-finding system."

This is not me, but this is what I looked like

 when I broke my foot in 2009 and had to use

this contraption and my crutches, in the snow!

I work at the farthest point north in this building.  If I have a meeting at the other end, I really have to allow about 10 minutes of time to walk there, take the stairs (3 story building) and then find the conference room based on a numbering system that makes no sense.  This is why I had to rent that "roll about" 3 years ago when I broke my foot.  I tried to maneuver through this building for a week on crutches before I gave up and got the rolling knee apparatus.

Today I saw Dr. Gittins, same doctor that took care of me when I broke my foot.  I really like him.  He said this.....My xray does not show any stress fracture, but they never do when you first have the injury.  (I knew that).  He examined my leg and said that based on what he saw, he would treat this as a sprain or shin splint.  He said that he could feel some swelling and some temperature changes in the muscle in my leg as he moved his hands up and down my lower leg, which is indicative of swelling and inflammation. ( I think I got all of that right).  We talked about my training, and he wanted to know how far I had gotten, when the Marathon was, etc.  He said that he'd use this approach to treating me.

1.) Treat as if I have a sprain or shin splint.  Use ice cups to give ice therapy.  This is different than putting an ice pack in a towel and icing a muscle.
2.) Get me in physical therapy 3 times a week to help get me back to running faster
3.)  Put me in a compression sock which gives me some stability but doesn't totally immobilize the ankle.  (I think the immobilizing of the ankle, i.e. boot, would have made it harder to get back to running)g
4.)  Cross train heavily!  He said I have come so far, don't lose the momentum and conditioning that I have achieved.  Swim, bike or do upper body training.  Don't slow down!  I like that idea!!!!
5.)  Xray again in 2 weeks.  If this is a stress fracture, he would expect to start to see the healing, which is what shows up in an xray.

I feel a thousand times better already!!  The compression sock really helps, I feel less pain when I walk. I called Bob on the way home and asked him to but paper cups, needed for the ice cup therapy.  As I said at the start of this message, I don't know today whether I'll make the marathon, but I do know this.  I will be in Traverse City for the marathon, run or not.  I will do everything I can between now and then to help me get back to running.  If I can't run the marathon in Traverse City, its in my blood now and I will do a marathon this year.  Maybe Columbus.  I dont' know, one day at a time.

Since I felt pretty good about my appointment and the doctors optimism about my getting back to running quickly, I decided it was time to celebrate.  I went to Anderson's and bought a bag of Mary Janes, my favorite candy!

Gotta love a carefree world and life with Bob Marley.  I didn't even hear this song today but for some reason it came to mind and I think it is the approach I need to take.  Lighten up a bit!!!  I didn't copy in the whole song because it is so repetitive.  Not much depth in the lyrics. 

"Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right.
"Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"

Rise up this mornin',
Smiled with the risin' sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin' sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin', ("This is my message to you-ou-ou:")
Singin': "Don't worry 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."
Singin': "Don't worry (don't worry) 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"