Remember that post where I talked about messing up my back? Well, that turned out to be the start of a cascade failure of my body in general. I am not sure if there is a causal relationship, but what appears to be a rapid disintegration of my joints lines up nicely in time with the back incident.
As I was just about done healing, I was hit by foot and ankle pain severe enough to wake me up very early one morning. Upon getting up to see what was wrong it all of a sudden felt like I was stomping barefoot across a gravel driveway as angrily as possible. I nearly collapsed at the side of the bed as much out of surprise as out of pain.
I wobbled around for a bit like a newborn deer until I was able to converge on a mobility solution that minimized discomfort and maximized speed. "Minimized" and "maximized" here are extremely relative terms. It was as though I gained 40 pounds and 40 years in one day.
After about a week of this getting worse and worse (despite my best attempts at self-medication and footwear changes) my wife brought me to see a doctor. This is why dudes get married in the first place, I am told – to have someone around that makes them take care of themselves. At one point I needed to leave work early because if I didn’t drive home then, an ambulance was going to have to come get me.
I won't bother listing Latin medical terms or naming medications that sound like they are the cross between a Greek muse and a two-year technical college, because, frankly, it doesn't matter. It suffices to say that the inside of my medicine cabinet now rivals that of the average sixty year old. The near-constant low grade headache combined with a soupcon of nausea should fade as my body adapts to the newest chemicals it is forced to deal with.
The pain and discomfort are currently daily morning events and have grown to include my wrists, forearms, elbows, and knees as well as my feet, back, and ankles.
If this is how sixty year olds feel all the time... Jeebus...
But the newest meds do appear to be helping.
What is not helping is being unable to exercise for the better part of a month and a half. I am mobile enough now to play with my son for more than 15 minutes at a time and the doc said I could start back to the gym if I felt able. That's cool and all but I am just happy to be, once again, able to confidently manage stairs and use a keyboard for something not work-related. So here I sit and type with ice packs jammed in my socks.
How pathetic is that?
It looks like I am going to have to put my "Run Two 5K's" New Year's resolution on hold, sports fans, maybe until next year. Hopefully not longer. There is a very good chance that this whole deal is short-term and temporary so we will see.
Wish me luck.
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