Last night was better. Some pain but not as bad. Pain in ham higher than SI (4 vs 3). Some pain getting out of bed and dressed (1-2).
No pain midday.
Walked 5 minutes on treadmill barefoot at 2:30pm, holding some of my weight with my arms, though that started to hurt my hands. Worked up to 2.2 pace. Gait highly uneven. Some soreness in ham during but none in SI area, neither during nor up to now. Also no pain getting in and out of bed (except in hamstring). Answers from Dr. McLane below:
1) Can I be healing if I feel the same as when I got on crutches? Yes, they probably weren't ask helpful as we hoped but since my spikes in pain are decreasing with each inflammation cycle there is hope that I have healed some in the last three weeks.
2) Can we see the health of the cartilage in the MRI images? Not usually, she gave me a reference to a neurological surgeon, who will give me a consult, hopefully in a month, if I still am not mending.
3) Are we missing something? There may be an unevenness in my legs, which haven't been clinically found. She had me go to radiology and see if they can find a leg difference in imaging. My right orthotic had a bigger heel than my left based off dynamic and static images of the pressure my feet put on a pad back in the spring of 08, then I started using the orthotics in June 08, and my hamstring and SI injuries ensued (but so did my highest training ever). I should get the results tomorrow.
4) Can I sleep on my right side? Yes, so long there's no pain I can sleep any which way.
5) Should I be in a full body cast? She laughed, though I don't see what's so funny. I reiterated that I was ready for a full body cast if it would guarantee healing. She said instead I need to go four weeks without any crosstraining. So that's what I'll do. Let the sloth and indolence continue.
6) Should I get off crutches even if my pain isn't gone? Yes, do the 5 minutes walking test to see what pain follows, then she was fine getting off the crutches cold turkey, but that sounds dangerous to me. Since I am so conservative :) I will allow myself to go to toilet at night without crutches if I don't get a lot of pain tonight, then I'll allow myself to do short walking spells tomorrow without them. Thursday night we have guests for dinner, so I'll do my longest stint without them during the dinner hour.
7) What can I do to stop atrophy (mention involuntary stretches of legs)? n/a will start using legs again, at least to walk around.
8) Could my hamstring be causing issues (mention increase in hamstring symptoms with no activity)? definitely, have Steve Orrock focus on trying to calm the ham down once and for all
9) Should I stay away from mild massage in my glutteal area? no, soft tissue work and even stretches should be fine, it shouldn't cause issues with healing.
10) If this is just a stress reaction, shouldn't it be healed already?I kind of knew the answer to this one already, because it's in an area of my body that is always being used (getting in and out of bed and the car, on and off the toilet). Thus my argument for the full body cast. So hopefully I'll be off the crutches by the end of the week, which would be a huge blessing. To be able to carry toys, clothes, trash with me as I walk around the house. To be able to cook and clean. I don't like cleaning, but I will appreciate the ability to do it now (at least for a while). Like I have said before--God has to use a big stick with me.
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