Live With The Nerds
Don't Be One
October 2003
So the foot is responding well to PT, the swelling's gone down and it
now only twinges on stairs, even after playing hard at bball. Strange though,
when the PT works it out it really hurts in some of the flex direction. My
Podiatrist got the MRI report, and promptly sent it back for another opinion,
it doesn't look like there is any traumatic damage, but there is bone swelling,
the spurs/chips, a partially torn ligament and possibly a cyst in a tendon ..
most of it on the inside of my ankle where it hurts the most. I guess the
Radiologist thought it was merely long term chronic damage as opposed to
something traumatic. My Dr wants her to look at the MRI again, more closely
to be sure. Till then he's going to send me to more PT, and see if the new
orthodics help. Then we may try a cortisone shot ... I'm still thinking clean-out
surgery next year when I can get my flex-fund set up.
My regular doctor got my bloodwork back and he thinks I need to start on
cholestoral drugs .. I'm going to try and put that off for at least 6 weeks
because this past Monday Elena and I started on the Atkins diet...yeah no rice
so far it seems ok, lots of steak, meat and eggs .. bummer though we thought we
were going to be able to munch on nuts during the day but I guess there is no
such luck during the first 2 week "induction" phase. Its hard finding things
to eat in my cafeteria, but so far not too bad, although I do have a habit of
snarfing on the candy people have laying around .. so far it's only cost me
3 peanut M&Ms before I noticed .. it was that unconscious pick it up and
eat while chatting.
Despite the lack of carbs I still seem to have enough energy for vball and bball
as long as my body holds up so thats good, but the real test will be this Sunday
when I play my first vball tourny in about 3 years ... Caroline signed us up
for a reverse-coed draw quads kind of a king of the hill thing where its the
permenent duos that compete for the final rankings.
Had another round of PT on the foot, it still looks like its soft tissue damage
but he's surprised that it hasn't healed already. The MRI was uneventful, had trouble
finding the place till I realized it was in the medical complex right next to my
brother's townhous. The blood tests that my doctor made me take came back, now I'm
supposed to make another appointment because he thinks he wants to start me on
some cholestoral drugs .. I'll be a pill popping maniac soon.
Managed to play a bit of vball sunday at the open gym, but the ankle
got sore (at least the right foot wasn't any worse) tonight it was
better at the vball class but its a good thing that the MRI is tomorrow
I'm hoping we can do something about it, maybe this january or so ...
Elena's chocolate class is going well, I put up more pictures of her
latest creation ... same page just at the bottom after the cakes
(http://www.notanerd.com/elena/baking)
for those of you late to the scene ;).
In any case the x-rays said no break, so I'm going to start PT next week,
in the mean time he told me that I could ice 3 times a day and start a regimen
of anti-inflammatories. Of course I talked him into "controlled" play ... so
I started with my advanced vball class .. boy was I exhausted, 4 weeks off
and limping makes me a pretty lame player now. Couple of nights later it
was better on the bball court.
Aside from the PT, while I was there I asked the podiatrist to x-ray both
of my ankles to check out the bone spurs and the pain I was getting during
and after play (mostly with the left ankle, whereas the foot problem was
on the right). He found lots of chips and spurs, but also a narrowed channel,
so next week is the MRI to see what kind of damage is really in there, and
whether or not non-invasive therapy will work. In the interim I also had
him cast me for another set of orthotics .. the old ones are probably
beat and were made when I was lots more active and way lighter.
Even thought its October, its still warm here (shorts weather *whee*)
but the NBA is just around the corner so my travels to Seattle will
be starting soon. Elena has been keeping herself busy with her baking
courses .. in fact I put some of her school projects up on
a page for her, until she gets a website of her own up. You can
take a look at her new
Baking Portfolio if you want. Now if I can just get the rest of those
pictures up....
Oh and if anyone noticed, our stock has been up for a bit, so I've been
cashing out on the way up to buy some toys. The shiny new things include
that new digital camera (a Canon S400) but if you've seen the newest pictures
you'll notice I'm still trying to figure out the flash. Also new is my Palm
Tungsten T3 .. high resolution color and smaller than my old Handspring which
Elena has now inherited.
We also attended an adoption clinic a few weeks ago ... to find a friend
for Gilbert :) we're hoping that a larger, quieter bird will keep him company
enough during the day so that he won't pick his feathers any more. There are
a few birds available but we're waiting on a cherry-headed conure since Gilbert
has had experience with that species before, and seems relatively ok with
the ones he's seen. It also helps that their native habitats overlap.
Gilbert seems to be doing better since we brought him home last weekend,
and we got the new hanging perch up, it doesn't take up too much room but
he seems to like it. I'll try and get a picture up next week or so.
Elena got an A+ on her final baking project, you can see the
pictures at the bottom of her baking page:
http://www.notanerd.com/elena/baking
Wow 2 updates in a week, might be a record. Anyway the PT was pretty
good, he thinks its soft tissue too so its now more stretching and
ultrasound along with the electro-stim.
So been kinda busy as always, actually kinda injured. Had to quit playing
any sports for awhile because of that foot injury. Ended up going to my
Dr for x-rays but his tech had just quit, so he sent me to a podiatrist ..
must be a pretty good guy cuz its also the same person my chiropractor
recommended .. and close to my home too.
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