The first week in June we were down at the beach on vacation. While on vacation my foot started hurting. When the pain first started it wasn’t too bad. I thought maybe the pain was caused by us walking around too much. Hey, it’s vacation and we are always out running around and doing a lot more walking than what I typically do in a normal day.
To help with the pain I started elevating it and placing an ice pack on my foot during the night. I also took 2 Tylenol and went to bed. I suffered like that for 4 more days until I couldn’t take the pain any more. It had gotten to the point that the pain was 24/7 and so bad that I couldn’t put any weight on the foot. It also started swelling and looking very discolored.
I went to the orthopedic clinic and they immediately took x-rays. They didn’t see anything on the films but clearly saw a painful and swollen foot. Next up…an MRI 3 days later. The MRI clearly found the heel fracture. They call it a “stress fracture of the heel”. I was immediately told that I had to wear a full length compression sock and they put me into an air cast to help keep the weight off of my foot.
Over the next 8 weeks I’ve had several X-rays on the foot. They’ve been watching it because I’m a very slow healer. I have a metabolic genetic disease and one of the symptoms of that disease is slow healing. Last week I went in to see the orthopedic surgeon and FINALLY they’re starting to see the fracture filling in. In other words, they can see some calcification occuring. I’m to still wear the air cast boot for another 6 weeks until he sees me again.
So, that’s where we are in this process. Hopefully the fracture will continue to fuse together and I can avoid another surgery.
Point of my story and why I’m sharing. If you have bone and/or joint pain and a regular x-ray shows nothing…make sure you INSIST on getting an MRI. My heel fracture wasn’t detected with 3 normal x-rays. It took the MRI to see it. You need to be your own BEST Advocate. You know your body and if you’re having pain or some type of problem…keep pushing those doctors to find the answer!!!
