Operation Bootsie

Yes, I know, I know.  Spare me the lectures, I realize it has been forever and a day since I last blogged.  Okay, well more like six months but life has been busy.  I can only promise to try and be better.

So, now that I have that out of the way, I think the first order of business for catch up would be Operation Bootsie.  Yes, I have name the boot.  In the picture below, she was so pretty, so new, so shiny.  Today, not so much.  Bootsie and I have been close friends for exactly 11 weeks and 5 days.  That is exactly 1,968 hours of my summer fun that have been lost to her. 

So, my introduction to Bootsie seemed harmless.  The story actually begins sometime in April.  I noticed that in the morning, it hurt to walk.  It felt like things in my heel were really tight and were going to split in two.  But, during the day, things didn't hurt and well, who are we kidding, I sure wasn't giving up soccer, softball two nights a week and my runs three times a week or walking the dogs.  So, I just lived with it.  Well then May came and so came a week of rain and then a week of vacation.  All of that translated to rest for the foot and no workouts.  You would think things would be better?  Not so much.  Things actually felt worse that day NoDIY and I were scrambling through the airport and I was in flip flops on our way back to Austin.  So, I opted for tennis shoes the next day when I went back to work and the pain was there all day.  Doctor's appointment here we come.

So, May 18th marked the beginning of my relationship with Bootsie.  The X-ray showed that I had a partial Achilles tendon tear at some point that resulted in a heal spur.  They also felt that I had a new partial  Achilles tendon tear that was rubbing on the spur.  So, conservative treatment was the route they went.  For the next five weeks I had the privilege of living life in Bootsie and just relaxing.

Well, after that wonder five weeks, there was no real change so Bootsie and I went into Phase II of conservative treatment.  That consisted of four more weeks of Bootsie, physical therapy twice a week, high doses of oral steroids, topical steroids and an insert heel lift in the boot. Let's just say that as long as no physical therapy treatment involved weight bearing activities, the heel was happy.  Insert I can ride a bike with no issue but if you asked me to stand and do stretches, things were pretty sore the next day.  Then there was the weekend when the Therapist suggested that I do heel lifts in chest high water in the pool.  3 sets of 10 seemed easy enough.  Thankfully the next day was a Sunday because my heel hurt so bad in the boot, let alone out of it, that I spent most of the day in the recliner.  Needless to say, things were not getting better.

So, back to the doctor I went.  It was a lovely 10 minute discussion how the next step was to schedule me to come back for an MRI.  And to think that only cost me $140 for the doctor to tell me that.  So, that was Monday and Wednesday I had the MRI.  On Friday, July 27 things officially became Operation Bootsie.

The good news is that there is no tear in the Achilles Tendon that would require repair and a long, long recovery.  That said, there is a slew of other problems.  I do have a heel spur that they will remove and they are confident that they can do it without having to cut the Achilles Tendon or severing it, all of which change recovery time.  I also have Achilles Bursitis which you can read more by clicking here.  Some how they can fix that when they are in there.  I also have, while small, Haglund's Deformity which they also will repair.  You can click here to learn more on that.  All of these work together to make my life miserable which in flats and when I am out of the boot. 

While I have enjoyed Bootsie, there is some end in sight for our relationship.  I have surgery scheduled on August 23rd.  If things go as they expect, I will go home that day in my walking boot and will have just 4 to 6 more weeks left in Bootsie.  The downside is that since it is my right foot, there will be no driving for me for at least two weeks.  Needless to say, I will have cabin fever and NoDIY might be done with me.  :)

And there you have it, Operation Bootsie.