Ordinary wear and tear

[muckefuck]

Mere hours before leaving town last Friday, I had my annual physical and got a couple of fun new diagnoses. The first is plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the heel brought on by lousy footwear. I've known for a while that my boots weren't giving me enough arch support despite a succession of fancy gel inserts, but shopping for new shoes is somewhere below a dental checkup in its appeal, so somehow this hasn't gotten done. Better move that up the ladder of priorities a couple rungs.

Continuing the fascitic theme, the occasional tingling in my thigh has been put down to meralgia superfascial, which seems to be a variant of a more chronic condition called meralgia paraesthetica. The culprit is a peripheral nerve with its nose out of joint. Fortunately, I have a mild case that only manifests itself sporadically as a curious sensitivity to touch and temperatures. Can't tell you how relieved I am to find that it's not the onset of shingles or something.

I've got some tests to come back for (including a sedimentation rate test, which I suppose will determine how soon I need to be drained and rinsed out in the manner of our hot water heaters) and some others to schedule elsewhere, notably a stress test to determine whether my minor chest pains are an innocent annoyance or a sign of something much more lucrative to specialists.

Comments

[mikiedoggie.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the plantar fascitis club! I've had it since early 2005. It sucks. Ice on the heel followed by rolling the painful area with a tennis ball is a good therapy. As is Advil, Advil, Advil.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Dad has it, too, as it turns out. When I was there, he gave me an instruction sheet with exercises designed to minimise the effects of PF (which, as an official member of the club, I am now empowered to call it). I'll let you know if they do any good.