My Right Foot

So like I’ve been saying - I’ve having problems with my right foot. Quick recap and update:

• I woke up a few weeks ago and couldn’t put pressure on my right foot (ball of foot pain). I was diagnosed with Metatarsalgia because of my Morton’s foot (second toe so much longer than the first) and because of wearing heels. Blah. There’s really no treatment but metatarsal pads help a lot – which is what he gave me on my first visit (along with anti-inflammatory meds). So I used the metatarsal pads and all was good.


• Two weeks later I went in for a check up (last Thursday). My Metatarsalgia was good, but my toe nails were coming off. One in particular was BAD. So he had to surgically remove it. PAIN. I was told that once the pain went down I could go back to the gym, wear closed-toe shoes, etc. My toe has been hurting BAD but Monday night when I got home from Andy’s birthday dinner, I noticed that the pain was less in my toe and more in my foot – weird!


• Yesterday I went to work and had a hard time walking. The ball of my foot hurt again – bad. So I called to get another metatarsal pad and got an appointment for 8:30 a.m. today.


• This morning I woke up to a major pain in my foot (not toe). Like it feels like someone is driving nails through the left side of my right foot (i.e. the area below my big toe on the front and back). Also – my foot was swollen and kind of purplish… I couldn’t walk on it AT ALL. I knew it wasn’t the Metatarsalgia because that goes away after one night of resting it. THIS, whatever it was, had gotten worse. So Austin had to carry me to the car and drive me to the doctor. The doctor confirmed that yes, it’s hugely swollen. And he looked at the toe and agreed – it looks great! Me and Austin have been doing a really good job keeping it cleaned up, changing the dressing, etc. He did X-rays and there was no sign of fracture or anything – they looked just as they had on my first visit (a few weeks ago). Based on the inflammation and location of the pain (big toe joint), he feels that I have an infection and mentioned Gouty tendonitis. BLAH. So he drew blood to test my uric acid levels (to tell if I have an infection) and gave me:
  A medical boot (total darth vader up to my knee) - that's mine in the pic!
  Crutches
  Cephalexin – antibiotic for bacterial infections
  Indomethacin – relives pain associated with tendonitis and gouty arthritis
  Pain killers

Right now I’ve taken all the pills and the boot and crutches are by my bed. I’m using the crutches to go the bathroom but other than that I’m here to stay (sweet Austin left me with lots of water and snacks and brought me breakfast so I’m good for a while). So far, it hurts less but it’s still pretty painful. Mostly I’m just REALLY concerned and don’t understand how/why this happened, and more importantly, how I can prevent it from happening again. I’m honestly hoping my blood test will come back with high uric acid so he’ll know it’s an infection and he can just treat me with a daily medication to reduce my uric acid levels and make me normal. I’m just so depressed about this and concerned and frustrated. Now we can’t go to the Auburn/LSU game and I’m worried about my Chicago trip…. BLAH.