The One with the End

Sixth and final doctor's appointment (in three weeks!): done. Let's count them, shall we?

1. Initial appointment with my OS about my knee.
2. MRI for my knee.
3. Follow-up appointment about my knee. Revealed a strain, and received a suggestion to see my regular doctor to figure out why my foot keeps going numb while I walk/run/workout.
4. Appointment with my doc. He orders more tests, mostly to rule out MS...since my family medical history states my sis has it, it always throws up red flags.
5. MRI for my brain. Follow-up call the next day reveals that everything is perfectly fine with it.

My husband is quick to disagree. He got my cold feet on his back in the middle of the night for that.

The sixth appointment was today a physical medicine doc.

It. Was. Not. Fun.

First of all, there's nothing like standing pantsless in front of a man while he marks all over your leg and foot, then hooks you up to electrode pads that have a lot of little wires coming out of them.

Then the electricity starts. Apparently a necessity for a nerve conduction study.

And it hurts. I now feel kind of bad for making my sister stick her tongue on batteries and telling her it was ok to put scissors in the light socket when we were little.

The result is that my nerve conduction is perfect. No chance of MS, so I was glad that was ruled out. Kind of feel bad that my sister has to go through a lot of those tests. Like, all the time.

However, the doc was concerned about how my tendons were reacting to the electric shocks. As in, they weren't performing.

Meaning I have a bad case of tendinitis and shin splints that he thinks has been building for the past year or so...which is why my back felt like it snapped last weekend. The study concluded that I've been overcompensating for the knee pain, which is why other parts of my body are reacting so adversely. I've been so worried about not hurting my knee, I'm not staying aligned properly while I run and work out.

He said that taking a week off might make the pain go away, but it won't make the problem go away. And if I don't do something about it, I'll have to deal with arthritis earlier than I'd like to.

Fan-freakin'-tastic.

The verdict: no running, no Insanity, no power-walking for exercise for four to six months. MONTHS. The only things I can do is swim, bike or use a stairclimber. Ugh. I was just proud of myself for holding my tears until I called Matt.

So I'm just so discouraged. I'm one of those people that love to exercise - it makes me feel like I've accomplished something and I just feel better about myself when I break a sweat. I feel healthy. Complete. And Matt and I were having so much fun doing Insanity together.

I know I need to heal, but I don't have to be happy about it. Ok, ok...I'll be happy and grateful I don't need surgery. Happy...tomorrow.

At least I got to leave work early because of all the sleet and snow. That's positive, right?

Now back to a freakishly graphic book for microbiology called "The Hot Zone," about the Washington D.C. Ebola outbreak in the 80's.

Talk about uplifting and positive.