Thursday, January 31, 2008

Plantar Fasciitis

Last Tuesday a.m. (chemotherapy day) I awoke with an intense pain in the bottom of my left foot that required me to use a cane to get dressed. About ten minutes before my cousin Phil (blessed be he) arrived to drive me to the hospital, it eased enough for me to lose the cane and get to the hospital just leaning on Phil. It got better as the day went on, we did the chemo, and then went out to dinner. After dinner, I stood up and the excruciating pain was back.

Long story short, today I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of a strip of tissue at the bottom of the foot. Some chemotherapy drugs cause the plantar fascia to tighten up during the night, and then when you take your first step in the morning, you injure it. So that's probably what happened to me. Treatment is to stay off it as much as possible, ice it, ibuprofen it, and do some exercises at home. If those don't work, PT. The handout from the foot doc says symptoms should stop "after several weeks." We'll see.

I never was fond of fasciists.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have plantar fascitis. It started years ago when I was running. Needless to say, I don't run anymore. How strange...I had a flare-up, my first in a long time, last Tuesday as well. I had walked a mile in winter boots the previous day and assumed the chafing aggravated the problem. My Wednesday physical therapy session for my knees was a total bust because I could barely walk. Sympathetic pain?

xox Stacey