Sunday, June 04, 2006

diagnosis/prognosis

i've been hobbling around for over a week now.

did i mention that i had been without health insurance? i never thought of being insurance-less a big problem; i'm rarely sick. it's only moments like this--when you accidentally debilitate yourself doing a triathlon--that you think it might be nice to have health insurance.

well, one of the perks of my new job is that i was to finally be granted health insurance, effective june 1st. though did appreciate all of the lay medical advice i received, i have to admit that i was looking forward to hearing what diagnosis an actual doctor would give me.

i called a doctor on my plan on may 31st for an appointment the following day.

he looked at my foot and said that it looked pretty bad, but that i seemed rather "stoic" about the pain. (that's because i'm tough, y'all). he wouldn't be able to diagnosis me without an x-ray. in the meantime, he told me that i shouldn't participate in any training.

the next day he informed me that my toe/foot was NOT broken! and that i could participate in sports "as tolerated."

here's the thing: i still can't really walk. i'm limping. how can i run? i swam yesterday, and it was fine. but the triathlon is in ONE WEEK. even if i wake up that morning and my toe is perfect, i won't have really trained for two weeks. can/should a person attempt a triathlon without having really trained during the two weeks before the race?

i have been training for two and a half months! has it really come down to this? *sigh*

@>-->>---

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You might want to check out this website: www.beginnertriathlete.com

There are forums and articles that address training and competing with injuries. I did one triathlon with a neuroma in my right foot that had flared up the week before. Needless to say, the run segment was pretty brutal, but I survived.

The best advice I ever got was to listen to your body and don't feel bad if sometimes you're not up for the actual race. The training itself was the hard part--and you already accomplished that! I hope your foot gets better soon!

Anonymous said...

What ever you decide, I'm ready to trip her so she loses!

Msabcmom said...

You know, I fell off a chair at school and didn't break my foot but it was so sore for weeks. I limped around school forever. It looked nasty too - all black, blue and green. I thought I would never get better, but I did.

The Dr. surprised me too by telling me to exercise as tolerated. I couldn't believe it because it hurt like the devil.

I know that you are excited about the triathalon but rboulotte is right, listen to your body. You have to do what is right in the long run. Besides, if things don't go as you like, you can always grumble and complain to us, your online homies. We will listen to all of your woes and send back positive thoughts your way. As for your "frenemy", I say trip her! (j/k) :-)

Joel said...

you've trained so long- I think you should at least give a shot.

Anonymous said...

There's no reason to injure yourself further, but the doctor's right ... if it's not broken, then you probably won't. How do you feel on the bike? If swimming and cycling are ok, then I'd go ahead and just take it real easy on the run/jog/walk.

Anonymous said...

Not all of them will include her frenemy however