I've been having this phantom leg pain for a few months now. Initially, I thought "Uh-oh. Is it even possible that the same stupid stress fracture is back?!?" So, of course, I did the smart thing: I ignored it and kept training through the discomfort. Yeah, my intelligence is a gift.
Flash forward a few weeks. Pain is now shooting down my leg. Well, that sucks. So, I go to see my super-awesome orthopaedic doctor. He thinks something is wrong in the joint but can't rule out a stress fracture so off I go to get another bone scan. Which comes back negative! Yay, me! But, dammit, doctor now says I should get an arthrogram and MRI to check the joint since he thinks there's cartilage damage in the joint -- more specifically a torn labrum -- that may need to be scoped out surgically. So, again, I do the smart thing: I ignore him and go get a gait analysis to see if maybe it's the way I'm running that's causing me pain. Seriously, I'm a friggin' genius!!
So Jim Miller spends all of his valuable time with me to tell me a couple things: 1 - my gait's not so bad -- actually, it's pretty good; and 2 - based on the pain I'm experiencing he thinks I have a torn labrum and need to go see my ortho right away. Dammit! They're in cahoots I just know it!!!
Flash forward a week and I've had the MRI and arthrogram done and I get a call from the ortho doctor. The diagnosis: damage to the cartilage and torn labrum. Crap. BUT, because my doctor is a rock star, and he knows I'm trying to get through Ironman USA he says we can try cortisone to hold back the pain until after IMUSA. Most likely, no further damage will be done between now and IMUSA so as long as the cortisone works, we should be good to go. I can get up to 3 injections before IMUSA but that's it since apparently too much of this stuff can cause more damage to the joint.
So, I still get to do IMUSA and once it's over, I'll have it scoped out, the pain will be gone and I'll be a new "me". You know I've learned something through this: I think doctors are flippin' AWESOME as long as they say what I want and I still get to do what I want. So, anyway, thank God for an answer!!! At least now I know what I'm dealing with. And, who knows? Maybe this is what's been stopping me from running like a Kenyan all this time! HA!
Of course, I'm not going to get the surgery until November so I can recover during the off season. I mean, if I can get through IM training with torn cartilage, I can surely last through the end of the season, right?
Yes, indeed, that surely seems like the smart thing to do. :)
