Starting the year with a change

Hey everyone!  How did your January go?  Any resolution makers and breakers out there?

I always broke them faster than I could write them down, so I stopped.  I found goals were much easier to maintain.  It may just be a word change, but it really helps me.

If you've been keeping up, you know that for 2016 my exercise goals and competition were ramped up a little.  We added a core component in hopes of keeping things new and fun....and to help with some body areas that needed some work.

Things changed.

Even after redoing my living room floor, I hadn't reached the goal before my friend did.  In fact, she reached it around the 9th.  That was the earliest either of us ever reached the goal.  It almost seemed too soon.  Her husband stated that since we've been doing this for a year already, dialing all the way back to a 40 mile goal was probably doing us an injustice.  He suggested that we add 10 miles to each month's goal.  It made sense to us... so we did.  A few days later, she officially won.

Here is how my month turned out:

January (goal of 50 miles):

Miles walked: 35.54

Minutes exercised: 1,275 = 42.50

Water intake: 30/31 days = 7.25

Core completed: 9/31 days = -2.60

TOTAL: 82.69 miles

 

Yes, you see that right.  I had negative miles for core.  Core hurts.

 

Remember way back when I was dealing with pain in my sacroiliac joint?  Well.. it still likes to rear it's ugly ugly head.  The physical therapy I did at the time did help, but not perfectly heal.  Some regular day to day activities can have me breathing like I'm having labor pains and looking for a a chair as fast as possible.  Those activities include doing dishes, grocery shopping, and laundry.  Certain exercises I do are supposed to help, and they do, but in the process they hurt.  That includes planks.  Tightening and strengthening my core will help the most (partially why we added the core component this year).  This is why I had more core fail days more than I successes. 

 

I realized that this wasn't working out well, so I went back to the orthopedic.  I also bit the bullet and took a cortisone shot.  The blood sugar highs were insane, but with some careful calculations and temp basals, I was able to not soar above 350 for very long, and got them back into normal (for me) range in just a couple days.  The shot did seem to wear off after 2 weeks, but the more I walk the better it feels.  It may just be the gorgeous sun and beautiful weather we've had, but I bet the cortisone did it's job.  I will probably need one more shot before I'm back to physical normalcy.  In the meantime, this month I've been completely the core exercises more than I've not been completely them and I consider that a win!

 

 

 

Not a first I wanted

Last month I blogged about a pain in the heel I had been dealing with.  I thought it was plantar fasciitis setting in again.  That was something that I had dealt with before and knew what to expect.  I didn't like it, but at least I knew I would heal.

However, it is not plantar fasciitis. 

My first appointment with my foot doctor he injected a numbing solution as a diagnostic.  If my random sharp stabbing pains and constant tenderness eased, then it would confirm his suspicion. 

It did.. and didn't.  The stabbing pains stopped, but the tenderness didn't.  It also felt REALLY WEIRD to be walking around with a completely numb stripe across the bottom of your heel. 

One week later, I went back to Dr. Foot and his suspicion was confirmed.  I have "Medial Calcaneal Nerve Entrapment".  So we tried the next step.  A small solution of cortisone.  He assured me that the entire injection was only about 30% cortisone (it was about 1ml worth in the entire injection) and to watch my blood sugars, but he hoped that with the smaller concentration that I wouldn't stay in the 200's for very long

Now, I don't like cortisone.  Even before I was diagnosed with diabetes, I didn't like cortisone.  Years ago I received an injection in my hip to help with my bursitis.  It wore off in two days.  Since then I have never really needed any more, but if it was every mentioned (like with my pain in my lower back ) I would request other options.  I knew that cortisone will raise blood sugars, but I never knew how bad it would effect me.

Holy cow!!!  The next day my blood sugars were in need of an oxygen mask they were so high.  I increased my basal by 50% (hindsight tells me I should have done more) and was adding a few units to each meal, as well as eating less.  I still ran in the upper 300's to low 400's.  I was miserable.  Thankfully, the cortisone did exactly what it did the previous time I had it.  It wore off in two days.  I can almost tell you the exact hour because of what my blood sugars did.  I had finally been able to get them in the 200's and then all of a sudden, the next thing I knew my CGM was yelling at me that I was low.  I checked with my meter, and yup... 49.  I ate (read: inhaled) food and sat and waited.  While waiting, I had a sharp stabbing pain in my heel.  The tenderness, which had never really gone away, was a lot more noticeable too.  Have you ever been running barefoot and hit a rock with your heel?  The tenderness you have in your heel for the next couple days is what mine felt like.

It's been two weeks since that injection.  I still get the random stabbing, but they have decreased to maybe 2-3 a day instead of 5-6 and they are much less intense.  The tenderness is still there but not quite as pronounced.  I visited with Dr. Foot yesterday and we decided to watch it and see if it continues to improve.  I really don't want to have foot surgery (again) but know that if I don't see marked improvement I will have to.  The longer I wait, the more likely the nerve could "give up" (Dr. Foot's words), stop working, and die.  I don't want a dead nerve anywhere, especially in my feet.  I asked him what I did to have caused this.  Was it because I was walking more?  Could a pair of shoes be irritating it?  Maybe there is a voodoo doll somewhere and a small child is chewing on its foot. 

He smiled at me, that crooked smile that says so much more than any words ever spoken, and said, "In people with diabetes the nerves can build up sugar alcohols, like sorbitol, and become swollen."  I held it together and listened closely.  I asked if there was anything I could do to assist the swelling in going down.  I knew ice wouldn't do it as it wasn't "normal" swelling.  To boil it down, there really isn't anything I can DO to make it better faster, or at all.  The fact that it isn't as painful now as it was two weeks ago is GREAT news and shows that healing is taking place.  We wait and we watch. 

In the next little while, about a month at the most, if I don't see any more improvement, or if it worsens again, then we will discuss the surgical option.  It's a simple and highly successful procedure.  Just a couple little cuts that give that nerve more room to maneuver.  I don't like the idea of surgery, but I don't like the idea of a dead nerve even more.