Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Side gigs part 8, or...
I fought the wall, and the wall won.
I'm loathe to say it, but I have to blame the New Balance sneakers. They're designed to correct your step, but my legs weren't amenable to the adjustment. You have to wear NB sneakers while at work, and aside from a scheduled break, you never really stop moving. This was great for getting steps, active minutes, and workouts, all recorded by the FitBit placed in my sock, but the shoes, my new way of walking, and all the extra hours spent working, from driving for Lyft over the summer, to registration, to Horseman's Hollow, to running around in circles while trying to sell sneakers throughout December, finally caught up with me, and my body just gave out. Of course, I didn't know this until later.
I was still hoping that a few days of rest would be enough. However, the pain that started in my lower leg wasn't going away, and I knew this was more than a simple strained calf. I found myself at Urgent Care in White Plains, wondering whether or not I had a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and if I did, then I was grounded for the holiday, unable to fly down to visit Carolyn and her family for Christmas, since flying with a DVT can cause the clot to travel, resulting in a pulmonary embolism or a stroke. I didn't need my EMT training to know this; I thought I had this problem before, and researched the risks. After a few tests, I found out that did not have a clot, but the doctor didn't quite know what was wrong with my leg either.
I was relieved that I could fly, but whatever was wrong with my leg was actually getting worse, even as I tried to stay off my feet. Keeping of my feet is a relative term. I used to be quite sedentary, and was nearly 400 pounds, so taking it easy might mean taking 7,000 steps instead of 11,000 and 30 active minutes instead of 75 or so. It became apparent that I was still using my leg too much, as the pain wasn't lessening, but spreading. What started in my calf eventually went from the top of my hip to the bottom of my foot directly above my heel, and the 993's I was wearing have a small ridge in the sole to help plantar fasciitis, right where the pain in the bottom of my foot was located. My leg was swollen to the point I had trouble putting on pants; I could barely walk, and my my knee wouldn't bend more than a inch or so, causing a pronounced limp.
The problem reached its peak on Christmas Day, when Carolyn finally saw how swollen my leg was, and she understood why I was having so much trouble walking. I couldn't manage more than a mile or so as we tried to walk around the neighborhood, and settled on driving around instead, so I could see the area. As we drove, I used my phone to make an appointment with my orthopedist, who keeps me upright and mobile. He's already done my two knee operations, as well as carpal tunnel surgery, so I knew he'd be able to get me moving again. This didn't help me on Christmas Day, of course. I finally planted myself in a chair, and walked only when needed.
We left the next day , and although I flew down, we drove home, meaning I was forced to stay still for most of another day, though sitting with my knee bent was a little uncomfortable. Regardless, with true rest forced upon me, my leg started to improve. Just as the pain had spread up and down my leg, it faded in a similar fashion. First my underside of my foot and hip felt better, then my upper thigh and ankle, then my calf and lower thigh, then only the knee hurt, and even that improved, though the pain didn't disappear completely.
Once I was home, I was able to tackle the problem more substantively, starting with my orthopedist. The trip to the doctor was fruitful, and even had a kernel of good news. An MRI was not going to happen, but I did get x-rays on both legs, and both the doctor and I were happy to see the gap between the bones in my knees and hips showed that despite my age, various jobs, and weight, I had plenty of cartilage in all my joints. On the other hand, my right knee was still very swollen, and needed to be drained. With that, the doctor inserted a needle in my quad muscle, found the synovial gap, and stated taking out fluid. The the color of the liquid was straw, which is normal and therefore a positive indicator, though cloudy, which indicated that the knee was inflamed, though not severely. What was surprising was how much came out. The first chamber filled completely, and more was coming. Another chamber was attached, and that was half-filled before my knee went to normal size. When your doctor is expressing surprise at how much he took out, you know just how bad you hurt yourself. After this procedure, the pain in my knee was gone, and the doctor and I discussed what probably happened: severe over use of my knee, which might have caused a small tear in the cartilage, which may or may not require surgery. As I'm typing this in April and my knee feels fine, we can safely assume the former, but only an MRI would confirm the diagnosis.
That I (hopefully) don't need surgery is a good thing, but I found out that hard way that my physical limits had diminished in a way I could not have predicted. Some of this can be blamed on my weight, since I still need to lose another 75 pounds. It would be easy to say that I could have avoided some of this by better managing all the extra work I was doing, and I'm sure that's true. Still, merely acknowledging that I shouldn't be pushing myself so hard ignores the larger issue: should I have done any of this in the first place?
I'm loathe to say it, but I have to blame the New Balance sneakers. They're designed to correct your step, but my legs weren't amenable to the adjustment. You have to wear NB sneakers while at work, and aside from a scheduled break, you never really stop moving. This was great for getting steps, active minutes, and workouts, all recorded by the FitBit placed in my sock, but the shoes, my new way of walking, and all the extra hours spent working, from driving for Lyft over the summer, to registration, to Horseman's Hollow, to running around in circles while trying to sell sneakers throughout December, finally caught up with me, and my body just gave out. Of course, I didn't know this until later.
I was still hoping that a few days of rest would be enough. However, the pain that started in my lower leg wasn't going away, and I knew this was more than a simple strained calf. I found myself at Urgent Care in White Plains, wondering whether or not I had a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and if I did, then I was grounded for the holiday, unable to fly down to visit Carolyn and her family for Christmas, since flying with a DVT can cause the clot to travel, resulting in a pulmonary embolism or a stroke. I didn't need my EMT training to know this; I thought I had this problem before, and researched the risks. After a few tests, I found out that did not have a clot, but the doctor didn't quite know what was wrong with my leg either.
I was relieved that I could fly, but whatever was wrong with my leg was actually getting worse, even as I tried to stay off my feet. Keeping of my feet is a relative term. I used to be quite sedentary, and was nearly 400 pounds, so taking it easy might mean taking 7,000 steps instead of 11,000 and 30 active minutes instead of 75 or so. It became apparent that I was still using my leg too much, as the pain wasn't lessening, but spreading. What started in my calf eventually went from the top of my hip to the bottom of my foot directly above my heel, and the 993's I was wearing have a small ridge in the sole to help plantar fasciitis, right where the pain in the bottom of my foot was located. My leg was swollen to the point I had trouble putting on pants; I could barely walk, and my my knee wouldn't bend more than a inch or so, causing a pronounced limp.
The problem reached its peak on Christmas Day, when Carolyn finally saw how swollen my leg was, and she understood why I was having so much trouble walking. I couldn't manage more than a mile or so as we tried to walk around the neighborhood, and settled on driving around instead, so I could see the area. As we drove, I used my phone to make an appointment with my orthopedist, who keeps me upright and mobile. He's already done my two knee operations, as well as carpal tunnel surgery, so I knew he'd be able to get me moving again. This didn't help me on Christmas Day, of course. I finally planted myself in a chair, and walked only when needed.
We left the next day , and although I flew down, we drove home, meaning I was forced to stay still for most of another day, though sitting with my knee bent was a little uncomfortable. Regardless, with true rest forced upon me, my leg started to improve. Just as the pain had spread up and down my leg, it faded in a similar fashion. First my underside of my foot and hip felt better, then my upper thigh and ankle, then my calf and lower thigh, then only the knee hurt, and even that improved, though the pain didn't disappear completely.
Once I was home, I was able to tackle the problem more substantively, starting with my orthopedist. The trip to the doctor was fruitful, and even had a kernel of good news. An MRI was not going to happen, but I did get x-rays on both legs, and both the doctor and I were happy to see the gap between the bones in my knees and hips showed that despite my age, various jobs, and weight, I had plenty of cartilage in all my joints. On the other hand, my right knee was still very swollen, and needed to be drained. With that, the doctor inserted a needle in my quad muscle, found the synovial gap, and stated taking out fluid. The the color of the liquid was straw, which is normal and therefore a positive indicator, though cloudy, which indicated that the knee was inflamed, though not severely. What was surprising was how much came out. The first chamber filled completely, and more was coming. Another chamber was attached, and that was half-filled before my knee went to normal size. When your doctor is expressing surprise at how much he took out, you know just how bad you hurt yourself. After this procedure, the pain in my knee was gone, and the doctor and I discussed what probably happened: severe over use of my knee, which might have caused a small tear in the cartilage, which may or may not require surgery. As I'm typing this in April and my knee feels fine, we can safely assume the former, but only an MRI would confirm the diagnosis.
That I (hopefully) don't need surgery is a good thing, but I found out that hard way that my physical limits had diminished in a way I could not have predicted. Some of this can be blamed on my weight, since I still need to lose another 75 pounds. It would be easy to say that I could have avoided some of this by better managing all the extra work I was doing, and I'm sure that's true. Still, merely acknowledging that I shouldn't be pushing myself so hard ignores the larger issue: should I have done any of this in the first place?
