This boot ain't made for walking...

So, it hasn't exactly been the best few weeks for me...

First, as I mentioned in my last post, I hurt my back. It's been a pain, but I've dealt with it.

Then, late last week (Thursday), my lower right leg and foot begin to hurt. I'm thinking "Great, now what?" Well, Friday morning I awake to a nicely swollen foot with extreme pain in movement, let alone walking on it. So, that was great.

I decide to wrap it up with some Icy Hot, keep it elevated, and see how it was the next morning. Well, the next day being Saturday, the beginning of the college football season, I had planned on heading over to the folks place to catch the Gators playing Western Kentucky. At this point, the foot had eased off enough to where I could seemingly loosen it up by walking around a little, so I'm thinking it's just a sprain or strain or something. Anyway, I make it over to my folks place, and catch the game (49-3, thank you), and head back home.

I take it easy the rest of the day, wrap the foot up again and wait for Sunday. Boy, did Sunday take it's seemingly weekly vengeance on me. The foot was so swollen and red I thought I had broken it. At this point, I decide to give my old immobilization boot and crutches a try (I took them from my dad a couple years ago when I broke both my ankles). My mom brings 'em over, and I start using them.

At this point, I have not signed on with the idea of going to get the foot actually checked out. Call it stupidity, call it anxiety over what the problem was, call it whatever you want...my folks were on me to go, but I just wasn't interested.

Monday comes, with absolutely no improvement. Even moving the foot in the boot while walking on crutches is excruciating. It's at this time that I decide I will need to cancel my trip to Florida...an upsetting decision, to say the least. I was looking so forward to this trip, that I'm just depressed thinking about it.

Anyway, Tuesday comes, no improvement. Wednesday comes, no improvement. Now, I'm inclined to agree with my folks that I need to get this checked out. So, my mom is kind enough to drive me up to the Urgent Care Center near my apartment. I'd been there before when I was super sick a few months back (check the blog).

So I get in the examination room, and the doc proceeds to press down on various parts of my ankle and foot. Some feel fine, some make me wanna punch her in the face. So, the decision is made to head over to Fair Oaks Hospital to check for:

1. A blood clot...this I do not want.
2. An infection...this I would like, because medicine would knock it out.
3. Uric acid level, as I have a history of gout. Never in this area though.

So, we hit Fair Oaks, do the tests (surprisingly fast, I might add) and head back to the Urgent Care. By the time we get back, the doc has my results, and says that there is no clot (hooray), there looks to be some kind of infection (boo) AND a high uric acid level, so it's probably gout too. So great, I hit the daily double it seems.

The doc gives me some meds for pain that I had never taken before...hydrocodone. I remember back in the day my dad taking this for something, and it kinda messed him up. Well, I'm my dad's son, because it messed me up as well...mood swings just by myself, talking to myself, slamming things around. Not the best way to be behaving, really, and completely unlike how I normally act.

I had wanted to head back to work today, as I have a couple things I want to get done. Well, I figure that I should probably use my "get out of jail" card that the doctor gave me, saying not to go back to work until Monday. Hopefully, that gives this...whatever it is time to heal and go the hell away. I'd like to be able to walk again, thank you very much.