O happy day!

I went to the doctor with dread and trepidation, sure she was going to tell me it was a stress fracture. When she walked in, she said, "I have some great news for you!". Whew. She told me it was not a stress fracture, and that I had sesamoiditis. Because I really want to do the Portland Marathon, treatment for me will consist of: 1) ice & anti-inflammatories to reduce pain & swelling, as I've been doing, 2) a cortisone injection (slated for tomorrow morning, with a fluoroscope to guide the injection into the correct location) to reduce pain & inflammation, 3) custom orthotics to help redistribute the pressure & allow for healing even through some more training, 4) lidocaine-containing patches to control pain during the long racewalks & the race. Dr. Powell was very happy to have discovered the source of my pain, and quite optimistic that these measures will do the trick - she's had a patient w/sesamoiditis do the Boston Marathon, so hopefully it will work for me, too.

The photos are my MRI, with the affected areas circled. The white areas are the inflamed/injured areas that should look more gray if things were normal. In the first photo you see my sesamoid bones (the small circles), which are bipartite (a normal variant), and they are fairly white-looking. The other photo shows the inflamed tissue nearby.

This has been quite a year: IT band syndrome, piriformis syndrome, and sesamoiditis. Yikes. I still love racewalking though :) and can't wait to get out there again. Dr. Powell said probably 2-3 days after the injection I will be good to go, though she has had patients feel better that very day. We'll see.