Easy run on the treadmill. No change with the leg, and nothing special to report about the run. This is probably a good place to talk about the leg issue...
I went in to the doctor at the recommendation of the PT. She wasn't able to find any reason for the sensations in my leg that she could do anything about, so She suggested I see an othopedist who deals with sports. Unfortunately, the guy she recommended is out until April 16th, so I had to track down a doctor, any doctor, even an OB/GYN, as it turned out, who could get me a referral to someone who could diagnose my problem.
The hunt for a doctor took the better part of the day, but finally I was able to see a GP/baby doctor in the late afternoon. He checked me out, quite obviously didn't listen to my symptoms, and told me to stop running for 7-10 days. Before he could make his way out the door, I did my annoying patient thing and pulled out a couple of research papers about Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) and Popliteal Arterial Entrapment Syndrome (PAES), explained my symptoms for a second time, pointing out how well the symptoms matched up, and asked for a color doppler ultrasound to rule out both.
Following a slightly stunned, and what I would classify as a mildly painful expression, he asked, "Can I have these?" in reference to the articles, and excused himself to speak with his nurse. Two minutes later, he came back and told me a radiologist would see me right away for an ultrasound.
So, I got that done by a technician with 22 years of experience, and she found no evidence of DVT, but she hedged a bit when I asked about arterial entrapment. I didn't know it at the time, but the ultrasound was specifically to rule out DVT, and there was just a cursory effort to locate any arterial flow problems. Additionally, the tech isn't legally permitted to 'diagnose' or provide the patient any detail on the findings due to liability concerns. Good ol' USA! SUE EVERYONE! Even if they're trying to be helpful.
In the end, I got half the test I wanted, and I only got that because the doc didn't want to get sued when I collapsed and died in the street from a pulmonary embolism from a DVT that he completely missed.
I haven't noticed any improvement in my symptoms. My leg still feels like it fell asleep and is just waking up again--like the feeling you get just after the pins and needles go away, as if the blood flow is not quite back to 100%. It's not affected by the running at all, which is fine, but of course it leaves some lingering doubt about if I will still be running in a week, two weeks, six weeks, etc. Many of the reasons for impaired arterial circulation are mechanical in nature, and require a mechanical solution (i.e. surgery). Lucky for me, I am a Googling idiot, not a doctor, so the self-diagnosis I make is generally an order of magnitude worse than what I actually have. This increased negative expectation makes it all the better when the actual diagnosis comes back and ends up being much easier to resolve than what I came up with.
Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury
2 comments:
Crikey. Well, whatever it is, be thankful they ruled out DVT.
It's all my fault. I shouldn't have told you not to get injured. That was bound to jinx it.
I'm sorry.
No worries, mate. I deserve a few injury jokes after last year's marathon attempt!
I did a lot of smarter things this time around, but I couldn't have seen this coming. Maybe God doesn't want me to run a marathon? Maybe He wants me to run a marathon on a carbon fiber leg? You just never know...
Congratulations on Connemara! Nicely done.
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