Other foot update
So this other foot thing (see prev post) has been a crazier deal than my rather straightforward ATR. The third radiologist that I spoke with (after getting plain films that showed no foreign body) agreed that there was metal artifact on my MRI, but that my real diagnosis was a tear of my third plantar plate. An internet search yielded a lot of info about 2nd plantar plate tears and some pics of how to tape the toe - which I started doing. I was stunned by how much better my foot felt after playing frisbee with such a simple intervention. I did go see a podiatrist (hoping that he’d suggest things other than surgery) who said that my exam was more consistent with a neuroma than a plantar plate tear. I felt like I was caught on a diagnostic merry-go-round. His assistant did a fancier job of taping my toe/foot, he gave me some Celebrex and told me to put metatarsal pads in my shoes.
So where am I today? Back to running around, chasing a white, circular piece of plastic as often as I can. Last PM, it was in the 50s here and I had a great game of ultimate under the lights. Afterwards, I had no pain in my foot (and my ATR leg is doing just fine, BTW). To me, this foot thing reinforces what all the non-op ATR people already know: our bodies, when treated with a reasonable amount of respect, have tremendous healing abilities.
As an aside, I’ve started worrying more about the possibility of rupturing my other (right) side - so much so that I’ve started driving with my left foot so that I’ll be well practiced in case I can’t use my right!
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It’ll be great if a simple mechanical solution solves your problem!
As far as the other AT goes, I think you’ll suffer much more from worrying about it than from actually rupturing it! If you want to trade in ultimate on water polo, be my guest, but short of that, worrying is futile.
Driving with your left foot?????????????? You’re just yanking our chain, right?
To paraphrase a very old joke: If you’re going to drive with your left foot, I’m not going to stand in your way!
(The original was more like “Son, if you want to grow up to drive a tank. . .”)
Norm- I’m an anesthesiologist - thus, I am a professional worry wart. My working life is spent thinking about what could go wrong and what I could/would do about it. So,
Gerry- yes, I am driving w/my left foot. At first it was a bit awkward, but it didn’t take long for me to feel completely safe.
See, before I realized that I could drive w/my left foot, the following scenario played in my mind: rupture R AT -> can’t drive -> can’t work -> no income. Now, I can play ultimate with abandon knowing that if I do rupture, I’ll order a Vacocast, pull up Norm’s protocol and be on my merry way!
Re driving with left foot - I strongly recommend you check your insurance and driving regs. In NZ I could drive as I had injured my left foot - if it had been other way round it would have been illegal - therefore would have invalidated the car insurance.
I’m sure you are a more than competent driver (with either foot) but there are idiots out there who aren’t - esp at this time of year.
This is the most recent thing I could find: http://forums.officer.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-122626.html
My reasoning is that by being comfortable w/driving w/either foot when I am healthy, I’ll be OK w/either foot if injured.
I do recommend you check with your (car) insurance company and/or the official authority for your state/country (ideally get the name of the person you speak to)…coz if you are involved in an accident the insurance company could very well refuse to pay out if it is illegal. Though I am taking a conservative approach coz I used to work for an insurance company
I’d always check with the insurance otherwise you may find your paying for expensive insurance for nothing. I rang mine before I started dtriving post AT.