Well after not so patiently waiting, I finally got in to see my doctor. I saw him last week Thursday and he ordered an MRI. My problem was not presenting as sciatica, because that shoots pain down the leg. (I have pain shooting up from my butt into my lower back). So he guessed it was probably a disc bulge of some kind, which is what I assumed as well. It took me a week to get in for the MRI, which I had this past Wednesday and yesterday, Thursday, I saw my doctor for the results.
Before I got my results, though, I met with a physical therapist yesterday morning. I am always skeptical about physical therapy. I had it a lot as kid with all of my sports injuries. It usually resulted in me being the proud owner of an array of different colored therabands and not much else. But, as I am pretty desperate here, and my doctor recommended it as an option, I thought I'd give it a shot. Fortunately I really liked the place I chose (randomly from my insurance website) and really liked the therapist. After examining me, so did not think the symptoms were presenting as a disc problem. She was able to deduce that that I have a slight tilt in my sacrum...and her assumption/guess is that I tweaked it at some point and it just hadn't gotten itself back into place. So we did not exercises, etc. to work on that. (Knowing I would get my MRI results later that same day.) And, yes, she sent me home with some exercises and a theraband. Which I am proud to say I have already used! Nothing like a little motivation and a time crunch to get me to follow the rules.
The news from my doctor was good. There is a slight disc bulge but no more than is to be expected from anyone else my age. So while it's possible it's causing the pain, it's not particularly likely. My doctor is still not convinced of a diagnosis (he is a pain doctor, so he is less focused on specific or particular diagnosis - or having some precise "answer" or "cause" and more on pain management, which is why I am coupling with PT). He had the records from my PT and together we decided that I would get a pain injection in my SI joint. Not only might this reduce my pain (that has been debilitating and severe since the day it started, August 22) but it will also give us some answers. If it works, and the pain goes away (even if temporarily) we know it's an SI thing. So I got the injection. So far so good - it seems like it may have worked. You never know for a couple of days...it takes the medicine 2-4 days to start working, and you always have soreness from the injection for the first day or so afterwards. But I am walking without severe pain for the first time in three weeks. So I am happy and hopeful.
I may not be as fit and prepared as I would have preferred to be come time for JFK, but I am feeling more and more confident that I definitely will be there. (If, for any reason, I am unable to be I will pick a 50-miler in the Spring at which I will complete my challenge.) Who knows, maybe this was a fortuitously forced rest for some reason I'll never know.
Whatever the case, I feel like I might finally be on the other side of this thing and am feeling good and relieved. Still a lot I don't know, but finally getting some answers. And some relief! Hopefully I will be running again soon. In the meantime, I am owning the bike and pool. 10 weeks until the race!
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Training Mileage Summary
Week 1: 30
Week 2: 31
Week 3: 36
Week 4: 36
Week 5: 27
Week 6: 32
Week 7: 40
Week 8: 34
Week 9: 43
Week 10: 44
Week 11: 40
Week 12: 33
Week 13: 49
Week 14: 50
Week 15: 38
Week 16: 50
Week 17: 14, Injured, cross training
Week 18: Injured, cross training
Week 19: Injured, cross training
Week 20: Inured, cross training
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