It started out as a slight pain, completely ignorable and not worth wasting money on a doctor’s visit. What I didn’t know is that waiting the length of time I did would cost me more in movement and money.
About two years ago I was having some slight aching in my right foot. I immediately attributed this to my stylish but slightly uncomfortable boots that I wore often. The pain came and went over the next few months but because I was stubborn and didn’t stop wearing my 3-inch heeled shoes I believed it was still the price I paid for beauty. I was wrong.
When I started getting a more severe pain on the right side of my right foot I thought I should go to the doctor. However scheduling it through a workday was a nightmare so it took a few weeks and by this time I was having a piercing pain in my big toe. I made it to the doctor and after some tests they realized I had Gout. Gout being a off branch of arthritis and not something you usually find in young women. They gave me medication and told me to drink scads of Cranberry Juice, this seemed to help the pain in my toes and I was so relieved I thought nothing of the slight pain I had on the side of my foot still.
Months went by and my left foot started to hurt just like my right. Nothing had happened to cause it. I am not a large sports person nor had a kicked a door in anger it just hurt. By this time my shoes had become more sensible but not completely. I talked to family and they thought that my left foot was hurting because I had been pampering my right and walking heavier on my left. This sounded reasonable so I didn’t take the time to go to a doctor. Again the pain in both feet fluctuated so it wasn’t constant so I would forget it for a few days and than it would come on with a flourish. It started to get severe enough to go to the doctor but by this time I was getting ready to move out of state and so I had no time or extra funds I thought I would be able to find a job right away in the new state I was moving to so I decided I would wait till then.
After moving it took me three months and all my savings to find a job which had no insurance. By this time both of my feet were a mess and constantly hurting. By the time I found a job with insurance it had been 2 years since my first pain in my right foot. The doctor I went to refused to even guess and sent me to a podiatrist.
At the Podiatry Office they took an x-ray of both of my feet and sat me down to wait for the doctor. His first words coming into the office to see me was “You must be a tough cookie, since you broke both your feet.” I was shocked, I had never broken anything in my life but I always thought there had to be a sudden incident that would cause a break. However my Podiatrist stated that the break was first caused by a Jones Fracture which is really just a good name for a Stress Fracture. The stress fracture is slow going and may not hurt right away. Stress fractures are not usually caused by a certain incident either just too much weight or for me the Gout that I did having making my bones weaker.
The fracture in my right foot left untreated had eventually caused a piece of bone to break off which was than pinching muscles and nerves on the side of my foot. He also stated the reason why my left foot repeated what my right foot had done is because of babying my right foot and the Gout issues. So now both of my feet are almost impossible to walk on, and I have to have surgery on both to correct the damage I did over 2 years. They will have to open up the side of my foot remove the floating bone and than screw the bones that are broken back together since they never healed. I cannot have both done at once I will have to due my right foot and than six months later my left.
Ultimately this teaches me that no matter how miniscule the pain or how wimpy it will make you appear go to a doctor! Stress fractures happen a lot, especially to women that have low calcium, gout concerns, and women with low hormones. The Jones fracture is a crack in the fifth metatarsal, or the farthest bone on the far right side of your right foot or the far left side of your left. They may not hurt a lot to begin with but they can increase to something very severe if left untreated. Also something that could have been avoided altogether.
