Back in May, while traveling home from Washington DC, a piece of luggage fell on my foot. It was about 30 lbs and was positioned on the top shelf of the bus that takes you from the rental car return to the airport. It landed flat and square and it hurt so bad that I let out some cuss words, which is not my MO, especially in public places...if my dogs don't like it when I cuss, why would anyone around me.
I was in such a mood to get home, that I hobbled to the gate and merely requested an ice pack from the United attendant, who was so kind to get it to me within moments after seeing my foot. I figured that if I wasn't in excruciating pain, nothing was broken. So fast forward 6 months, and 5 acupuncture sessions later and my foot is still not right. I prefer to go the eastern route first before resorting to expensive western medicine.
I made an appointment with a local and highly reputable doctor, Tara Parks, M.D. The goal was to see if I had broken any of the bones in my foot and they were not healing properly, and to see if I had bunions forming on my feet. While getting an X-ray of my foot, I thought about a story an older fellow told me about how he remembered having X-ray machine at the local shoe store and people were using it like it was a candy machine. A bit worrisome considering the lead apron I had to wear and the fact that the people running the machine left the room when exposing my foot to the X-rays.
On the bright side of things, I did not have any broken bones and what I thought was the beginning of a bunion was not (that was what made me most happy about the visit), Probably because I think of Tina Fey's character Liz on 30Rock and the surgery she had to go through. But my 5 out of 10 pain was still a concern. Dr. Parks thought there could be damage to the cartilage, which would require an MRI scan. I decided to continue for a few months with physical therapy to see if it gets better, and if not, you'll be seeing a post on my MRI experience.
I was pleasantly surprised that this visit did not set me back too far in my budget. With my Cigna insurance, it only cost about $75, well worth the knowledge and guidance on how to move forward.