I Just Want to Scream....

....but instead there are only tears.  After a long awaited appointment (6 weeks) to see the surgeon today, we are no closer to a resolution relative to the heel pain I've been experiencing, oh, for the last year or so.

I have had to give up Judo, the sport I love.
I have had to maintain a very sedentary lifestyle, to allow the opportunity for healing.
I am unable to do normal things, like shopping for groceries and taking short walks.
I have gained a ton of weight.
Worst of all, I have suffered with way too much ongoing pain.

Here is what I've done so far:

1.  Taken Aleve regularly, per doctor's orders.  (I had to ultimately stop - it gave me daily bellyaches, and constant sh*ts.)

2.  Completed three months of physical therapy, including stretching with bands.  (My heels got worse as those three months went by.)

3.  Wore an immobilization boot on my left ankle for nine weeks.  (While that heel improved, the right one got worse.  Way worse.)

4.  Endured the very painful (and not at all covered by insurance) Platelet Rich Plasma Injection Therapy, which gave no improvement at all.

5.  Waited weeks and sometime months from one appointment to the next.

6.  Went to my appointment today prepared to beg for surgery, which I did.

Here is what the docs ordered me to do starting today:

1.  Take Aleve.

2.  Do more stretching exercises, doing sets of six exercises FIVE TIMES A DAY.  (I'm trying to forget that the previous three months of stretching made my heels worse.)

3.  Wear an immobilization night splint on the worst ankle to stretch the achilles tendon during the night.  (It's big.  It's ugly.  It's uncomfortable.  Now in addition to being in pain all day, I will suffer all night.)

4.  Wear 3/8 inch heel lifts in my shoes.  (I tried to explain that I've been unable to wear any closed heel shoes now for a year, so putting something into my shoes doesn't work.   X-rays today showed I have heel bone growth sticking out back there.  They think the heel lifts will just stay in my Crocs, but they weren't sure.)

5.  Wait eight more weeks until the next appointment.

Can you tell I'm mad?
Can you tell I'm frustrated?
Can you tell I'm at my rope's end?

Well here's how it is.  I'm gonna stretch those suckers till they snap if that's what needs to happen to get me some help.  So there.

Grumpy.