The Best $632.54 I Ever Spent

If you recall this post about how the doctor thought maybe I had a stress fracture?  The idea just gnawed at me.  My symptoms were the same throughout the last 6 months and yet she thought I had one which had healed up (because I could hop one one leg with no pain).  She wanted me to try PT for 5 weeks and then we'd image if nothing improved.  The idea of a current stress fracture made sense to me, though, because I have been trying to loosen up my right adductor for SIX MONTHS and nothing had worked.  I had taken six weeks off at a time with little improvement.  So I decided to get imaged now instead of waiting another 5 weeks which I knew would improve nothing.

I had an x-ray which didn't show anything.  So then I went in for an MRI.

To be clear, my sports medicine doctor did not think I currently had a stress fracture.  My massage therapist did not think I had a stress fracture.  My chiropractor did not think I had a stress fracture. My physical therapist did not think I had a stress fracture.  My personal trainer did not think I had a stress fracture.

Everyone kept telling me they didn't think I had a fracture which made me feel that the $632.54 I spent on the MRI was another huge down-the-drain expense in this seemingly never ending saga from November.  They had me so brainwashed into thinking this, that I felt a little stupid for jumping the gun on imaging, I mourned my $632.54 and had planned to go for a short walk-run after my sports medicine appointment today.

It turns out, I do have a stress fracture of my right pubic ramus.

I'm really glad I decided on my own to stop running while I waited for my results because I already have 4 weeks of not running in the recovery bank.  However, my doctor thinks this will take a long time to heal.  She said typically they say 6-8 weeks but I've had this since November and have been running off and on the whole time.  I mean, holy jeepers, I did Goofy on a broken pelvis.

She asked if I had any plans the rest of the year.  I only had the New York City Marathon in November on my calendar.  Quite frankly, even if I didn't have a stress fracture I was thinking I might have to defer so when she told me I should scrap it, that wasn't hard to take.  What was hard to take was what she said after that, "I'm hoping we'll even have you running again by November."  I think I died a little.

As I left the office, I have to say I was vacillating between depression and relief.  It sucks that I cannot run for at least another 6 weeks (and the way she's thinking quite possibly longer).  But quite frankly, I've been operating on that mode the last three months.  On the other hand, I have an answer.  If I rest and give it time, it will heal.  I've spent 6 months trying this and that with no gains and that was just mentally fatiguing.  I was beginning to think I would never run at a high-quality level ever again.  In a way all of that was far more depressing than just having to give up running for a bit knowing that I'll come out of it whole again.

So there you have it.  The S-word and the F-word.  Stress. Fracture.