I wanted to also give a big public thanks to two other individuals who have helped recently. Last week, Lisa got in touch with me with some tips on dealing with plantar fasciitis. She went out of her way with advice and also supplied me with the email of a sports doctor friend of hers who might offer some more tips, Dr. Christiane Gardner.
Long story short, thanks to Dr. Gardner I've realized that it's possible I could have a stress fracture in my heel, aka a calcaneus stress fracture. I'll stress right off the bat that I'm not fully jumping to any conclusions until I can get the x-rays or whatever else done, but it's good to be aware that this could be the problem. The symptoms all seem to better fit this than they do plantar fasciitis. For example, when I cup the heel and squeeze their is big pain coming from the sides of the heel, which is a possible tell-tale sign of a calcaneus stress fracture. I also feel increased pain when I put more weight directly on the heel.
I can't make an appointment with my sports doctor until I get a referral from my primary care doctor, the latter of which is on vacation until after the New Year and I can't get an appointment with another doctor at the same office unless it's an emergency (I just love this kind of bullcrap). I'll look into getting around that, but in the meantime, I think the smart thing to do is lay off the running for a bit more. I may get back into weightlifting in the interim if I'm going to be on the running DL for a while. I used to do that quite a bit, and part of me misses walking around knowing I can squish everyone like a little grape.
