Yes, My Toe Still Hurts

Ow, my toe, was the first thought that came to mind, but it was not anything particularly painful at the time. Getting stepped on in a soccer game is no unusual occurrence, and it’s a rarity if a game goes by without it. Granted this particular step was with great force behind it, but I was unconcerned at the time, and continued to play. During the rest of the game the pain did not seem to abate, but I decided to push through it until the end of the game.

After the game finished I could feel the toe throbbing a bit, and when I got home I iced it and took some ibuprofen to get rid of the pain. By the time morning rolled around, the pain had all but disappeared, and it completely faded away by the end of the next day. The thought of the pain had completely left my mind, and I resumed my normal day to day activities. 

Flash forward to next week, and I was playing soccer again at the same location, and my pain was nowhere to be found. The game was going well, until a…large boy…on the other team, decided to step on the same toe that I had injured last week. This time, the pain from it was instant, and I was limping for the rest of the game. This story repeated itself over the coming weeks, with the same toe getting stepped on again and again as I played. It got to the point where every time I would kick the ball pain would shoot up my toes, but I kept playing. Just like the movie “Concussion”, I decided to ignore the injury and keep playing, and like the plot of the movie, it does not end well for me. I thought I would be fine, but that was not to be the case. 

Another week or two passes and I am still playing soccer, only now with considerable pain when I start the game. As my mind focuses on the game, the pain seems to fade away, but little did I know, damage was still being done. Eventually it got to the point where I could no longer bend my toe, and that’s when I knew I had to see a doctor. We walked into the examination room, and my mind was filled with doubt, would my toe ever heal back to its former glory? Or would I be destined to limp for all of eternity!? Like those characters in the movie suffering from concussions, I too had confidence that it would all turn out to be “no big deal.” And, like those football players, I was taken aback when my assumption was proven incorrect. The doctor delivered the bad news that I had been hoping I would not have to hear, “There is no cartilage left in your toe joint”. I was confused as to what this meant, and he explained that the lack of cartilage was a direct cause for the inflammation and extreme pain I would get when walking or running. He then explained the full implications of the diagnosis. 

The only surgical option that was available to me, would be to fuse the joint permanently shut. This would lead to me being unable to ever move my toe joint again, and with it being the largest factor for your balance, would rule out me playing any sports again. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at the situation, the doctor advised me to not go with that option because of my young age. Instead he advised that we go with the least invasive medical direction, and that being medication for the inflammation accompanied by physical therapy.  The doctor explained to me that I would have to stop all activity that required any excess pressure being put on my foot. This included no sports, unnecessary walking, or kicking of any sort. In addition to this, when I was walking around my house or in school, I would have to wear a removable boot for the foreseeable future. 

“I was not seeing any significant progress. “

I was devastated, for sports, and even general activity, was one of my go to hobbies to pass the time and give myself something to enjoy. In addition to this, I was disappointed in myself, as I was indirectly responsible for the condition I now found myself in. Yes, I knew that the initial injury itself was just dumb luck, but the fact that I tried to play through the injury was what had got me in the sticky situation I now found myself in. As the coming days slowly turned into weeks, I wore the foot brace as much as I could, and diligently took my medication, but I was not seeing any significant progress in my condition. 

As these words go onto paper I am finding myself still unable to do more than twenty minutes of walking, and definitely no forms of running. My medication has run its course, and the only thing I have left to do is wait, or so says the doctor. So with that I shall return to dreaming of the times when I freely exercised and moved without pain, and hoping that those days soon return.

Photo on Foter.com

Photo by martha_chapa95 on Foter.com / CC BY

Photo by practicalowl on Foter.com / CC BY-NC