A while back I wrote a post about how I jinx myself when I think things are going well. The mere hint of positive vibes is enough to send my life into a downward spiral. In late January I wrote a post reviewing the book Things You Need to Know About Diabetes and Your Feet by Neil M. Scheffler, DPM, FACFAS. I talked about the importance of foot care along with mentioning (or was it boasting?) that I had no foot problems and had never seen a podiatrist.

Fast forward to two days after that post. I was walking with a friend and out of nowhere started having pain in the back of my right heel. Nothing popped; nothing twisted; it just started hurting. I finished my walk and figured that the pain was minor and would go away. I hobbled around for a few days and continued with most of my regular activities. I iced the foot often and used a topical gel for pain relief. Once or twice when it was really painful, I took a couple of ibuprofen tabs. That is a big no-no for me because I am already on a prescription NSAID for my arthritis. The ibuprofen really helped, but it is safely back in the medicine cabinet. If the pain is so bad that I feel I need it, I should be talking to my doctor and not abusing prescription or over-the-counter medications.

The pain continued to get worse and my next step was to quit all activities except for sitting on the couch and icing the heel regularly.  Every so often it seemed as though it was better, but a walk across the room quickly dissuaded me of that notion.

I think that you can guess where this story is going. Suffice it to say that she who had never seen a podiatrist before has now seen a podiatrist.

Tuesday I went to a foot doctor recommended by a friend and had the heel checked out. Fortunately x-rays ruled out anything like bones spurs and he believes that it is an inflamed nerve. He injected the heel with an anesthetic steroid concoction and I am supposed to go back in two weeks.

The doctor seemed very knowledgeable about my feet. Because of my diabetes he did an extensive visual inspection and checked for pulses and sensation. After asking how long I had had diabetes, he did a little math in his head, and questioned how I could have Type 1 (Juvenile Diabetes) because I had been diagnosed as an adult.  Argh!  Very nicely I indicated that Type 1 is the result of an autoimmune attack and age of diagnosis has nothing to do with it. End of conversation.

In all of my years with diabetes, this is the first time that I have ever had a steroid injection. I was expecting a huge jump in my blood sugars, but so far the effect has been minor. Initially I used a temporary basal of 130-150% which was similar to what I had used for couch camping.  Yesterday I started to go low and returned my basals to normal. Overnight I started to run somewhat high and I have upped my basals again with a few correction boluses. So far the pain relief from the injection has been worth any disruptions in blood sugar.

The first afternoon after the injection was nirvana because the anesthetic was still active and I had no pain. Two days later I can walk normally and that’s a huge improvement. I am still taking it easy and will continue to ice the foot. Abby the Black Lab was thrilled to get a walk around the block yesterday after two weeks of home confinement. I checked with Dr. Google and he/she/it indicated that it usually takes a few days for a steroid injection to take effect and I am optimistic that I will continue to improve.

Have I learned anything from this?  Absolutely YES! I think that I have learned to keep my mouth shut. I now realize that blogging is a threat to my health and I should take up a less risky hobby such as sky-diving. When it comes to reviewing books about feet, I’m going to stick to The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss:

Left foot, left foot,

right foot, right

Feet in the morning

feet at night

And that’s all I have to say on the subject.