Hurts. A lot! In physical therapy they always ask pain levels 1-10. I can’t imagine one can both experience a ’10’ and live so I use a different, more relatable method. Not being a mother, sciatica, kidney stone and a prostate biopsy are probably the worst pains I have experienced and heel spurs or plantar fasciitis is right up there with them. I rate them as a 7-8.
The pediatrist says this injury is the number one thing she treats and my PT office treats 5-6 per day. Very common injury that takes time to develop. Years in my case. This did not occur as a result of my trip but rather the effort to schlep my pack and walk for hours a day simply hastened the inevitable.
When I saw the x-Ray I could see why my feet hurt so badly, just look at the spur (those who are sensitive might want to skip this.
See the dew claw sticking out from the heel bone? Whilst that looks painful, it is not. Bones don’t hurt per se, rather it is the inflamed ligament that supports the foot arch. If you have one. I don’t on my right where I’ve had two operations for RA (last one doc said pieces of bone fell out on the table when he made the incision) and my ankles are rubbish and don’t give the support one needs. Also I have a habit since youth of walking on my toes which adds mass to calves but shortens the plantar. A no-no according to the PT’s. The extra 2 stone I was carrying for a couple years didn’t help.
What did help was my sessions at Integrated Rehab here in Vernon, CT. Amy and the crew taught me little, simple, near silly exercises and stretches to do which I have faithfully done twice day. They worked!! For the past 2 weeks I have begun walking again until 2-3 miles is done without any foot pain (just normal RA & Fibro pain) so I’m good to go.
And by go I mean it’s time to resume the trip so cruelly and painfully terminated last January. I’m heading back to the Boka in Earls Court London where the last trip ended. Had I not been in too much pain to continue January, I had planned to leave London and go to the Azores for some warm weather. I considered heading there to continue (flight from Boston under $250 with checked bag) but then realized that there are few places prettier in the spring than Britain so that’s where I’ll re-start the peregrination. Kew the Gardens!
So far I’m booked for 4 nights in London where I have both inside and outside activities planned so weather will not be a factor. Then I want to stand on Brighton Pier. See if there are any Rumbles in Brighton that night (Elton says Saturday night is the night for fighting so I’ll be there on a Friday to be safe).
Then I try my first AirB&B on the Jurassic Coast for a week.
From there it’s off to Scotland. 5 days in Edinburgh and then 14 in a holiday park on the Clyde will carry me to the end of May. Until this week I was considering heading to the Continent or Erie from there but I might want to be in the UK for the upcoming elections.
By the end of June I expect to be back in the Highlands. I’d like to see my new friends in Tain & Wick if possible and since I was in the far north for the winter Solstice with it’s 6 hours and 13 minutes between sunrise & sunset, I’d like to be in the same area for the longest day.
Any suggestions of where I should travel will be welcomed as this whole thing is in flux, not concrete.
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