Hell for the Heel

I've strugged about writing lately. I am usually a pretty sunny and upbeat guy. Losing my sister Ann to metastasized breast cancer has hit me hard, even though I could see it coming. I know that although I will always carry love for her and the memories of her, so too will I always miss her. I found a note from her that she wrote four years after I had cancer where she said that my getting ill taught her the importance of family, and how my death would have been unacceptable. Then, just two months after that note, she had cancer, and now, she is gone. "It feels unacceptable, too, that she is dead," was what I thought as I read the note with tears rolling down. She was a wonderful and accomplished person.

Then there is my left heel. The plantar fasciitis has gone on for about six weeks now, and is so frustrating. I should be walking miles and miles, but any walking - even a short one - hurts like hell. Yes, I could walk a few miles, with a lot of pain, but I am probably causing additional damage. For the last four weeks, I have really tried to do all of the right things. Stretches. Heel drops. Night splint at night. Not walking (well, most of the time). I've had two massages, a rarity for me. None of it has not seemed to help. I did slack off just a bit on the ship (I was on a cruise to Canada from May 28 to June 4, the week Ann died), but even there I generally did most of the things I was supposed to do most days. I also walked a lot more than I had been, although no where near what I would have walked as a healthy person. I did a fast walk 5K for breast cancer on the ship - more about that in a later post. That made my heel hurt more.

I am trying three new things this week. I got a runners massage stick (T-Roller) and a foot log. Both of these were recommended by a running coach I saw on the web for plantar fasciitis. I started trying both of those two days ago. And tomorrow, I have an appointment with a doctor to discuss Active Release Therapy. I only have about 100 days to get in shape for this walk. Walking 60 miles in this pain is unimaginable, but so is not walking it. People have donated nearly $5,000 so far to my efforts, and then there is the matter of doing this to honor the memory of my sister. So I have to find a way to heal the hell of my heel!