More of a Nuisance than a Thing

I have four blog posts stacked up, waiting for completion and pictures. I even have a ride report ready. But, I am a very linear person, and it's hard for me to post things "out of order." Still, I decided I'd better get something up.


I've recently encountered a couple of rather minor but inconvenient health issues. Truly, one led to other. Both interfere hugely with being able to ride or even exercise more than minimally.


A week ago on Sunday, I experienced sudden extreme pain on the top of my left foot. I had to remove my boot and sock and roll up my pant leg. My foot was hot to the touch and red and angry looking. I didn't really think much of it at the time. My daughter and I were at a party at the time, so I had to get the boot back on to drive home. I got the animals fed and cared for, showered and went to bed as usual.


On Monday morning (Labor Day), I got up and got dressed. I noticed that my foot hurt, and the skin was a little broken. I put some Neosporin on it and attempted to put my boot on. I say attempted, because no sooner did I get my foot in the boot than I was doing my level best to get it out in record time. It was immediately clear that I wouldn't be wearing a shoe of any kind that day. So I made my daughter feed and walk the animals, and proceeded to spend my day inside. This of course resulted in me screen-sucking on the Internet all day, so I posted a status on Facebook about my foot. I wasn't particularly worried about the rash. To me it seemed like a minor thing. I was mostly bitching because I had planned a long ride in the mountains, and that was clearly not happening.


My Facebook friends weren't quite so sanguine about what I was describing. After receiving many comments about my situation, I had the hell scared out of me enough that I called my doctor first thing on Tuesday morning. Well, she wouldn't be able to see me until Wednesday. I continued to bitch about this on Facebook, as I had work scheduled, and it's a little difficult to shoe horses if I can't wear a shoe! By this time, I could get a very loose shoe sort of on my foot. I did take some Ibuprofen, which made a difference in the swelling. To me, it looked reasonably normal except for the redness and pain. It hurt all the time. By mid-day, I decided that I'd better just take myself to the Urgent Care.


 By this time my mom had been seeing my Facebook thread, and she called me to make sure I was seeking medical attention. She called me when I was about a block away from the Urgent Care. I assured her I was on my way, and that I'd call her when I was done.


At the Urgent Care, I felt a little foolish being there. I'm the sort of person who feels stupid going to the emergency room if I have a six-inch gash in my leg, so this felt really silly. All misgivings were cast aside when the nurse looked at my foot and said, "Wow!" That was all the confirmation I needed that I had made the right decision.


The doctor looked at it and was more than mildly concerned, as well. If it had been oozing, he would've cultured it, but it wasn't so we left that off. He determined it was probably a skin infection caused by an allergic reaction. He gave me Prednisone and Augmentin, a very high-power kick-ass antibiotic that'll kill everything ever. I started on the meds, and in a few days, I was able to get in a day of work and even ride on Saturday.


After my ride, it became evident that something else wasn't quite right. Now, antibiotics are a great thing. They've done huge good in the world saving lives and controlling disease and all that. But, sometimes they have some unintended consequences. That is what I am dealing with now. The antibiotic has done its job and killed everything. And I do mean everything. Even things it wasn't aimed at. This antibiotic is like killing cockroaches with a shotgun. In the house. The result has been a hostile takeover in a rather more, shall we say, delicate body part. This means I won't be riding until I get that under control.


The other interesting aspect of this antibiotic is that it's completely wiping me out. I got up nice and early this morning, feeling good about life, got all the farm chores done, and went into town. Picked up the Jeep for my daughter, traded her back for my truck with the intention of going for a ride, went to the grocery store, the tire store (screw in a tire), bank, back home by noon. And out like a light in my chair. For four hours. That was the end of that. I had to feed and run out the door to make it to bell choir rehearsal.


A week later, and my foot is still uncomfortable. I can get around okay, but for the first time in my life I can't wait to get my shoes off. It's far better than it was last week. Probably the forced no riding will help speed it along, because the foot problem is not bad enough to force me not to ride. I can ignore it way better than I can the "other" problem!


This shouldn't interfere too much with my ride plans. The Manzanita Endurance Ride is on October 2, less than three weeks. At this point, if Hoss isn't fit enough to go, there's nothing else I can do to get him there. I'm not overly worried about making it through the ride, but I would like to be able to ride Hoss some so that he's not a complete maniac at the endurance ride! At this point, though, I don't expect to get much riding in at all, and will have to deal with whatever comes of that.