476 - Health Updates for the past 18 months

 

Image:  pic of my sprained ankle in the brace, edited. 

Below : 1,238 words long entry

It's been such a long time since I last updated you about anything, so here goes - a whole entry about my health in the past year, or actually year and half. 

Between January 2022 and April 2023, I had 12 (yes, twelve) recurring ear infections - which to this day aren't really gone, as I typically feel my right ear but sometimes also the left are aching and this has made it really tough to wear the hearing aids I had just gotten around the same period. I'm not supposed to wear them when I have issues in the ears, such as infection and pain. The cause hasn't been truly found, because by the time I saw the specialist ear-doc, I had no trace of it - and evidently, a week or so after, the infection came back. I'm gonna blame Murphy for that.

Each time, I had a treatment, off course. They are often linked with my chronic rhinitis, and the possible culprits could be either my jaw and or teeth, but my emetophobia is still so strong that I don't feel ready to face a dentist any time soon. 

My mental health has been off-balance this entire time, and it didn't help to get infected with covid back in October (2022), the flu in December (2022) AND march (2023). 

The worst, however, was a sprained ankle, sustained in early December : I slipped on ice, felt my foot twist inside my shoe, but the first few days were only mildly painful and I thought it was just another tendinitis (like many previous ones). 

By mid-month, I was limping badly, often in pain, having to use crutches or a cane, which dampened the small gathering we had for our wedding anniversary. 

As nothing improved, I made the call to the GP, but he was already on Xmas vacation, so my appointment was for early January (2023).

He prescribed a series of physiotherapy sessions - I was supposed to have about 15 before needing a new prescription, but stopped after 11. Each session was only mildly helpful, but also caused extra pains which I didn't have upon entering.

In February I had an xray on my foot, and it only showed some of my arthritis but nothing else. My doctor added an mri prescription, for which I had to wait about 2 months! 

My March physio sessions were put on hold pretty early, when I got the flu (see above). I was physically poorly, and that flu made it way worse, increasing my fatigue and pains, not to mention fevers and all that. By the time I was ready to resume, I'd seen my GP again and asked for physio to shift sessions for my back pain, as it had gotten really severe - partially because of the weird positions I had to take with my aching foot. But the couple sessions I had were horrendously painful and I decided to put everything on hold until I'd have answers about my sprain. 

Late April came, and with it my MRI. Contrary to the xray, it actually showed the sprain, and also some cartilage damage, for which I may need to supplement with glucosamine. I have to check about dosage, ingredients, and best price, because the French health system doesn't reimburse it anymore. 

During this later April session, my GP prescribed an ankle brace to wear and help keep my foot tighter. I read that it was especially recommended at night, so nothing would move inside the foot as I'd toss and turn in my sleep. 

For the past few weeks, I followed my wife's advice, as she had also suffered with inflammations in her feet : laying on my back, lifting my legs to the wall and letting gravity do its job. I found myself doing this between 1 and 5 times a day, 15 to 60 minutes at a time... Thus passing more time upside down like that, than my very limited dishwashing sessions - as some days I was totally unable to stand more than a few minutes, and at best, 15-20 minute dishwashing sessions before having to sit down. 

Before I supplement with glucosamine, I decided to wait for yesterday's appointment and shall wait a tad more. After all, it'd be totally out of pocket, and if it's not actually necessary, why spend? 

Yesterday's doc was a rheumatologist. She checked my feet, compared, made me walk in her office and then said that my foot sensors have probably been somewhat disconnected, so my brain gets pain signals that are mostly erroneous, and the fact that I avoided standing & walking for months was rather detrimental on this level. 

She prescribed an xray of both my feet to be able to compare & see if there's any change in the sprained one, say a bone or two that may have gotten affected. My appointment is thus upcoming Saturday morning. 

Otherwise, I have to walk daily, gradually increasing difficulty : at first on flat surfaces, then grass, small bumps, inclines and so forth. At first, also with my ankle brace, which I no longer need to wear at night. 

After a walk, I have to put my foot in a cold water basin or the tub. 

Also, once a day, I have to set 2 basins, one for hot water, one for cold, put my foot in the hot one (not burning ofc) for a minute or two, then pass it to the cold, 1-2 mn, go back to hot, cold, a whole of 10 times. This is to help reboot my nerve endings/sensors, to send proper messages to the brain in ascertaining the types of surfaces am standing on - and these contrast baths, as they are called, with help to reboot my censors towards this goal. 

The good news is that nothing's broken or too damaged (even the sprain isn't too serious in itself!). The only downside is that I may need another 6 months for full healing - on top of the already 6 months of suffered aches, which required at least rest, paracetamol and on worse days, a stronger pain killer called lamaline (mix of paracetamol, caffeine and opium extract). 

These pains have regularly knocked me out throughout this long period, forcing many naps on me.

They also dampened my mood, creative capacities, inspiration and the physical shape to do any of my art projects - especially painting, due to the walking necessary to set it all up, and change water regularly. Despite these, I tried my best to stay afloat, and am sure that if I hadn't had my antidepressant treatment, all of this would've been much much harder to cope with.

I even had to postpone my psychotherapy twice from March to April and then finally had a phone consultation as my therapist accommodated my current situation and these delays. 

We agreed that the few art projects that I did manage were an important part of my keeping up during this tough and long period, that and my intellectual interests and passions, even the then-upcoming tennis tournament (which I watched for 3 weeks in late May till a few days ago) were all good tools and occupations for me. 

I plan to show you my arts in the next few entries - actually catching up with previous unpublished ones - and as you saw these past couple of months, I added a bunch of new poems as an additional artistic expression. Stay tuned!