It has been a long time since I have regularly posted. I too, as another wrote a few pages back, found this thread as somewhat of a support group, and I thank all of you for that. To know I was not alone was incredible solace. Whether or not we do, in fact, all share the same “root cause,” we do share many similar symptoms and emotions, and I feel that unites us. My intentions in posting over the years were to share the latest theory, test, or treatment I was considering as it may be of help to someone else, and to encourage others to hold onto hope just as I was trying to. What others might have seen as gullibility or eagerness to buy into some in vogue voodoo, I justify as my choice to put my full faith and belief in each idea or treatment I tried until the evidence against it stacked up so high its validity could no longer be ignored. I felt I must believe in each test or treatment as I tried it, or nothing would ever work. As Michael Jordan said, "I have failed many times, but I have NEVER gone into a game expecting myself to fail." We achieve nothing if we do not believe in it. I posted the steps I was taking, because at the time I truly, truly believed that THIS time, this was IT, and I wanted to help others, just as others had helped me by posting what they were trying. As I worked to sort through and rule out possibilities, I became more and more attuned to the sensory input my injury provided me as I ran with it, sometimes clarifying things and sometimes muddling things further under a constantly evolving perspective.
I have had this injury for over 10 years now. Ten years. Ten long years, and I'm not complaining because I know some of you have had it even longer. If I were trying to solve any kind of problem over the course of a decade, I hope I would have more than one idea or theory about it, just as I have had with this uncommon, bizarre injury. I don’t know how everyone else views their role with this injury, but I feel like I have to be my own injury detective. No one in the medical world has said, “Hmm….you’re an interesting case. I’d like to help you figure this out as quickly as possible so you can get back to running, racing, and trying to achieve your dreams! How does that sound?!” If I could’ve come up with what was causing my leg problem in one and done, and then post it here to try to help everyone else, yes, of course I would’ve preferred that route.