While prepping the Folly for "tenting"--that's how you get rid of termites in Florida--I carried a batch of fairly heavy scalloped concrete edgers from the front yard to the shed in the back wearing flat shoes with no support. My right heel began to hurt almost immediately but I soldiered on, just as I did several days later when I walked half a mile in flip flops to use a remote shopping mall restroom on our rainy return from Sarasota. Even driving was painful afterward.
A month later I still was limping around, even after substituting more swimming for the five-mile walks I usually took three times a week. I finally made an appointment to see John Levin, DPM, a podiatrist. X-rays of my right foot indicated both a bone spur and an inflamed Achilles tendon. Dr. Levin, not quite a decade younger than me, prescribed a heel lift, stretching exercises and icing three times a day.
"I'm worried how this condition might affect a partial knee replacement if it lingers."
"You should be," he said, before rolling up his khaki pants to reveal what appeared to be several long, stitched incisions on his own right leg.
"I'm three weeks out from a complete knee replacement," he announced proudly. Skiing and biking had kept him in good shape. He was already back at work and his movement wasn't noticeably impaired--at all!
"Wow, that's really encouraging," I said. "When I mentioned my conditon to the orthopedic surgeon, he referred to it as a soft tissue injury and didn't seem too concerned."
"It's all connected, and if you're not able to walk easily before your surgery, it may interfere with your recovery. Sometimes doctors are too focused on their own specialties."
I left Dr. Levin's office determined to follow his course of treatment rigorously for the next six weeks.
