my first stress fracture

i went to the doctor's today hoping/expecting he would give me either:
1) a shot and say, "ok all better!"
2) a butt-cast..that would be funny!
3) info that i already knew, e.g., that my leg pain was muscular and i needed to chill out. or that i am not supposed to run, ever.

but i braved the snowstorm anyway to go all the way to mid-town to my appointment and to get an x-ray. after telling him a little peevishly that it originally starting hurting "here" (pointing to my right sit-bone) and sometimes "here" (pointing to my right hamstrings) but lately has been hurting "here" (pointing to my left hip) and a few days ago "here" (pointing to my left and right ankles), he poked around a bit, took a look at my x-ray and said, "this is interesting! just what i thought." a stress fracture on my sit-bone. i stress fractured my butt!

WHAT!

my first thought was, "this is going to take forever." i sat down on the step stool (i don't know why i sat there instead of on a chair) and started crying. this is not what i want to hear! what a girl. he said it probably happened if i suddenly changed positions when i ran/biked. he was actually quite animated in explaining how exactly one gets a stress fracture and was very encouraging, showing me that it was already healing and that once you get a stress fracture, your body adds bone outside of that area so that as you heal, you actually get stronger than before. and that i can do any exercise so long as it doesn't require putting a lot of sudden pressure on my right foot, meaning i can swim, bike (!!), lift. i'm not quite sure why he says i can do all that if my stress fracture was caused by my hamstrings pulling from different places unevenly. i need to get a better bike fit and a new seat that's wider and more comfy.. G suggested i get a bike seat w/ a donut! how awesome would that be.

other things that help are acupuncture, yoga, a ton of stretching, and no more anti-inflammatories since for your bone to heal, inflammation is good. now that i am cleared to swim and bike, i am feeling better. the most worrying part about IMLP- and i'm assuming that i'm still doing it- is the bike so i'll be glad to give it a try.

i feel better knowing what's up although not excited about waiting even longer to get better. i am seriously racking my brain trying to figure out what exactly i did to get myself into this mess b/c i want to prevent it as much as possible next time. perhaps it's a combination of not warming-up and cooling-down properly, not stretching enough, not weight-training, even perhaps not giving myself off-days (which i hate to admit). i was frustrated b/c i felt like i was actually fixing my bike and run positioning..but i guess my body is not as strong as my mind.

after the doctor's appointment, i really really didn't want to swim b/c of the snow, but then i wanted to do cm's "snowman" swim. i believe i got it all done but in a different order, more like "nnowmas" b/c i was impatient to do the 500s and not excited about the scull. i did 3 or the 4x25's w/o breathing and have to check on the length of the pool b/c it seems too big for a 25yd but my times were not right for a 25m. btw, not breathing does a lot for streamlining! i have been wondering why i feel like i'm not on my game at the chelsea pool and i think it's b/c the pool is so dirty. talk about a hairball family! but if i can swim well there it will be good for me. although it would also be good for me to stop drinking the water every time i breathed. someone got into an interesting-but-lengthy conversation with me about relating the economy and astrology and spirituality, then the lifeguard, since he "likes my attitude", gave me an art book. i think i need to practice my "don't talk to me unless you want your head bitten off" face.

there is so much i want to try- like the water polo class at the dirty pool and G's inten-sati class that she loves so much. but i guess i have enough to keep me entertained for a while.