OUCH part 2
So a few weeks ago I detailed my condition here. Well it took a few days longer to get me to call my medical provider for some pain killers. A week of intense pain with no end in sight was enough for me. My personal MD was out of the office, so another doctor in the office aggreed to take the call and prescribed some indomethacin for me, enough to last 5 days. It helped, but it didn't completely end my pain. It did make it so I could endure class and walking around campus. But when the meds ran out, it only took a few days before I started to see an increase in my pain again. Again I tried everything I knew. And again I ended up at the Urgent Care clinic where the LNP prescribed 800 mg Ibuprofen and some hydrocodone (generic vicodin) to help me sleep. Keep in mind that the goal of these treatments isn't to treat the gout, it is to treat the symptom of gout (the unnatural pain).
So today I can honestly say that I think (I hesitate to hope) that I may be seeing the end of the tunnel. It has been almost a week of taking the meds as needed, which means the IB twice a day and the HC when I awake in the middle of the night due to the red hot lump at the end of my left leg. The past few days I have also restarted drinking large amounts of black cherry juice before going to bed. This has the added effect of cleaning my kidneys and bladder. I say restarted because black cherry juice is a commonly used acute gout attack remedy, which I usually use when I have an attack. After a few weeks of pain, I was reminded by my chiropractor about drinking it. So I restarted that as well, and I decided that if it was going to work it was going to take much more than the 12 oz a night that I usually drink. So this time I have been drinking at least 32 oz a night. And after three days of progressively better days, today I have been almost pain free.
It couldn't be over at a better time. During the past 3 weeks I also had my mid-term exams. The pain was so great that I could not study, so I would take the pain killers, and I could not study because I was loopy. Two of my mid-terms were the worse grades I have recieved since I started this program. I have dug myself a really deep hole, that I have to dig out of during finals week. On top of taking Part 2 national boards and PT boards as well. And as if that weren't enough, I have 8th quarter OSCEs as well during finals. OSCEs are clinical practical exams. Two hours of 5 minute clinical practical exams. Going from room to room and having to perform and be evaluated on clinical skills. These are required to move on to 9th quarter. There are 10th Q OSCEs and 11th Q OSCEs as well. These are all preparation for the Part 4 National Boards that are based on our OSCE format. WSCC OSCEs are the template for the Part 4 National Boards. And WSCC takes great pride that our students usually pass with flying colors. (See the 8th, 10th and 11th preparation).
So I have a lot to do in the next few weeks. I really hope that I can put my foot pain behind me.