Femoral Neck Stress Fracture

So now I know why my leg hurts.

I have a compression fracture that starts at the lesser femoral trochanteric process (where leg and glute muscles attach) and extends up to the femoral neck. The bulk of the damage is at the process which explains why adductive movements have been so painful, as well as just running. It also explains how I managed to mangle my toes so incredibly in shoes and socks that had logged many, many miles.

                               
So after the race I was feeling the usual discomfort after having run a marathon, with an added bonus of multiple blister pain from my toes. Immediately after returning to our hotel room I took an ice bath which I had never done before but had heard that it is really useful for recovery, took care of the toes on the other foot and then focused on rehydrating. Other than difficulty walking down stairs (or any type of step down, really) I felt pretty good. Phil and Kate headed to the Magic Kingdom for a last splash of pixie dust fun while Alex and hung out in the room for a while, and then met them later at Epcot. The next day didn't feel crazy bad. Took a slow walk to get some breakfast, then spent some time at the pool and hot tub and then it was time to get to the airport to come home.

A couple of days home and the toes were no longer bothering me but my hip and knee were a pretty constant annoyance. I got in to see my doctor and had xrays done that day. Next day got the call that they looked good, but to be sure and rule out stress fracture we set up an MRI. Day after the MRI got THE CALL. Stress fracture. Come in immediately. My MRI looks alot like the one below.

 

No running, no walking, no nothing on that leg for 6 weeks. In fact I have crutches that I have to use. I've never had them before. Not a big fan. But I don't want my next MRI to look like this one:

 

 

So I will use the crutches. I am going to have a bone density scan done since this is not my first stress fracture and I was ordered to take Calcium and Vit. D supplements. Not a big fan of supplements, but I'll do whatever it takes to help the osteoblasts rebuild my leg! I even did some research on other minerals, etc that aid in bone and cartilage health. So I've got a few other pills I'm popping in addition to the Cal and D. Plus loads of calcium rich foods and the few D foods since I'm not out in the sun getting my daily D that way.

Next week my leg buoy will hopefully have arrived and I can go to the pool and swim with my legs floating along lifelessly behind me. For now I sit and watch youtube videos of people running....and search for dream races.