Just kidding but that may be easier than getting my foot to heal. Dr. Sauer took the time to study the MRI, along with Dr. Lee, a radiologist. He concurs with Dr. Miller that I don't have a calcaneal stress fracture.
As a side note, he says I have a ganglionic cyst which is somehow connected with the posterior tibial tendonitis. He's not worried about that.
He says wait to get the orthotics until the foot is healed and suggests a cast or cast/boot to rest the foot. I'm going to research cast boots. Dr. Miller says that he'll put on an air cast/boot if it's not healed by November 4 (it isn't). Dr. Sauer could also outfit me with a cast boot but his looks much like the monstrosity that Walgreen Home Options has. Dr. Sauer says it might heal in a month if I wear the cast. He says that the removable casts often don't work because people only wear them 50% of the time. I don't want a real cast because then I can't even go to water aerobics. One advantage of getting the cast boot in Los Alamos is that if there are problems or adjustments with it, I could go in to see Dr. Sauer. Guess I could do that also with the air cast/boot from Dr. Miller - have Dr. Sauer follow me. Then, what's the point of going to Albuquerque?
Next week I'm going to start going to the Therapy Fun and Fitness on Monday-Wednesday-Friday because I read that doing range of motion (ROM) movements in a hot shower is a good thing. The warm therapy pool might help me to heal. Dr. Sauer also suggested ibuprofen and ice. Everything I read, though, says ice is best in the first 72 hours of an injury and that time period is long past. He says no stretching or strengthening but I was reading that for rotator cuff tendonitis, stretching and strengthening help the healing process as long as no pain is caused. I'm not going to take ibuprofen. I will stretch and strengthen in the Therapy Fun and Fitness class and the water aerobics.
All this infuriates me because in the meantime, while I'm not doing any weight-bearing exercise, my bones are going to decay. Only thing to do about that is to make sure I do some seated and floor weight lifting to try to maintain my bones.