Doctors’ appointments today and I’ve got news… I WILL be able to play the violin again!!! Oh wait, that wasn’t the problem was it. Hmmm… okay, so basically there is good news and bad news. The good news is that I will be able to start-up classes again in another two weeks. The bad news… the initial diagnosis was partially wrong. I did have fractures. Those are mostly healed. I did not have tendonitis. I had a small tear in a tendon in my foot. To compensate for the injury my big toe took on some extra work and because of its heroic and selfless actions I now have a deposit of calcium in the bottom of the joint of my big toe. It’s about the size of a fine tip pen point(e). No good deed goes unrewarded!

So the bad news is I’ve got a deposit of calcium in my toe. I might as well name it because Dr.  Orthopedic said that there is no point to surgery as they would have to root around to find it and thereby risking more injury to the foot than the deposit, so the deposit gets to stay. Welcome and do you need the password to the wi-fi?!  I also get to become friends with Co-Flex tape which is super flexible compression tape. If this doesn’t provide enough assistance for class, I get to bump it up to KT tape which is a little sturdier and probably not so much fun to try to dance on. Worst case scenario, I get to have cortisone shots. The good news from Dr. O is that I’m otherwise pretty sturdy. I thought that my feet and/or ankles might be weak and that’s why I had a problem, but no. They aren’t crazy strong but they aren’t particularly weak either. As I build up to it from this injury, Dr. O sees no problem with my returning to 8 to 10 hours of ballet class a week.

After seeing Dr. O, I got to go down a few flights in the medical complex and see Dr. Physiotherapist. Dr. P  noted a few other issues more specific to my feet and my dancing. Dr. P noted that when I try to pull up on my toes, I actually push over my ankles too much, especially on my left side. He also noted that overall I’m pretty sturdy. The other problem that he noted was not in my feet or even in my legs. It’s my sad and pathetically weak torso. I know I have problems getting up and over my toes, I have a tendency to sink down back onto flat feet from any balance after not too long. I thought it was because my feet are weak. No, says the physiotherapist. I should be drawing up from the core and my core should pull me over my toes and keep me there. I sink back down not because of my feet but because of my core and the lack of core strength makes my feet have to try to compensate which might be part of how I got injured in the first place. Injury in the foot from weakness in the tummy. Interesting.

So I begin an assault on my abs starting today! Prepare yourself, abs! But the toe problem is here to stay – sort of. The good news is that I’ve got a couple of doctors who didn’t blink an eye when I said that I took ballet classes. They asked me about my training, Dr. O referred it as “intense athletic work” and Dr. P talked about what “athletes have to do” in order to continue their pursuits… my pursuit, they spoke to me as an athlete. And for that I am grateful because I have to say that I felt a little bit silly talking about a ballet injury, because I guarantee you that NO ONE stops me on the street to ask if I am an athlete or a dancer. Alright, guys, I have a feeling its going to be a slow journey back but it’s not just a cliché that sometimes we can come back better than before. Knowledge is power and I am arming myself.