Had my MRI and follow-up visit with Dr. Petron. MRI was horrible. I found out I was a little more claustrophobic than I believed I was. If it hadn't been for a great MRI technician who made the process as comfortable as is possible, I might have lost it.
When Dr. Petron reviewed the MRI, he discovered that I do not have a stress fracture (great news), but instead...I have a stress reaction, which is a pre-stress fracture condition. It seems I caught this just in time...or at least, the pain stopped me from continuing my running to the point of a stress fracture. We also discovered that the stress reaction is not all the way into the femoral neck (where the ball of the hip connects), but is at the upper end of the femur...just below the neck.
A stress reaction is still considered a serious overuse injury, but the healing/recovery time should be much less than if I had a fracture. Dr. Petron has prescribed crutches for about a week (or until no pain when I walk), and then no impact activities for 3-4 weeks. After that, I can begin a running/walking program and more gradually work up to running anything close to the mileage I was running pre-injury (30-35 mpw).
I had a lot of family praying for me, and I feel like prayers have been answered. It could have been much worse.
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