The Va'na Cure

[PonoBill]

No, I'm not talking about dealing with Va'na spines--everyone knows you soak them with hot, hot water and then vinegar and keep the area clean. I got zapped yesterday morning so I've been hobbling around. Not much of a change since I have tendonitis in my ankle. I did the rounds trying to deal with this. I saw my vein doc--I have deep vein insufficiency, which is why I'm now rocking these cool compression tights all day. I thought it might be a clot since it was so persistent.  No clot. Then I saw my GP--she did a lot of testing the joint, ruled our arthritis and bone spurs and said "Tendonitis, go see your PT".

I'm on a first name basis with my PT, so that wasn't hard. But I was headed to Maui, so he gave me a recipe for warmup, stretches, pummeling with a roller, and strengthening. So I'm working on that. In the meantime, it's not bad on a board, but waling in sand or uneven surfaces barefoot is murder. And it was waking me up multiple times every night, feeling like a major league muscle cramp in my ankle. I'd have to walk on it a few minutes to get it to calm down so I could sleep.

Yesterday I got nailed in the heel with a Va'na. Two spines, right on the pressure edge. Damn. So I was light on my heels all day. Last night I slept like a baby--no cramps.

At my age, with all the injuries I've collected, anything can set something like this off. Honestly, if I wasn't in pain somewhere I'd think something was wrong. I think I triggered this latest round by buying some new shoes that were supposed to help me. Nobody really makes a shoe for supratnators. I think there's eleven of us. Even spell check tries to change that to pronators. The best I can do is get something neutral, which is what the shoes now resting in my garbage can were. So this morning I modified the insole of my shoe with spacers to roll my ankle inward. Presto, instant relief. All triggered by that little bastard Va'na.

Thanks. I think.

For me it's more important to find the source of a new pain than a therapy for that pain. Probably not true for most of you folks, but when you're 67, it's vital to being able to stay off the tour bus, and be one of the people the tourists are looking at, instead of one of the spectators.

[covesurfer]

You've got 10 years on me. I hope I'm still going strong when I'm 67!

I've never liked riding on buses.

[mrbig]

Wow! Glad we don't have dem buggahs here. My supinating feet liked qi kung and cheeep Reeboks - but I am a 66 year old with one foot a half size smaller after being run over by semi a million years ago. The Enfield was totalled..

[SUPcheat]

I have had a sore knee for a month that I have been wailing about. I have no idea what I did to it. Just when I make a balancing arc and apply pressure, I guard from pain and fall off.  It is getting better, but you guys make me feel like a complete weenie. I have still managed to make some progress, and I think it will be cleared up in another week or so, but I have been saying that for four weeks.

My neighbor has had neck surgery, back surgery, shoulder surgery, nerve ablations etc. and chronic back pain, and he is still out there carrying a board up several flights of cliff stairs at 75.

[PonoBill]

Good for him. I think that past 60 the only way to stay active is never stop. Ten times harder to get back up to speed if you do.

[mrbig]

True story. A body at rest tends to stay at rest and a body in motion tends to stay in motion - only slloowwer!

[PonoBill]

So I've been hobbling around for about two weeks, waiting for the Va'na spines to adsorb. Yesterday it was really bugging me, sharp little pains every so often. So I asked Diane to try to dig the buggah out with a razor. after a bunch of callus shaving and fiddling she announced that the big one was too straight in to get any leverage on. she was scrubbing it with an alcholol pad when this popped out. The barbs got adsorbed or dissolved and left the smooth main body.



The tip is obviously still in there, but without this half-inch long shaft pushing on it, it's not noticeable. I feel like the lion that got a thorn pulled, but Diane says she's nothing like a mouse.

[SUPcheat]

Hmm, that looks big enough to really hurt.

Guess there are urchins in Santa Cruz, but google says the otters eat them. I did see two big stingrays swimming right by my board near the surface this morning during dawn patrol. I have learned to recognize their splash when they flick the surface even if I can't see them.

When the ocean goes crystal clear around, here, it's scary to me.  I can see all the fish, critters and rocks down there.  Beautiful, but for some reason I prefer the delusion of a smoky, opaque ocean and critter denial, except for the ones on the surface like seals.