Tuesday: TriCare and Tendonitis

I am compiling all my photos from my D.C. trip to share with y'all, but first I wanted to tell you about my day yesterday. After a long day Saturday, I took a barefoot step in my hotel room, which sent pain shooting through my right foot. This was a normal step, mind you. I didn't hit my foot on anything, I didn't step funny, and I even wore sensible shoes when we were walking around outside or in the subway.

When I woke up Sunday morning, the pain was worse, so I put on tennis shoes (with my nice courthouse outfit) and proceeded through my day. We ended up walking around the mall as well, so it was a long day on my feet. I sat down as much as possible, but if you know anything about D.C. it's not really a "sitting" kind of town. 

We flew home Sunday night, I iced my foot, took some ibuprofen and went to bed. Monday, I had another long day at school, on my feet (but still in comfortable tennis shoes), and by the end of the day, my foot looked like this: 

 So, on Tuesday morning, I called TriCare. I couldn't remember who my PCM (primary care manager) was and knew that in order to go to Urgent Care, I would need a referral from my PCM. TriCare was delightfully and surprisingly helpful! I have heard many-a horror story about TriCare and their customer service but not only were they sympathetic to my situation, they were instantly helpful. 

You see, the PCM on record was in fact an Urgent Care doctor - which presents an obvious dilemma. So, I needed to change my PCM, but couldn't wait to see a doctor for my foot. The TriCare rep put an authorization on file for me to go to Urgent Care (like a fill-in referral) and told me to just call and change my PCM as soon as I could. 

I went to the Urgent Care clinic, waited less than 10 minutes, got 3 x-rays and discovered that I have tendonitis in my right foot. Basically, I hyper-extended my tendon which caused the bruising and swelling. Of course, there is really nothing the doctor can do for tendonitis, so I was prescribed an ankle brace, ibuprofen for the pain and ice and elevation whenever swelling occurs. Oh, and I'm supposed to "take it easy." 

Which I have all the time in the world for...