So long to all my pain, good night to my heartache. Goodbye sorrow, I won't cry no more, I'm leaving tomorrow. - Brandy, Tomorrow

That video shows what they did to test my compartments in my leg. Mine were in the front and side though. It makes me cringe to watch the video. It hurt. Bad. I could handle it, but if they tried to do it again I would tell them they were crazy.

I had my ortho appt today to measure my muscle compartments in my leg. There are 4 comparments in your lower leg that can swell too much during exercise and cause problems. Mine turn out to be the anterior (front) and lateral (side).

During rest they take an 18g needle and stick it into your muscle and measure the pressure the muscle puts on the fascia around it. It felt like my past piercings. I can handle pain, but I was still nervous. They didn't numb my skin because they said it doesn't do much anyway. You can feel it go into the skin, but then you feel it pop into your muscle. They do a stick per compartment/per leg. Then, they have you work out (I ran on the treadmill for a mile and a half until the pain was unbearable) and came back and they stuck me again. The pressures were above 30mmHg, so they were a diagnostic postive. The doctor even said just looking and feeling my legs, you could see how tight the muscles were. He said, done deal and we'll schedule the surgery to fix it! It really hurt.....I won't lie. I tolerated it, but I would NOT want to do it again.

Next, I just wait for the nurse to call and schedule my appt. I'm soooo excited. I just can't wait to be able to be done with this pain. No burning or tightness when walking fast, or snowboarding, or running! It has been 8 years. I won't know what to do with myself.

I almost cried when I was talking to the doctor about it. I'm just so happy. I don't think people understand, but when I ran on the treadmill today when I got to 1.5 miles, I couldn't even walk right. I had foot drop and the muscles hurt so bad I was shaking and almost started crying.

Soon it will all be in the past!