After nearly 10 days of worrying, obsessing, a little crying and zero running, I finally got my answer today: I do NOT have a stress fracture!

As you know if you’ve been reading the blog this week, I feared that I might have a stress fracture near the fifth metatarsal of my left foot. And the only way to know for sure was to get a bone scan. According to WebMD, bone scans can help diagnose broken bones and stress fractures, often days to months earlier than a regular X-ray test.

My day started at the doctor’s office by getting an injection in my arm of a radioactive substance called a tracer. (Seriously, radioactive! Hardcore huh? Ha!). This substance travels through the body, into the bloodstream and into the bones. It is what allows the doctor to be able to see what is going on with your bones once the scan is complete.

Since it takes about 4 hours for the substance to travel into the bones, I sat and worked at the doctor’s office during that time.

I wore my Endorphin Warrior bracelet that says FOCUS on it to remind me that no matter what the results showed, I would stay focused on my goals, even if that meant changing my goals to accommodate injury recovery. And I would stay focused on what is really important: being healthy and happy. (I’ll be giving away one of these bracelets with the word of your choice on Monday, so be sure to check back then to enter.)

Finally, when I was fully penetrated with the radioactive substance (I just love saying that!), I was ready for the scan.

A special camera takes pictures of the substance in the bones. Area’s that don’t absorb the tracer appear dark and are considered “cold” spots (aka no fracture). Areas of fast bone growth or areas in a state of repair show up as bright or “hot” spots in the pictures (aka fracture likely).

I’m happy to report that my foot was a “cold” spot. My doctor called me almost immediately after the scan and delivered the good news: No stress fracture. Likely inflamation. Keep icing and taking some anti-inflamatories during the next 2 weeks. You can run.

Those last 3 words are like music to my ears. You. Can. Run.

After nearly 10 days of no running and just cross training, I’ve got a little ground to cover to get back to where I was earlier this month. I’m going to run 3 times this week (yes, I’m running today!) but will wait to see how my foot responds before adding speed work back in. I am hopeful that I can still meet my goals for my half marathon on April 28 despite this little setback. And even if I don’t, I will appreciate the ability to simply just be at the start line. You don’t realize how amazing simply getting to race day is until you are potentially facing not being able to run for 6 weeks or be there at all.

Thank you SO much to all of you who sent encouraging emails, tweets, Facebook messages and comments during the last 2 weeks. I think your support is what willed away the worst!

T-minus 30 days until show time. Onward and upward!

Have you ever had a bone scan or thought you had a serious injury that turned out to be nothing? How did you celebrate?