inflamed, not fractured

i spent 4 hours in the urgent care clinic yesterday and, after a kind visit from a friend who works near the clinic and utilising the wireless in the waiting area to get some work done, i finally had my foot x rayed to see if i had a stress fracture.  and the good news is that my bones are in one piece.  the bad news is that they suspect i have plantar fasciitis.

and when i googled it, the phrase 'very painful condition' came up often, great...  but it makes sense because i was hobbling around this past weekend and hadn't experienced pain that affected my mobility so drastically.  call it a learning (and humbling) experience.

and even though i am not thrilled about having an inflamed plantar fascia, i was happy to hear that i did have something wrong with me because then i felt like i wasn't wasting the time of the doctors, nurses, and emergency room staff and i was impressed with how quickly i was able to get x rays taken and read and a diagnosis made.  and it made me think that if this had gone down in the us there would be a substantial bill to pay and i might have opted against x rays because i do not have health insurance from my employer at the moment, which would mean i would have had to cancel my hike for fear of exacerbating a fracture.  scary.

my next steps are to rest my foot this week, make an appointment to see a podiatrist, and wear my birkenstocks (thank god for birkenstocks!).

have you had this or know someone who has suffered from plantar fasciitis?  any tips on what to do or not do to decrease the inflammation?    or prevent it in the future?  or how to complete a 4 day hike without pain next week??

ouch. and eek.