Sad Day of Sadness

Once we got to the top of the hill, David asked me how my foot felt. It hurt. A lot. I was honest about my symptoms: When I wake up and take my first step, its at an 8 or 9 out of 10 for pain. When I rest, and then start back up, it hurts almost as much. Every step for the first mile bugs me, and then I tolerate it, and then by mile 5 or 6 it hurts again with almost every step. Taking a zero day does not make it any better, which is frustrating, because one would think... I basically rested it for 40 hours and it did not feel any different.
He asked, "Do you want to put the hike on hold?"
I cried. I honestly didn't know.
I quit a lot of things. This is the one thing in my life I really didn't want to quit. Its a hard hike, and having foot pain like this doesn't make it super enjoyable, even though it is a very enjoyable hike. The views are incredible, the people you meet, the raw emotions that are hard to come by in the real world. If I quit, he would probably continue, and I hated the idea of missing out on the adventure or of him having to do it alone. Even if we both stopped, other people would be having the adventure, and we would miss out.

We did some research and I suspect what I am dealing with is plantar fasciitis. There is a band of tough tissue that runs from the heel to the toes used for support of the foot. Somehow, I believe I injured this band by overuse and if I continue to work through the pain, I can cause more damage which will be most regrettable and difficult to heal. David believed that finishing this hike was not worth injuring my foot further. The symptoms line up with this, although I cannot conclusively say it is plantar fasciitis.
I cried a bit. Once again, I was emotional.
Options:

• Get it checked out by a podiatrist or MD who specializes in foot and ankle. 
• Possibly I just need custom orthotics, a dose of IB profen and to take it easy for a few days with the option of getting back on the trail.
• Modify the hike. Maybe hike a few miles without a pack into a section with David, hike out, get the car, go to the other side of the section, hike in, meet him, hike out. We would then both have lighter loads and he could potentially get through an entire section in a day without a pack to worry about. 
• Quit the hike altogether. Heal the foot, get a job, start making money again. Tackle the hike another year, or a section at a time. 

We have put so much time, energy and money into  all of this. We have so much high caloric food that I doubt I should have much of it in real life.  

I'm still torn. If the doc gives the OK, do I want to head back on to the trail? 

After just coming down I70 from Dillon earlier that day, David's brother Brian graciously drove back up to get us and bring us "home" to Fort Collins. But before that, I got to eat at Rio one more time while we waited for the rain to stop.