dear god, please get rid of my (potential) shin splints

I got home from my 4.5 mile run this afternoon and started crying. Yes, crying. My dad came into the family room and asked what was wrong. "My-my-my leg hurts. Really bad. Right here." I pointed to my left inner calf.

"Shin splints," he said.

"What?!?! No. No no no! I can't take time off!!!" I cried. I proceeded to do some internet research, and what I found wasn't good at all. Every single website told me that I need to back off on my mileage and rest for awhile.

I can't do that. I don't want to do that. Especially now, when I've started relying on running like a drug.

So now I'm sitting here, whimpering with an ice pack on my left leg. I'm not exactly sure what to do about this, but I do know that I'm going pray really, really hard for this injury to go away.