F is for Feet (Thanks, Mom!)

I may or may not have mentioned this to you personally, but I recently went to the podiatrist because my foot hurt. My feet always hurt. But this time the left foot hurt a lot. It was the second time that I had this problem, so I finally decided to go see someone. As much as everything thinks I'm a hypochondriac, I'm not. I don't like to go to the doctor. I'd rather not know if I'm dying, I just like worrying about it. I went to the doctor and he looked at my feet and took x-rays and watched me walk. When the x-rays were complete he put them up in the room. Well, he walked in, looked at the x-rays and said, "Wow." "Huh, wow, this kind of damage isn't the kind of damage that you can do yourself from wearing bad shoes or something, this is the kind of damage that you have to inherit." And so, thanks, mom!

The doctor said I have extra bones in my feet, which 10% of the population have, and that it's not a problem. He also said I needed orthotics ASAP. He said he usually doesn't recommend orthotics on the first visit, but my feet are bad. The bones are curved. That's because I bend my feet in (on the arch) when I walk, it's called "pronating". It's bad for your feet because over time it curves the bones, like mine, which is bad. Eventually without some sort of correction I'd need to have surgery and have them break my feet, blah, blah. It was all doom and gloom at that appointment. But I got fitted for orthotics (special leather ones because I HAVE SUCH BAD FEET, they keep reminding me) and they should be coming in soon. So that's nice. Although not nice is the fact that apparently my feet, knees, joints, calf muscles, etc. will hurt for about the next 6 months or so because I essentially have to learn how to walk.

In other news, I do have good bones apparently. I mean, strong bones. He looked at my bone density on the x-rays and was impressed. So I've got that going for me.

Oh, and perhaps the best part was when the guy who was fitting me for the orthotics was talking about how bad my feet were and how I didn't walk properly, etc. He asked if I had trouble keeping up with the other kids in gym when we were running and stuff. I said yes. He said that's because my feet are so bad. I was always under the impression that it was because I've always carried an extra 50 lbs. or something, but I'm going to go ahead and take the excuse that it's my feet. "So take that, Mr. Olsen! No, I cannot run the mile any faster. I've got a doctor's note to prove it too!"

Fin.