I Must Stop Talking About Feet

I have written some thoroughly exciting posts about my feet. I don’t even like feet and yet I seem to spend an inordinate amount of my time here discussing them. Except for recently, since they seemed to be fixed and my podiatrist had sorted them out with the insoles and the stretches that I never really did. But of course they weren’t done causing me problems, so last week I ended up with this:

It is a ridiculous bandage for what was actually a small procedure. There wasn’t even really a wound to speak of, but this was to keep it from getting more mashed I guess. What happened was, two days before tryouts I had immense pain in my toe. The kind of pain you think can’t really come from a toe because, well, it’s a freaking toe, how much damage can it do you? The answer, my friends, is a quite a goddamn bit. I suspected an ingrowing toenail, one of those things I have irrationally feared all my life (like an appendicitis, but that’s another story) so I finally manned up and went to my podiatrist.

I went in and he had a look at it and said yes, he thought it was in grown and there were a couple of options but what he’d suggest would be to cut it away now. Uh huh. Now you say? Hold up there Mr Podiatrist, I have an important question before you start using those pointy objects you’ve got there. If I do this will I be able to skate on Saturday? He answered in the affirmative. Then have at it mate.

I didn’t look, but it wasn’t that bad at all.  I expected excruciating pain and there wasn’t really any to be had. Yay for the podiatrist. I had to keep the dressing on for a week (changing it of course) and when I went back he said it looked fine and so now I have to cross fingers (but maybe not toes) that it stays fine and I don’t have to have it removed entirely.

And because that was far too much talk of feet for one post, here’s a picture of banana bread. It was my first attempt, and it was yummy.

I am Alive and Doing Things

I’m doing a terrible job of keeping this place updated at the moment. Even my endlessly fascinating roller derby posts have dried up. That’s because I’ve missed a few practices, and there’s only so many times I can post pics of my bruises. But here, have some Carrie news:

Derby: I have come down with The Fear recently. I think this is since I graduated from Fresh Meat to Rec League and realised the others weren’t going to take it easy on us any more. This realisation probably occurred as I was hurtling through the air towards a wall after being properly hit by Sin for the first time. Oh. My. God. Wind knocked out of me, head hit floor, wanted to die…got back up again lest anyone think I am a big girl. Note to all: I am a big girl. Please stop hitting me! Alas, I am in the wrong sport for that. Although it is helping my agility as I then did anything to avoid being hit by Sin, which included some fancy footwork which saw her glide past me instead of being slammed.

I need to buy new skates, and not in a ‘need’ way that means I actually just want new skates (like I need new kneepads and wheels). My current ones are damaging my toes and as much as I like them and wish I could just get on with them, I think it’s time. I’m trying to work out sizing at the moment. My Anarchy skates are a size 6 (UK) which is the size I wear in shoes, but I know a lot of skaters go a size up for their skates. So maybe all that’s wrong here is the wrong size, which should be easy to fix, right? Well, maybe, but then I have to decide which kind of skate I want, how much to pay, do I want to worry about plates right now? (Short answer: not really.) There’s a lot of information out there and it’d be great if someone could just jump out of nowhere and say ‘Here! These are your perfect skates. Enjoy!’ Anyway, I’ve had some advice and narrowed downs ones to try, and will head off to the skate shop next week, hopefully leaving with shiny new ones!

Feet: I had another podiatrist appointment last week. It was a lady podiatrist this time because apparently my usual dude doesn’t work on Fridays, which it would have been nice to know when I made my appointment. Because I then had to explain again that I do roller derby and sorry sorry sorry for the state of my toes. And also forgot about my bruised shin until she asked me to roll my trouser legs up and I saw her wince. She has added yet more weird things to my insoles in an effort to fix my goddamn feet. They have been a lot better, the arch pain is gone, the heel pain has reduced. If I actually did the stretches I am supposed to do more than once a week they would probably be better. We’re now trying to fix the cramping I get on my outer foot, which is mostly caused by that part of my foot going ‘WTF? I’m having to take all this new pressure all of a sudden?’ That is my expert diagnosis. So I have these new circular additions to my insoles in the middle of my feet, which is weird.

I can maybe possibly maybe start running again in a couple of weeks. Maybe.

Work: Is work is work. Last week I was at a conference in Cambridge for the day and had to write about it for our blog. This is my first attempt and it’s been far more stressful than I expected. I don’t know what tone to use, or what voice, or how much of me should be in it. I think I’ve finished it now but we’ll see if they like it. The rest of work is not exactly thrilling me, but maybe it’s just a hump I need to get over.

Books: I am still making my way through the Song of Ice and Fire books, after being hooked on the Game of Thrones tv series. I loved the first three, they were quick reads because so much was happening and I had to know what was going on. A Feast For Crows isn’t holding my attention as much, but I’m getting there.

Films: I finally saw Harry Potter this weekend. I enjoyed it, for the most part, but I thought that damn epilogue was just as bad as it was in the books. Badly done and mostly unnecessary. No matter how hard they tried with the makeup, they still looked like kids playing dress up. In very dweeby clothes might I add. They’re supposed to be what, not even 40? You can be 40 and not dress in power suits and bad blouses. And you don’t have to have a gut, Ron. I think the first part of Deathly Hallows is my favourite of the films, it had the best mix of book/plot and down time where we got to sit with the characters a bit. The dancing scene is wonderful. The second part is more action-packed and mostly moves from battle to battle. I think the Harry/Ginny relationship suffered a lot in the films. I found it hard to care about them at all, which also added to the scene at the end’s misfire. Hermione and Ron get a lot of screen time as Harry’s friends, but Ginny only turns up every now and then, looking at him longingly or stealing a kiss, and then she’d gone again. Anyway, give it five years and they’ll reboot the whole thing, and we can start again.

Feet Update

It’s already been four weeks since my first appointment with the podiatrist where I learned I should be grateful I can even walk at all, given all the things wrong with me. Slight embellishment. Tuesday was my check up to see how I’m getting on with my insoles. I got to tell him that the pain in my arches is gone. Hurrah! (I actually can’t remember what it felt like. Did I have pain in my arches?) Unfortunately the pain has transferred to my heels (not a good sign for the old plantar fascia) and I’ve been getting bad cramps in the outsides of my feet as well. So he’s removed some of the wedges from my insoles as it may have been over correcting my stance and putting too much pressure on the outside of my feet. I’ve also got to do stretches before I get out of bed to warm up my feet, so to speak, which will hopefully help the heel pain, in addition to the stretches I already do. Everything else looks ok, and so I’ll go back in 4-6 weeks, depending on how it goes.

He said the aim is to get me running again, since that’s what I said I wanted when I first went. I know, my 15 year old self is going ‘Are you mental or what woman?’ At that age I would have given anything for a decent excuse not to have to do PE ever again. 15 years later and I’m pissed because I can’t go running. The irony is not lost on me. But hopefully after my next check up all will be ok and I’ll get the go ahead to at least try going for a run. We’ll see.

Scary Feet

After months and months (and months) of putting it off, I finally went to see a podiatrist. The pain in my feet wasn’t going away no matter how much I willed it and pretending it’s normal to hurt every time you take a step was just stupid. I know this. I figured I had flat feet and some insoles would sort me out and all would be fixed in no time. Turns out the flat feet are just the tip of the iceberg. Just call me Forrest Gump.

I had my appointment this evening. I filled in my little medical history form and forked over a small fortune for a gait analysis. I took off my shoes and socks and rolled my jeans up to my knees as the podiatrist looked me up and down, and then had me lie on a table. I expected a few things from this, flat feet like I said, but never did I expect this:

‘You’re short a leg.’

‘What?

‘You’ve got one leg shorter than the other.’

‘I say again: WHAT?’

Apparently 2mm makes a huge difference to the way you walk, but not enough to make you walk in circles, as I joked while slightly freaking out. I’m deformed! Every step I take forces my foot to over compensate in ways I can’t remember and I’ll probably get it wrong anyway, but I’m basically slamming my foot into the ground and squashing my tendons/muscles whathaveyou. Not content with this, I also have tight calves which means my heel doesn’t hit the ground as it should, also adding to the muscle problems and making me a stomper. And I over pronate, which means my feet roll inwards and I have little to no range of motion in my right big toe, meaning my other toes have been taking the brunt of my steps and my little toe is being smushed and pushed out to the side which may lead to bunions if we don’t correct it. I think. I was kind of overwhelmed.  Oh, and did I mention I’m slightly knock-kneed? But good news! I have excellent range of motion in my hips. Well thank Christ for something.

His main concern, other than getting me to walk properly, was my plantar fascia, which is connective tissue in the arch of my foot and which is, because of my myriad deformities, being pushed and pulled in different directions causing it to be inflamed and this is where a lot of my pain is coming from.

The solution to all this? First up it’s insoles to correct my stance/walk. When I first put them in and stood there I laughed a little and asked ‘Is this how normal people stand?’ I am so used to having my whole foot be on the floor that only feeling my weight on the outside was well weird. And my toes were raised a bit! It’s just odd. But I will get used to it. I also have to do stretching exercises every day to sort out my calves and other muscles. And then I go back in four weeks to see if any of this is working.

I should go do my stretches now.