My Feet: They Hurt. A Lot.

Some of you may remember WAAAAY back that my feet have been bothering me. I was diagnosed with plantar's fasciitis in my right foot about two years ago. And shortly after that, I broke said foot, and the plantar's fasciitis went away. Until now.

About six months ago, my lefy foot started hurting in the same way my right had, so I self-diagnosed the PF and went out to get some lifts for my shoes. The pain didn't go away, and one night, after limping along like a hobo on a bender, Juggling freak insisted that I make an appointment to see the doctor. And I did.

I went to the doctor right around my birthday, which as you may remember was slap-bang in the middle of October. The doctor did absolutely NOTHING for me, not even giving me the benefit of believing that I knew what the pain in (now) both of my heels meant. He said that he doubted that I had plantar's fasciitis, but that he'd put in a referral to the orthopedist, and in the meantime, I was to wear shoes ALL THE TIME. Even in my house.

So, time goes by. October fades into November, and November into December. The pain gets better for about 3 weeks. Then, it comes back stronger than ever. There have been several nights where the pain was so intense that tears came to my eyes. I'm getting madder and madder that I paid my co-pay for a visit to the doctor that did nothing to help me AND that I still have no referral. Finally, after one too many painful evenings and one to many nags from JF, I call the doctor's office to complain that I STILL haven't gotten my referral. It must have worked, because -- Lo and behold! -- the very next morning, I had a call informing me that my appointment was a go.

I went to the Ortho yesterday morning, and STILL have hurting feet. The ortho ordered x-rays, which showed that I have very small bone spurs on my left heel, in both the front and back, and a smaller one on the back of the right. The Ortho Doc, however, says that "85% of the time, this problem self-corrects." He gives me these exercises to do (already doing them, which I told him) and tells me to get lifts for my shoes (already had them, which I told him.) He then goes on to say that I should take some ibuprofen for the pain, and maybe roll a frozen water bottle underneath my feet a few times a day. Yeah. Like I have time to do that.

He also says that if the pain doesn't go away with the exercises and the water bottle trick, to come see him in a month, and he may recommend physical therapy. Hooray. All I want is to not have to walk around in pain all the time.