Tonight's Blog Post #2: The Doctor's Office

I'm just going to be real' brief in relating this particular experience lest I begin vilifying the story's antagonist. It went like this:

I went to see a foot doctor on Monday. I came in on my crutches, but then they had me fill out this clipboard of information, so when the medical assistant came to call me back, I had to walk about 20 feet or so carrying the clipboard over to the door, and because my hand was full, I also had to carry my crutches....oh wait, let me preface this by saying that I was feeling a little emotional. When I think about my foot, it makes me sad. The saddest part of all this is that I haven't been able to run/ski/hike/bike/walk normally?/etc for the last year or really do any exercise at all (minus a brief stint with bikram yoga), which was sort of like losing a small chunk of my identity. Things could be infinitessimally worse, and I realize this, but it was/is hard nonetheless. When I think about it for more than a couple seconds, I get teary. Back to story:

MA: "Usually when people have crutches they use them!"

Mackenzie (staring at her in utter disbelief): "I ca..." (I couldn't even finish the word "can't" because my jaw just dropped)

MA (as I hand her the clipboard and crutch past her): "We'll do anything we can to accomodate you." (smiles)

Mackenzie, in her head: Really? Because you maybe could have carried that clipboard for me when you saw me carrying the crutches?

A few minutes later in the examining room, I related to her that I had been having a foot problem for over a year. She then began entering information into the computer, and then randomly turned to me and said,

"You must not be a runner."

Mackenzie (sad, devastated look on face): ".....I was...."

And then I began to cry.

MA (gives me a sympathetic look): "Would you like a tissue?"

Mackenzie: "No."

Can I just say that maybe the medical profession is not for her? That's all I'm going to say.


If you are interested in hearing the next chapter in the saga that is Foot, continue reading:

We had a week off from school last week. I stayed off of my foot for 10 days and it did nothing. This confirmed our suspicions that perhaps my lingering pain was a result of thickening scar tissue around the nerve ending. So we paid $200 (thank you, "preexisting condition") for me to go see a foot specialist. After checking it out, he leaned back in his chair, and like the rest of the world, said, "Well, I'm not really sure what to tell you." And then he said the only thing that he could figure was the scar tissue theory, and the best way to break up some scar tissue is to walk on it. Which would be really painful, were it not for Dad's inspired/terrifying move to put me on some scary fibromyalgia/diabetic nerve pain/seizure medication that apparently is often prescribed for foot neuroma pain i.e. something that might work for me. So that kicked in right around when Florian, el foot guy, told me to ditch the crutches and start walking. So I am currently *walking* (huzzah for that!!) without pain thanks to Dad, Lyrica, and Florian. We'll see what happens when I go off the Lyrica, but guys, I'm feeling very, very optimistic about this.

Related note: I got to exercise yesterday!!!! Now that Foot is a wee bit better, I went swimming! The incision/scar was a little infected for a while so I was a bit hesitant to dive into public pool waters, but now it's all healed up and I headed down to the local pool and got my heart rate up. It felt so nice. Can't describe how nice. People, exercise is the solution to many, many, many of our problems. Including crying. Seriously, I have cried more times in the last year than maybe in all of junior high (save that for a later post...ha ha) because since I couldn't exercise I had no other stress relief. I would sort of just lay in bed at night and cry, not because anything in particular was wrong, but just because I generally felt better when I was finished. Really, there was rarely, if ever, anything wrong. Crying just released all that pent-up whatever. And now that I've exercised, I haven't cried since Monday. Yippeee!!!!