Not everything is rosy, even
for married senior missionaries! Many of
the last few weeks have been spent in low intensity activities because of my
feet, or foot. I am having so much pain
in my heel, that it’s getting so I can’t stand on my feet for any length of
time! It used to be that it was just in
the mornings, but now it’s all the time, even to the point that I’m often
limping, and my left leg aches, even when I’m not on my feet.
We tried buying some new
orthotics–just the store-bought kind, a couple of months ago, but even those
were $80, and looked as if they might only last me a month or so! (I was already taping my foot.) When that didn’t help, we did go to a
podiatrist, or who we thought was a podiatrist.
But he just sold me some pre-made orthotics, which he had “doctored” by
covering with another layer, and some shoes, which seemed to be his real
business. On closer inspection of his
qualifications, we found that he is not really a doctor! No wonder he wouldn’t let us call him
“Doctor,” but insisted on our using his first name!
I hate complaining of yet
another ailment. My companion doesn’t
complain about anything! I guess we’ll
have to try again for a good doctor. We
had a similar experience with a doctor a while back. It’s a testament to me of the affects of
socialized medicine. There are all kinds
of doctors who are quacks, or who take advantage of people or of the poor
medical system. People complain of
having to wait for months to have procedures, or even to get in to see
specialists.
I’ve been wondering if the
problem stems from lack of enough calcium or magnesium, because I read that the
Lyrica I’m taking uses the calcium in your body, so now I’m taking extra
calcium and magnesium. I notice that
when my feet hurt, my back is more likely to act up too.
Sunday was ward
conference. I slept too long to have
breakfast, because Elder Ashby had to be there at 8:00, so I took my pills on
an empty stomach. Whoa! I was so dizzy and woozy, I just about fell
off the chair! And I was twitching! Several of the branch members noticed. I would like to ask the neurologist several
questions about modifying my meds, but he’s in Perth, and has only seen me for
10 minutes, and I’m an American! He has
no interest in helping me, even if I were close-by!
All these problems I am
having with my health are problems, of course, to my husband too, because my
resting time is time that we can’t be calling on people, making us fail to
reach our goals, which is not good for our feelings of worth as missionaries,
and sometimes leads to impatience or emotions.
It’s just plain hard! Really
hard!...Enough said about this. Sorry if
this was a venting session, but this blog is about real life as a missionary. There are even lessons in this…
3 comments:
Yeah, feet problems are a bummer. I just got $300.00 orthotics made. And they hurt! I'm glad you tell things as they really are. I hope you find a real podiatrist!
Can you go out separately and teach? It seems that you don't have the same rules as the young missionaries.
No way, the same rules. No way, rules! They leave seniors pretty much alone! I guess they trust us to be grown-up enough to make good decisions!
Mom, I thought you got new shoes so we didn't follow thru on them... Erin said she was going to talk to you again and then order them, but she couldn't get you...Please let her know and we will send the $$. Sorry it's so hard!
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