Boots made for walkin'

Okay, enough self-indulgent bitching about my slightly unsatisfying social life. We know that y'all really come to this journal to hear about my ongoing foot trouble, right?

I've been worried since the boot went on that staying off that foot would lead to problems in the other. I'd had some pains despite the jerry-rigged instep pads I got from the doc, but the real problems didn't start until the boot came off. Despite my best efforts, I kept favouring the right foot, and soon enough I had pain in the left. It felt like I'd jammed my toe, but I couldn't remember any such incident.

For a while, I was worried I'd have to make a swift return to the podiatrist's, but then the pains disappeared as suddenly as they arose. They stayed away a week and then--WHAM!--came out of nowhere last night, becoming increasingly intense until I could barely put any weight on my left foot at all. I woke up at 2 a.m. to the realisation that I'd finally moved the bottle of ibuprofen back upstairs only the day before because I didn't need it get out of bed any more. (monshu will never know how close he came to being sent up for it. Well, until he reads this, I guess.)

So I called this morning and had my Monday appointment rescheduled. The doctor was happy to hear the right foot was doing well and not particularly surprised to hear I had trouble with the left. He prescribed methylprednisolone to decrease inflammation of the tendon and suggested that it might be aggravated by a touch of gout. Gout? Really? Ironically, I'd joked at Saturday night's escapades at contracting this, as something more fitting of my decadent lifestyle than a silly fracture.

The ultimate diagnosis, though, seems to be bad footwear. He showed me how the crease was rubbing the tendon when I walked and suggested roomier, harder shoes--more like my old Cat boots, in fact. In another of the seemingly endless series of ironies involved, I've hated this pair almost since I bought them and had been looking to buy replacements right around the time I crunched my metatarsal. Only yesterday, I'd been musing on whether without them I'd ever have broken it in the first damn place. After all--I retorted as people mocked my klutziness--I've danced the same way hundreds of times in my life without harming myself. But what all those other times had in common was a sturdy pair of face-stompers.

WotD: a touch of gout

1. leichte Gicht
2. lichte jicht
3. un poco de gota
4. una mica de gota
5. un peu goutté
6. twtsh o droedwst
7. creathán gúta
8. dna
9. 조금 통풍 (조금 痛風)
10. 輕度痛風 qīnɡdù tòngfēng

Notes: The list of dietary restrictions for gout looks like something drawn up by Dr Nick. I described it to a coworker and he exclaimed, "That's like the opposite of heart healthy!" Here are the foods from the "EAT ALL YOU WANT" section:

Vegetables (except as noted above [i.e. peas, cauliflower, lentils, beans asparagus, mushrooms spinach]), Fruits, Milk, Cheese, Eggs, Spices & condiments including salt & vinegar, Refined cereals and cereal products, Butter and fates in moderation, Sugars & Sweets, Vegetable soups (clear), Nuts

I immediately drew monshu's attention to "Sugars & Sweets", but I probably won't push this too hard lest he come down on the no-more-than-one-serving-of-meat-a-day thing.