Grouchy Podiatrist

My podiatrist was grouchy today, and admitted it, brave fellow, because he was using a new piece of technology to help record the medical records. It looked like one of those StarTrek devices, about the size of a legal pad, and less than an inch thick. He wrote, and it typed, although sometimes it asked him what exactly that particular scrawl meant.

I'm encouraged, that he did not recommend surgery or casting or steroid injections, nor did he poo-poo my foot pain. He's taking me off the naproxen sodium and prescribed a non-OTC NSAID. He also wonders whether I have some other condition either contributing to the pain I'm experiencing or else reducing my ability to deal with it.

In other words, I could be developing some rheumatoid-related disorder, which could be increasing the pain. (Yuck. In my studies, those would be lupus, polymyalgia rheumatica, or rheumatoid arthritis, or something else. I wouldn't sign up for those voluntarily, you understand. ) The other factor that may be reducing my pain threshold could be either depression or insomnia. Blecch. He ordered blood tests which may show some markers to suggest sending me to a rheumatologist for a work-up.

So, we'll ask the internal medicine doctor about all that on Friday. And let her prescribe some anti-depressants and/or sleeping meds.

I don't want to get a diagnosis of depression again. I don't want to live in depression again.

But, I gotta say, it is better than scheduling bilateral foot surgeries. And recovering from them in my two-story house.

And depression and diabetes go hand-in-hand. Many of us experience depression. It's not that abnormal. And I know the signs and signals that I see when I go through that.

We're continuing the investigation. I'm hopeful that there could be some future resolution for the foot pain. Which could mean that I could resume walking and other types of exercise that I enjoy, at least on a limited basis. Cool!