Foot status: getting near the end

[cjsmith]

80: I've tried the things that probably had, oh, an eighty percent chance of curing me. (Seeing doctors.)

40: I've tried the things that had maybe a forty percent chance if I'm generous (physical therapy, orthotics, surgery).

10: I've tried some things that had maybe a ten percent chance (myofascial therapy, "anodyne" infrared therapy, chiropractic care).

I'm going to guess acupuncture is also in the 10% range. I might be a bit generous to put it at ten, but what the heck, I'll be generous today. Given that the podiatrists can't help, seeing one more type of doctor -- an orthopedist rather than a podiatrist -- is probably also in the 10% bucket. I'll try those two. Babying my feet as much as I can possibly manage for six months to a year is probably also around 10%.

5: Getting a doctor recommendation from retired physician / square-dance-friend in the Los Angeles area is maybe in the five percent range. I haven't done this yet.

1

Then I'm into the one percent bucket. There are endless things that might be charitably considered to have a one percent chance of just fortunately luckily happening to work for my problem. Note that none of this gets any less expensive, though its potential to help me becomes vanishingly small.

I can bleed away my time and energy and money fighting this problem less and less effectively, or I can spend my life living (what's left of) my life. Once I get into the one percent list I'm likely to opt for the latter. Not only do I not have infinite time or money or energy, I don't have infinite reserves of emotional strength for the hope and the disappointment.

In short, I'm not going to do much from the one percent list.

One way or another, this story probably ends in 2006.

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ooo, good point -- I didn't mean that grim sort of imagery at all. I meant to say that if my feet don't miraculously heal in the next year or so, I'm very likely to quit fighting it, merely labeling myself a permanent gimp and getting on with what parts of life I can still do.

Sheesh. Makes me wonder what stuff is hiding under there in a Freudian sort of way.

[johnreen.livejournal.com]

Given your stated mood in this post... uhhh... yeah... IAWTC.

I can't say I have much experience with this, but I've seen others have to deal with it; it's often extra problematic because it often compounds itself (i.e. can't exercise due to pain, so there's weight gain, which causes more pressure on things, which causes more pain, which leads to more not exercising, etc.)

Having said that, I have to agree with thatwesguy... I think one thing we Americans miss is how much crap we put our body through daily, but in really small amounts. It adds up.

Have you, for instance, thought (as, granted, part of the 1%) making sure you get 8-10 hours of sleep every night, only eating certain types of foods (heavy on veggies, for instance), and attacking it from the "trying to generally be less crappy to your body in a wholistic sense"-angle?

Maybe you have, and if so, I'll shuttup... :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

"IAWTC" = ?

I've made some modifications to my diet. Sugar, for example (and this includes corn syrup), triggers low-grade systemic inflammation. So does caffeine. Most people are healthy and will never notice. I notice. I've cut drastically back on those. I'm not perfect -- I'll break down and have something sweet from time to time -- but I do far better than I used to do, and I consume way way less sugar and caffeine than most people I know.

Sleep I'm pretty good on. I'm a princess about my eight hours of sleep. Not to say I can't get so stressed that I'll mess it up, but I don't deliberately stay out late.

Now the veggies... heh. I'm not so good with those. I'm a good girl with my daily multivitamin, but veggies are where my report card doesn't look good.

IAWTC

[gev.livejournal.com]

the most common result on googling is:
"I Agree With That Comment"

Re: IAWTC

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I knew I'd seen it before -- just didn't know where. :-)

[airporter.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the clarification. My brain first read the grim, then corrected to CJ-ism.

*hugs* are always good therapy. *hug*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Wow, do I always talk grim? If so, that's good for me to know!

[airporter.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was poorly phrased. My apologies. You're not regularly grim, so when you are warning bells ring loudly. Even in something darker, you most often present a little ray of sunshine. Reality's in there. But so is hope.

This entry just required a little more thought to see you. I have of picture in my mind of "an intrepid wandering adventurer." Now, how did a mobility impaired, desk-bound programmer geek conjure that in my unimaginative ball of grey matter? It's all in the imagery. ;-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. Makes sense! And since I really didn't MEAN to be grim... I guess my focus on, as I put it, "living (what's left of) my life" *was* the ray of sunshine. Even if there's a lot of stuff I can't do in the rest of my life, there's stuff left that I CAN do, and I can focus on that.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

PS: the "intrepid wandering adventurer" is who I'd like to be. That's who, I tell myself anyway, my inner personality really is. It just happens to have bad feet now, so the outer appearance is the programmer gimp. :-)