Amputation? Unlikely

I used to make gentle fun of my sister Diane because if she caught wind of a new disease, she was certain she had it. In my defense, she freely admitted to her medical hysteria, a condition that is apparently either hereditary or contagious.

Let me explain: I tend to ignore pain, maladies and discomfort for a while. Usually, they go away and I feel vindicated for allowing my body to heal itself. Occasionally, though, I seek help. After years of pain and a left toe that was twisting toward the right, I had a bunion removed about a year and a half ago. Post-surgery, it was glorious. No pain. My toe is nearly normal, and I can wear shoes again without flinching every other step.

I'm fairly active and like most people, I occasionally over do it and have back or knee or foot pain. It usually goes away. I spent some extended time with Jen and Peter recently. During that time, I joined Jen on her latest fitness plan, jumping around a bunch and wearing myself out. Then, we worked on a flower bed, and then Jeff and I went down to Florida to help Ali and Beau (along with his parents, Deb and Tim) move into their new apartment. 

Both Jeff -- who got down to Florida a whole day sooner than me and worked harder at the move -- and I are hobbling around a bit as a result of the lifting and toting done. But my problematic toes got more problematic.

In addition to numbness, they started to hurt, and last night they spasmed. Then, I was gifted -- thank you Facebook -- with a warning that diabetics whose toes go numb risk amputation. (I'm not diabetic but I am apparently my sister's, uh, sister.)

Today, I went back to my awesome podiatrist, Dr. Agricola with my concerns. He reminded me that I'd been in last year with my toes issue. 

He'd given me a shot and recommended orthotics to address the compressed nerve that is causing my toes to go numb and hurt. That shot either comes with a dose of amnesia or I'd treated it like childbirth and erased it from my memory. (I think it might have hurt worse than Ali's arrival, but I had morphine with that, so I could be confused.)

I had no recall of having already talked to him about my toes until he reminded me. And then shot me up again. And ordered me the orthotics I should have gotten a year ago. Next time, I think I'll just follow his advice from the get-go. 

In other news, Jeff and I had a glorious trip driving to and staying in Maine and got an unexpected bonus of a weekend in Orlando. 

The weather was mostly good. The scenery was amazing. We got to see Debra and Michael DeCourcy, take in three baseball games and spend quality time with family at Jen and Peter's China Lake house. Ali and Beau flew in for a bit. I had thought they had plenty of friends to help them move, but it turns out they need better, stronger friends.

We climbed a small mountain, went to the theatre, read books in the cool of the trees between the house and the lake, dunked ourselves in the lake and generally lazed about thanks to the largess of Jen and Peter. The lake was its usual wonderful respite despite a gang of ducks that kept drifting by giving us the side-eye like we were the interlopers. 

On the fifth, Ali and Beau flew back to Florida at dawn and Jeff drove back to Indiana like a madman - straight through. If you're motivated and fueled with 5-Hour Energy, you, too, can drive from Portland to Indy in 15.5 hours. 

I don't recommend it.

I stayed another five days and had planned to fly home. I changed my flight to help with the Florida move. Weather kept us an extra day, and Tim and Deb graciously put us up in their brand new, gorgeous home.

Turns out, Indy is just as hot as Orlando right now, and Maine had a few days that came close or was as hot. Mostly those were flower bed building days. I miss the lake. And the pool. 

But hey, I have all my toes, and it looks like I'll be keeping them!