To all feet big and long

The matter of size

I was in no ape suit nor was I traipsing around some out back, a request revealed that I needed size 46 slippers and there I was under threat of probing analysis.

Jokes and laughter followed as I was told the National Geographic will be called to take me away - I could only wonder why.

There is no saying that there is some sensitivity attached to feet being big rather than long and I do protest almost too vehemently that my feet are long rather than big.

Somehow, people cannot resist the urge to say Bigfoot, thankfully no one has yet said Sasquatch or else it might well be my “big” foot in their mouths and worse.

The little-endian part of this big-endian story is that each of my feet is exactly a foot long leading one to aver that I do really have 2 feet in every truth you can muster apart from the stability such feet give me for my average height of 6 feet or 1.83 meters.

That is not to say those with feet short of feet do not have two feet but stumps, I suppose if you can twiddle your toes you are standing on something and adaptation or evolution allows for the stability you have.

Foot in back

I will not be found foot loose on this matter where I have to do much foot work to ensure my foot does not end in my mouth just because someone somewhere has acquired a foot fetish from knowing my foot size.

Rather than have my foot the butt of silly jokes, I should really put my foot in the backside of the joker and ensure the boot is studded.

The question then is what are long feet good for, if you cannot swim? Answers on a foot stool – Thanks!

A walk of healing

Coming a long way

The neighbourhood nurse was here today and he was the first here just after I left hospital, he has paid the most visits and basically knows the most about the progression of the lesion wounds under my feet to date.

We both inspected my left foot and came to the conclusion that it was healing very well and apart from patches of dry skin that were pulled off, the only thing left was for the sole skin to thicken up just as it should be for normal soles.

Critical to his observation was the fact that the wounds which were quite severe had healed over a relatively short time. The neighbourhood nurse is used to seeing and dressing wounds like mine which never seem to heal.

A miracle, no doubt

In my case, it appears the natural process of healing had been speeded up in what one would call a miracle without bating about the bush. When I suggested it was like a healing miracle, the nurse who is generally an agnostic quickly concurred. We agreed his last visit would be on Friday.

I had a miracle working in me all the time and I never really realised that was happening, in the last few weeks, the progress has been quite rapid, I am off most of the pain medication apart from the patch which seems to run well over the 72-hour period without any noticeable discomfort.

I have not crawled round my home for about week, the crawling necessitated by a few areas of acute pain I used to have in my foot, for the first time in almost 3 months, I was also able to wash under running water my right foot.

Walking has been very comfortable, it might end up giving up my orthopaedic shoe after meeting with the consultants today and start using normal shoes from now on.

I still use crutches for support but soon, I might just need a cane and eventually ditch that altogether.

Thanks and gratitude

Great thanks indeed should first of all go to God, there is no way I could have successfully come through any of this without His mercy and His grace upon me, I have also seen amazing advances in medicine and healthcare that have helped me through these times and finally my friends and well-wishers who contributed in ways that leave me in deep gratitude, I just have not found ways to be thankful enough.

My neighbours who cared for me in the darkest times doing the most menial tasks and feeding me at strange hours when I was completely without strength, my dear friend who came to live with me and cared for all my needs beyond what friendship demands – I thank you all.

The only way is up from here, God who has seen me thus far is helping me rebuild my life again, my hopes are high, my expectations are great, my vision is gaining clarity and purpose.

Thank you.

My left foot

Door-to-door transport available

I was back in hospital again today to do two things, the main appointment was to get my new shoe and the ancillary one was to have blood taken for tests.

Thinking through how to get to the hospital without using the landau of unnecessary ostentation, I found there was door-to-door public transport from my home to the main entrance of the hospital, with a very convenient change-over half-way through the journey.

After a few checks on the local transport times, I got the bus and changed to the tram without having to stop for long arriving at the hospital some 30 minutes to spare before the shoe appointment.

No appointments are required for the blood giving exercise, you arrive, take a number and you are processed, pricked and your venesection is complete in less than 15 minutes.

No foretaste creates low expectations

I then went to the Orthopaedic section and waited as the appointed time came and went, I did not get seen for another 35 minutes, in which time I had buried myself in a Sudoku puzzle and read a few articles in the Economist.

In this experience, I can say never have I seen the greater need for a clear idea of what you will be getting just as for a house you see plans and models, for machines you get prototypes and for curtains you get colour cards and all the matching stuff to help you in informed decision making.

I received no such thing regarding my orthopaedic shoe such that the shoe I was fitted with last week did not get a glowing review at all, I was planning on rejecting the shoe today such that I had painfully shoe-horned my foot into one of my wide but regular shoes to prove a point.

I really should have been given an idea of what I would be getting, I was pleasantly surprised. But it shows how without a foretaste you can end up with extremely low expectations.

I really like it

Apparently, what I wore last week was prototypically to model the wearing and fitting to the real shoe, especially the shoe inlay which was to bear and distribute the weight underfoot with due consideration of the painful but healing lesions.

So, out came this boot, the inlay first tried out on my foot then put into the boot and I put on the shoe, it got all laced up and pulled to fit and there we were, a shoe that looked like it was begging for a partner shoe to make up a pair.

Black, thick felt, moulded to my own foot, bespoke and wearing well, but just for my left foot.

It fits well and I have offered a slideshow of the shoe and inlay here, pictures can do the rest of the talking.

My Shoe Slideshow on Flickr