My Feet, Oh My Aching Feet

I was diagnosed with Plantar Fasciitis some time ago, maybe two or three years. The foot doctor gave me some inserts and sent me on my way. About six months later, while at my primary care physician's office, my doctor says to me while looking at my chart, "I see you have Plantar Fasciitis." I was awestruck that I'd never heard that diagnosis, especially since dh had been diagnosed with the same just a few weeks prior to my appointment with the foot doctor. You'd think I'd remember having the exact same painful condition as my dear husband (his has been much worse than mine for many years now). So apparently the foot doctor never actually told me that I have Plantar Fasciitis.

Anyway, I didn't really think too much about it, and even stopped wearing my inserts for about a year.

Then back in July, while doing a video Taebo workout with ds1, I pulled my heel. And it's been Pain City ever since. My foot was real bad during church camp, excruciatingly painful upon waking in the morning. We had to walk uphill to eat twice a day. The first day we had to go up the hill was very difficult. The pain in my foot was severe, my asthma was acting up; it was difficult trying to breathe in such a high altitude. It got easier as the days went by.

One thing that makes my feet much worse is wearing shoes that aren't cushioned enough. I just got a new pair of shoes not too long ago, and the cushioning wore out very quickly, within weeks. I searched out my inserts, thinking that would help. That was two weeks ago. I wore the inserts to work all week long. Thinking my feet would get used to them eventually, but by the end of the week my feet were aching so bad I was hobbling around - like I remember seeing my Grandpa do when I was a child. I always felt so bad for him with his bad feet, but my sympathy has increased a thousand fold since my feet have become worse.

I looked for some shoes with cushioning on the weekend of 8th, but only found these, which are not appropriate for the work place. One of my ex-coworkers has about a half dozen pair in every color you can imagine. I think they are the ugliest things. I mentioned this to my boss and she said the ex-coworker wears them because her feet hurt her so bad. :-( I never knew. She is still getting COBRA through my job, so she comes in every once in a while.

However, they are much more comfortable than anything I had to wear at home, and I learned through reading various websites that I need to protect my feet at all times. It has gotten to where I can't even walk from bed to the bathroom in the middle of night without putting these clog things on. The carpeted floor is difficult enough to stand on, I have been in such pain that I can't bear to stand in the shower, so I wear them in the shower, too.

The next week, I wore a soft insert on top of the orthotic insert. Just for a couple of days, before I had to take the orthotic insert out. And then dh and I stopped at Walmart to buy some inserts for both our feet. The pair I picked out was horrible, and we need to return them. The pair dh picked out were a little better, but my feet were still killing me.

It makes life much less bearable when your feet are hurting so bad, your toes are aching like they are bruised and your heels have constant shooting pains.

On the 14th, dh and I went into town to try to find me a new pair of shoes. Thankfully, I was successful, thanks to dh. I found a pair that is so cushiony and comfy. If it turns out that these shoes are comfortable, I am tempted to go back and buy another four or ten pair. They are men's shoes. Nevados.

No thanks to the salesman, who when I asked if he could tell me which shoes had the most cushion, told me the New Balance I was looking at were indeed THE most cushioned shoes he could offer. I asked him if he had any men's shoes that were more cushioned, but he said the New Balance were the best in the store. I told him that they didn't feel very cushioned, while pressing into the insole with my fingers. To this he replied, "Oh, but don't you want to try them on? I'm sure they'll feel much better on your feet. That happens a lot. They don't feel very cushioned, but once you put them on..." Oh dear, oh dear. Somedays I wish God would just rapture us out of here. I retorted to him that actually my experience is directly opposite: when the cushioning feels good to my fingers, I don't feel any cushioning with my feet.

I almost bought the New Balance, and then dh landed upon these Nevados.


They are men's shoes. Size 8. I won't know positively if they are going to work as my feet have been hurting very badly for the past two weeks. But so far, it seems like my feet are comfortable. I am hoping with wearing these shoes with the nice cushioning my feet can finally heal.

Today as I went through many pairs of shoes, some insoles were not glued in. I was able to take them out and actually look at the thickness. The thickness ranged from 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch. These Nevados have about 1/2 inch of padding in the heel. There is room for my toes. My poor toes, they feel bruised from wearing shoes with inserts. I can't find this style on the Internet, and I wonder if all Nevados are as comfortable as this pair.

I asked Kev how he thinks these are going to go with my dresses at church on Sunday and he doesn't think they are going to look good at all. I'm not sure what to do, as I prefer to wear dresses to church. I don't have any dress shoes that are comfortable, so I may have to resort to wearing these shoes with my dresses, or maybe I'll cave in and wear jeans. I'm actually one of the few women who wear dresses to our church. My feet were doing very bad during our church conference and this is the main reason I didn't bring any dresses to wear. I just stuck to wearing my jeans.

Oh, and these shoes weren't cheap. I did get them from Big 5 Sporting Goods, a place that purportedly sells "last year's model". They came in to just under $60 after tax. But if I can resume walking - not power walking mind you, nor walking for exercise, but just simply standing at the stove cooking, or at the sink washing dishes, or walking from my desk to the printer down the hallway at work, it's worth it. Especially when you look at some of the prices you can pay for shoes nowadays.

Until next time.

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