Tours: More Walking and Hiking Than I Thought I Could Do!

At the Ponte Vecchio

Between my knee pain from patellofemoral syndrome and my foot pain from hammertoes, for years I've had some limited mobility. At first I could hardly walk or stand. I could no longer ride a bicycle or walk down stairs. At my local YMCA I had to use the disabled locker room, because I couldn't do the stairs. With each diagnosis, I went through anger and depression. My thoughts ranged from "What?! I'm not even halfway done with life!" to "I give up."

I dutifully attended my physical therapy appointments, and initially did all of the prescribed exercises. Once the intense pain subsided, I often slacked off, lazily skipping my exercises until the pain returned. And some exercises made the pain worse, so I had to stop doing even gentle squats or leg presses.

But over time, I got better. I was able to get rid of the stool in my classroom, because I was able to stand. I eventually was able to walk down stairs again. I hike, walk, lift weights, and swim. And my husband and I have even started going on walking and hiking tours.

Two years ago we went on vacation to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park with Road Scholar. The trip was fantastic, and the guides were wonderful.

This spring we went to Italy. Again, fantastic guides and an amazing experience. Walked and walked and walked. On cobblestones, marble floors, and up and down stairs. Most days I had sore feet, but so did everyone else. And oh, what an experience!

The Colosseum in Rome

Stairs in the Colosseum

Walked all over the Forum, and up Palatine Hill for this view

Walked many stairs in Rome!

The Vatican

Gallery of Maps in the Vatican

The Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon

Bernini's David

Ancient Roman Sculptures 

Ponte Vecchio in Florence

Ponte Vecchio

Michelangelo's David

Brunelleschi's Dome at the Piazza del Duomo

Market Stall

Meat Counter

Inside the Palazzo Vecchio

Walking Around Florence

Doesn't every city have a dollar store?

Catching the high speed rail to Venice

The Grand Canal

Bridge near our hotel

One of our wonderful Road Scholar guides

The Grand Canal

Venice alley

Fashionable Italians

Replacing a bulb

Fresh fish

Gondola ride

Venice Canal

Gondolas near Piazza di San Marco

Venice light

Venetian windows

Glass blower on Murano

Murano canal

A night cruise

New and old together in the Jewish Ghetto in Venice

A Footwear Experiment

Barefoot is still the best!

It's been five plus years since my last post. I've been busy with life, and through many changes: fledging a young adult into the world, retirement, learning to make mosaics, becoming a watercolor painter in earnest. And through it all, my knees and feet have survived pretty darn well.

Watercolor sketching at the beach 

Last year I unwittingly did a foot experiment. My feet had been feeling great, so I gradually wore other normal shoes more and more, and my Vibrams less and less. Nothing crazy, no high heels. But not my Veebs. Eventually I noticed that my feet were hurting, mostly in the ball of the foot. The pain became more and more persistent until I could no longer avoid it. I tried lots of things: massage, epsom salt foot baths, ice, rest. Those things helped a bit, but the pain wouldn't go away.

A lovely beach hike

Then I finally realized that I had stopped wearing the Vibrams altogether.  I put them back on. Wore them for one day. And after just one day, the pain was gone!

My four favorite pairs of Vibrams: all Komodos

So now I make sure to wear them at least a few days a week. My foot muscles need exercise, just like the other muscles in my body. And they need stretching, and massage, some tender loving care every so often.

One of my favorite places to walk

I'm still an avid fan of "The Veebs."  My Vibram shoes have proven to be a lifesaver for me. I'm now on my fifth or sixth pair of Vibrams. It's definitely time to buy a new pair!

A New Kind of Torture

As they say on one wise website, runbare.com, "If you’re smiling, your doing something right and if not, then stop, rest, and recollect."

My new kind of torture is the pain in the ball of my foot.  This pain is mostly in the left foot.  It comes with every step.  In mid-November, it was starting to bother me, so I started listening to my feet.

What did I do?  I switched from my Vibrams and Vivo Barefoots back to New Balance running shoes and Clarks some days.  I added padded insoles.  Removed a corn.  Rested as much as possible.  Which is hard to do when you teach elementary school, and trying to keep tabs on all 30 students for 6 hours.  I iced, I massaged, I soaked in the hot tub.

In early December, I decided I was rested enough to go on a hike.  Thinking this was just a 3 mile jaunt, I was optimistic, so wore my veebs but brought my running shoes just in case.  Ooh, man!  It turned out to be 6+ miles, and steep trails.  I cried the last half of the hike.  Haven't been able to go for a hike or even a walk since.

Luckily, I loooove to swim, so I'm still active a few times a week.  I also had two weeks off for the holidays, and cancelled the plans to walk around San Francisco and hike the hills.  Lots of movies, reading, and crafting.  Back at school this month, I use my rolling chair and my stool as much as possible.  I sit on desks, tables and counters whenever I can, reminding my students that only I can do this, because I'm an "old lady." 

But it's getting me down.  Yes, even sunny, optimistic me.  Pain can do that.  I've spent some sleepless nights, laying there wondering what I'm going to do for the next fifty years if I can't hike or walk.  At the end of a long day teaching, especially after a field trip, my temper tends to flare as the soles of my feet throb with every step.

What now? 
The torture continues. 

I've thought of going back to the podiatrist, but she was the one who told me there was no therapy, that I would have hammertoes, and eventually surgery.  She convinced me to order expensive custom orthotics that make my toes float in the shoe, so I can't avoid walking the old heel-strike way. Besides, they don't fit in any of my shoes.  I may consider talking to her again, but only after doing my own research. 

So today I dug out my old over-the-counter orthotics with the metatarsal bump that I bought at Footwear over a year ago.  Some relief.  Icing and resting more.  And doing some online research. 

Anybody out there have an answer?

Diagnosis

I finally saw a podiatrist about my foot pain.  I was proud of myself for finally contacting my doctor and insisting on seeing a specialist.  I've had this nagging pain in the ball of my feet, near my little toes.  First my right foot, but lately my left foot hurt even more.  And now it was time to get to the bottom of it, and get this problem fixed.

Boy, was I wrong.

I sat on the cushioned chair as the podiatrist examined my feet, straightening and bending the little toes, feeling the arch of my foot.  She had me stand up, and watched my arches flatten down to the cold linoleum. 

I explained that I had sent photos of my right foot to my regular doctor, and that she had suggested I might have metatarsalgia.  I had bought several pairs of shoes with a wider toe box, and orthotics with a metatarsal bump as the shoe salesperson recommended. I was trying to rest my feet as much as possible, which was not easy in my line of work.  I teach fourth grade, so I stand and walk on concrete floors at least 6 hours a day.  Sitting for long isn't feasible, because my classroom management would go out the window.

I have stopped going for walks, which I used to do frequently.  It's all I can do to get through the day.  Luckily I love to swim, because that's the only type of exercise that doesn't exacerbate my foot pain.

But even with all of these measures, the pain was getting worse.  I had come to the podiatrist to find out what they could do, what I could do, to make my feet get better.  Maybe I was wearing the wrong shoes, or needed different orthotics.

They had taken xrays of my feet while standing on a special platform.  Weight-bearing poses, to see how my feet looked at their most uncomfortable position.

But the podiatrist didn't even look at my xrays. She could tell what was wrong from just rubbing my toes and moving them around.  She said that I have the onset of hammertoes.  That unlike normal little toes, my little toes curled up when in a resting position.  They could easily be straightened by pushing on them, but  would curl up again when let go.  The muscles and bones in my feet no longer held up my arches, but let them go flat on the floor.  And the foot pads under the ball of my feet was moving forward towards the toes, and eventually would not provide much cushion at all.  She cut off the painful corn on the outside of my foot, but said that it would return because it would rub on my shoes.

I of course did not accept this. "What do I need to do to get better?  Physical therapy?  Massage?  Acupunture?  Exercise?" I asked.  "Wouldn't that be nice?" she replied, "Unfortunately, there's not much you can do.  We can order you custom orthotics to make you more comfortable in the meantime, but you can't change it.  You were just born with this kind of foot."  And then she proceeded to tell me what the future held: painful, cramped toes that don't uncurl, and surgery to straighten the toes and alleviate the pain.

I was stunned.  Extremely disappointed.  But seeing that I knew no other option, I took her prescription down the hall to the cast room, and got fitted for the $250 custom orthotics.  They would take 4 weeks to arrive.

What a shitty week.  I was so depressed about my foot future, and still in pain every day.  I wore my old orthotics faithfully every day, but my feet felt just awful.