I don’t have a particularly good body image. I’ve overweight, too curvy and too tall. But. I do have really nice feet. Believe me: for me to say this, it must be true. (As a rule, I think that feet are gross.) I’ve got relatively small and narrow feet with high arches and thin ankles. And, dangit, when I started jogging I developed some pretty nice calves too.
So, it’s no surprise that I noticed right away when my feet started to swell. Then they swelled to the point that I couldn’t wear shoes. There was no question in my mind that something wasn’t right. I know my feet, and this was not normal.
Off to the doctor I go. Since I haven’t managed to find a GP that I like since moving to town, I’ve been going to the clinic near my house. This is a new doctor that I've never seen before. He walked into the room, sat down at his computer and asked me what I needed without making eye contact. I explained the problem, he told me that feet tend to swell when the weather gets warm and that it’s common. So common in fact, that he sees women complaining about their swollen feet all day. He’s bored with swollen feet, and while he doesn’t want me to be sick, he hopes that it is something serious; because he could really use a change. He then fills out a form for me to take to the lab. He said that he was sending me for lab tests because he’s supposed to send me for lab tests, but he thought it was a waste of time. He even told me not to bother coming back for the results. He was that sure that there was nothing wrong.
Quite frankly, I didn’t buy it. I know he’s the guy with the medical degree, but this didn’t seem right. My feet don’t swell in the heat. Heck, I had stress fractures in both feet – at the same time – a few summers ago, and they didn’t swell like this.
The next day, I ran down to the lab to get my tests done. Not two hours later, my phone rang. It was the clinic; the Dr wanted me to come back to discuss the results of my blood tests.
I had my follow up appointment today. It's nothing big... I'm anemic and the protein in my blood is too low. I guess it was enough, though. He actually made eye contact, and had an honest to goodness conversation with me. (Well... as much of a conversation that's needed to say 'take these supplements and eat more leafy greens and nuts'.) He seemed excited to see something a little bit different than the usual heat induced swollen feet, and apparently this is what he was looking for.
isn't it "heal they self" part to of the oath?
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