Diagnosis on my knee and feet issues

[giza]

Just got back from the pawdiatrist's office about my feet, which began hurting quite bad at this year's Anthrocon and have continued to hurt since, laying me up for the last couple of weekends.

The good news: it's not neuropathy.

The bad news: it's my mom's fault.

Okay, maybe I should work my way back from that statement.

My pawdiatrist examined my x-rays and then my feet, and seemed impressed at the brain dumps I put together for him on my knee and feet issues over the past 3 months. He then went on to explain the big picture, starting with my hips. They're a little wider than they should be for someone my size, which means my knees aren't perfectly straight. This accounted for my knee issues (though the excessive cycling surely did not help, either!). From there, he pointed out that my feet also have high arches, which means that an abnormal amount of weight is being placed on the outside of the feet (where it hurts the most) as well as the balls of the feet and the heels. Age didn't help, either. My body was just too old to take the stress that I put on it at every Anthrocon, hence the problems happening this particular year.

So why are my hips abnormal in the first place? It has to do with how I grew in my mother's womb. Since I am a first born child, that means that the muscles in her uterus were tighter and caused my body to be a slightly different position as she carried me. Hence the bones of my hips forming differently.

And how to fix this? Fixing my hips (...how?) is right out, so the next best thing we can do is get orthotics to align my feet properly. That in turn will take some of the stress off of them as well as my knees. From there, it will be some months for my muscles in my knees and feet to fully adjust, since I have to undo about 33 years of mis-alignment first. (there may be more physical therapy involved) I have an appointment to get fitted for them next week, and they'll be delivered 2-3 weeks after that. They normally last a year for people who run marathons, and 3-5 years for the rest of us mortals.

As far as ongoing treatment, the doc said that foot baths and capzasin really won't do much, nor does the Piroxicam. The inserts I currently have don't hurt, but they won't completely help, either. Orthotics are pretty much the only option.

The big downside (aside from the pain) is that insurance plans generally don't cover orthotics, which means $500 out of pocket for me. But... I guess that's what my emergency fund is for. So that brings it down to a mere inconvenience.

Until I get this under control, I don't think I'll be doing much long distance travel, or even short distance travel. ConFluence (this weekend!) is right out, and so is IndyFurCon, I'm afraid, since the first one involves a 5 hour drive and the second involves stomping through a couple of airports. :-/ I'm hopeful I'm feeling better by FurFright and MFF, but we'll see. (I can still make it to DC this weekend, since that involves Amtrak, and mostly hanging out at davinwarter's place, as opposed to walking around a convention.)

I got plans the next couple of weekends, but I think in general if folks want to come visit on weekend (or give me a lift to local social events on weekends), I won't say no. I think the social interaction would be good for me anyway, and I can grace folks with my charming wit and witty intellect. (complete and total lies, BTW)

Oh, and being old sucks. :-P