Name:
Monday, June 04, 2007
Many of you have asked in the past week how it's going with my shoe lift "therapy" and whether I've noticed a difference. So I thought I'd give you this update.
It's a joke.
Despite my skeptical outlook, I started down this road determined to give it a fair shot so that I could honestly tell the doctor whether it was helping my pain. I even decided to wear shoes in the house, which I rarely do. Since so much of my time is spent at home, I figured it wouldn't be a fair test if I was only using the lift in a shoe every two or three days. (I guess I didn't even realize how seldom I have shoes on in the house until my boys kept saying, "Going somewhere, Mom?")
So for two or three days this worked fine. Then I noticed that the lift was feeling funny, and I kept checking to see that it was in position. Something just wasn't feeling right! After the third day, I took it out and examined it to see what was wrong...and sure enough, it was in the process of coming apart.
In order to adequately describe what was happening, I have to describe the lift itself. I was stunned when they handed this little piece of foam to me. I thought, "This is the device that's supposed to ward off major surgery?" But again, I was going to give it a fair try. The lift looks like half of a regular Dr. Scholl's sole insert that you'd use for comfort, but in this case it's just the half from the arch to the heel. It's made up of layers which get slightly higher at the heel, supposedly to measure 1 centimeter. On the heel end, the layers are open like a "fan" dinner roll or a flaky biscuit. These layers are glued together with something very sticky.
And therein lies the problem: the heat from my foot evidently softens the goo that holds these layers together, and so after a couple of hours the layers start to slide as I walk! The first time this happened it took a couple of days, but now it happens every few minutes! Several times I have had to peel off the layers, put them back in place and clean the glue off the sole of my shoe.
So, today I'm going to email my doctor and let him know that I'm finished with the experiment unless they can come up with an insert that is more effective than folded paper towels and corn syrup.
It's a joke.
Despite my skeptical outlook, I started down this road determined to give it a fair shot so that I could honestly tell the doctor whether it was helping my pain. I even decided to wear shoes in the house, which I rarely do. Since so much of my time is spent at home, I figured it wouldn't be a fair test if I was only using the lift in a shoe every two or three days. (I guess I didn't even realize how seldom I have shoes on in the house until my boys kept saying, "Going somewhere, Mom?")
So for two or three days this worked fine. Then I noticed that the lift was feeling funny, and I kept checking to see that it was in position. Something just wasn't feeling right! After the third day, I took it out and examined it to see what was wrong...and sure enough, it was in the process of coming apart.
In order to adequately describe what was happening, I have to describe the lift itself. I was stunned when they handed this little piece of foam to me. I thought, "This is the device that's supposed to ward off major surgery?" But again, I was going to give it a fair try. The lift looks like half of a regular Dr. Scholl's sole insert that you'd use for comfort, but in this case it's just the half from the arch to the heel. It's made up of layers which get slightly higher at the heel, supposedly to measure 1 centimeter. On the heel end, the layers are open like a "fan" dinner roll or a flaky biscuit. These layers are glued together with something very sticky.
And therein lies the problem: the heat from my foot evidently softens the goo that holds these layers together, and so after a couple of hours the layers start to slide as I walk! The first time this happened it took a couple of days, but now it happens every few minutes! Several times I have had to peel off the layers, put them back in place and clean the glue off the sole of my shoe.
So, today I'm going to email my doctor and let him know that I'm finished with the experiment unless they can come up with an insert that is more effective than folded paper towels and corn syrup.
Labels: Health, Theater of the Absurd
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