Good shoes are not enough

[indigo_rose99]

I was going to only pack 3 pairs of shoes: workout sneakers, black daytime nicer sneakers,, and evening heels (as evening heel-ish as I ever get). But T talked me into a 4th pair of shoes: my new work mary janes. 

 

My feet have been pretty happy for the past few months, but a few days before we got on the plane for the cruise, they started hurting. It was the pain diagnosed as metatarsalogia -- shooting pain in the ball of my left foot. Stretching helps only limitedly. I packed a huge bag of epsum salts (which made for a fun search of our carry ons in the airport) and a collapsable tub. But I packed those because I always want to soak my feet in hot water on cruises for one reason or another. When we got on board, T supported my nightly hot-water-and-epsum-salt habit by requesting to soak his feet in the same water because of the blisters he got from his airport shoes. 

 

But it wasn't enough. The pain in walking was just getting worse and worse. After two days on board the ship I was in enough pain to be constantly trying to limit my walking even in the lovely mary janes. My workout sneakers will quite literally not allow themselves to be tied any looser. So I got our cabin steward to fill up the ice bucket and went back to soaking my feet in ice water several times a day. And the hot water and epsum salts at night. Two days later... I feel much better. 

 

So, ice water. Yes, it is even more awful to experience than it sounds. But worth it for the decrease in pain.

Comments

[livingdeb]

Bummer! I wonder if walking around on a cold tile floor would help (because it's cold) or hurt (because it's hard). I'm glad at least you found something to help!

[indigo_rose99]

From experience, I can answer that one. Hurts! Cold tile actually isn't cold enough in enough places. I need the cold on top of my feet, between my toes... *sigh* I should be soaking my feet in ice water as I type this. Thanks for the reminder.