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Cold Feet, Warm Heart

The solution to my foot problems are apparently not so simple. My visit to the podiatrist yesterday was, well, weird. He determined that my feet are sore and swollen, not because of my messed up biomechanics due to my twisted pelvis, but because I have poor circulation in my extremities. While I have known about my poor circulation for a while (any exposure to heat or cold and my hands and feet turn bright red), I never considered this. Apparently, my feet are completely intolerant of the cold and I am almost having an allergic reaction to it. Huh? What? Since when?

"So what's the solution?" I asked him. "Move to Florida or alternatively stop walking outside during the winter" was what he told me. Yeah right! Maybe a few days in Florida next week will help but no chance we're moving anywhere any time soon. So he wants me to see (1) A dermatologist (he thinks I have developed eczema from the cold), and (2) a vascular surgeon! Oh boy!

And what about my wicked blisters? He basically told me that's the price I pay for doing such frequent, intense workouts. Really? The feet of Olympians and professional athletes must look like chopped meat then!

Looks like I have to see my family doc to get a referral to a vascular surgeon...and while I'm there, perhaps she can check out my pinky finger, you know, the one I slammed in the car door? It doesn't hurt much anymore but the joint is still a bit purple and is twice the size of the one on my other pinky. Yes, yes, I know, I should have had it looked at weeks ago. But since it doesn't affect my functioning I don't really care that much. My feet are a far more important comodity to me.

I have been wearing my glasses all week to give my eyes a break from my contact lenses. Man, I don't know how people wear specs full-time! When I workout they fog up, and when I'm walking outside, they get so dirty I have to take them off and clean them every few minutes. I hate it! Between my feet, my eyes and everything else, I swear the world is conspiring against me. I am fighting my fate of being an overweight, sedentary, glasses wearing nerd. Okay, maybe I'm already a nerd.

I had my big meeting at Mount Sinai with the head of the ethics board yesterday. Thankfully, it looks like the research project WILL happen. The board just wanted to clarify a few things and have us make some changes to the protocol. So here is what the project will look like. Dr. M and I will make sure that our list of miscarriage support resources is distributed throughout the hospital so that all women who experience an early stage miscarriage receive it. On the sheet it will tell the women that, unless they call us to refuse, we will be calling them in a few weeks to see if they have used any of the resources and whether or not they found them helpful. A month after their loss, I will call them and do a short survey. At that point, I will ask their permission to follow-up 6 months later to see at that point if they have used any of the support resources. The bad news is there is absolutely no counselling component to the project - they reminded me that because I am not done school yet, I am NOT QUALIFIED to do counselling, and reminded Dr. M., that even if they allowed me to do counselling, there are too many legal concerns to make it feasible. SO, it's nothing more than a needs assessment of miscarriage support resources. I guess this may still be useful to my future career if it increases my credibility as an expert in the area and gets my name circulated to the ob/gyns at Mount Sinai. Looks like January will be busy while I make all the amendments to our proposal, questionnaires and the consent form.

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