April (Fools) Coffee Date
It’s the first Friday of the month, which means it’s time for our coffee date, hosted as always by Coco and Deborah. I debated starting this post by saying how my foot feels so much better, I’ve signed up for an ultramarathon which takes place next month. Of course, the next sentence would be… APRIL FOOLS! Yes, that would have been hilarious (?) but I’ve never been into jokes like that. I guess I just don’t like fooling people, even for a second. I know… how boring. Anyway, let’s get started with this coffee date- no fooling allowed. If we were having coffee together, of course I would talk about what I’m reading. I just finished The Maid by Nita Prose. This book took me on a little journey. Although it’s never stated, I assume the main character, Molly, has Aspergers. Now, I have a very close relationship with someone who has Aspergers. I don’t mean to be cryptic, but I really can’t name names. Suffice it to say, I know a bit about this. At first I was chuckling at Molly’s idiosyncrasies. Like when she’s waiting for the detective, she says “It felt like I had been waiting for one hundred and twenty minutes.” Yes, that’s spot on. People with Aspergers take things very literally. They don’t understand it when people exaggerate or make generalizations. Molly would never say “It felt like I had been waiting a hundred years!” One hundred and twenty minutes is exactly what she would say. However, as the book went on, it made me so sad. The way that Molly struggled to understand people, and the way people took advantage of her, saddened me so much that I almost stopped reading halfway through. I know, I know… this is FICTION. I just couldn’t stand the thought of my Aspie going through something like that. Luckily, I forged ahead and all was well in the end. This book is a mystery, and at first I thought the plot line was too obvious- but there is a twist at the end. For a while I wasn’t sure how I felt about this book overall, but then I realized Nita Prose did something not every author does- she made me care deeply about the main character. So in the end it was a good book! Next up- Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty. Okay, let’s talk about my foot, for real. For TWO YEARS now I’ve been dealing with a very stubborn case of plantar fasciitis, and a mysterious pain on the bottom outside edge of my foot. My doctor has now diagnosed that pain as “lateral column syndrome,” with a possible subluxation of the cuboid bone. Seriously??? I’ve had ELEVEN shockwave treatments (at $125 a pop) and gotten custom orthotics- all paid for out of my own pocket. Insurance covered nothing. My doctor still believes that he’ll cure this, and says he has a 100 percent success rate with shockwave therapy. One time I told him I hoped I wouldn’t be that person to bring him down to 99 percent, and he actually seemed offended. He looked me in the eye and said “I don’t do 99 percent.” So… unless he’s a pathological liar- anything is possible at this point- he believes he’s going to fix this. I’m starting to wonder when it’s time to cut my losses and seek a different treatment. Injection? Acupuncture? Surgery? All I have to say is… next time my foot hurts, tell me it’s a stress fracture, put me in a boot and say I can run again in eight weeks. That would be GREAT. What would you tell me over coffee? What are you reading now? Have you ever heard of a subluxation of the cuboid bone? (I hadn’t until now, but if you google it, there’s lots of information.). I hope you’re enjoying a delicious beverage this morning!