It will be two weeks tomorrow that my right foot started hurting. I didn't bump it, nothing bit me, it just started hurting. Three days later it swelled up and turned red and hot. So last Friday, after ten days of limping and a week of swelling, I broke down and did the thing I most hate to do: I went to the doctor.



My difficulties with doctors started when I was 3 and was bitten on the nose by a dog. Everyone panicked, and I ended up getting rabies shots, back when they were really painful, given in the stomach and the back with needles long enough to fence with. I decided at that time that I did not like doctors (dogs, however, were still fine; I knew which one of those two had actually hurt me.) But over the years, except for OB-GYN and pediatricians, I have found doctors to be basically useless, uninterested in their patients, and totally unable to listen. I have found that I can take care of almost everything I need with a chiropractor, a dermatologist, a dentist and an eye doctor.



Unfortunately, the chiropractor could not fix the swollen foot. I had already checked the internet and discovered that two swollen feet could mean congestive heart failure, and one swollen leg could mean deep vein thrombosis (or was it phlebitis?), but one swollen foot could only come from some kind of injury. But I didn't have an injury. And I was getting worried.



Well, I still don't know why my foot is swollen. However, my blood pressure was so high that I did something I swore I would never do: I accepted medication for it. It has been high for several years and creeping up. But remember I said I hate going to the doctor. There is a term, "white coat anxiety", for people like me whose blood pressure shoots up in the doctor's office. In my case, it isn't anxiety so much as anger. When I go to the chiropractor, the eye doctor or even the dermatologist, they are friendly and treat me like a person. When I go to an M.D.'s office, I suddenly become a cross between a small, not bright child and a number. By the time they put the blood pressure cuff on me, after making me wait a long time, then asking a series of repetitive questions ("Can't you just read what I wrote on that piece of paper in your hand?"), I am so angry it's a wonder the machine doesn't explode. Then, seeing how high my blood pressure is, the doctor only wants to talk about putting me on drugs. This makes me even madder, since there is never a discussion of my lifestyle, of changes I might make, even of monitoring my b.p. at home to get the real picture. So instead of the pressure going down after a few minutes, it keeps going up as long as I am in the doctor's office.



But this time it was so high it scared even me. I am not afraid of a nice swift heart attack that would kill me, but I am deathly afraid of a stroke that would rob me of speech or movement. So I accepted the prescription. So far, it's brought my blood pressure back down to where it's been for the last few years -- high but not scary. I suspect that happened as soon as I got out of the doctor's office.

Two days later now ... I was interrupted by the arrival of my new computer. Some of the issues I had with it certainly challenged my new blood pressure machine! But overall the pressure is coming down and I see a difference in the amount of puffiness in my face and arms. Unfortunately, my foot is still swollen and painful, but maybe the de-swelling is working its way down my body? I'll let you know if it "de-swells" my stomach, butt and thighs. Now that would make it all worthwhile.