comfortable shoes make a big difference

I worked a nursing shift today. Apart from colleagues, I rarely miss it when I'm not there, but I enjoy it when I am. The perfect harmony of casual work... if only I achieved this frame of mind more often.

Nice as it was to have a shift and the thought of more money (maybe I can buy some of this yummy yarn after all!), I was dreading eight hours on my feet. That wart I wrote about back in November... it still plagues me. Stubborn, nasty wart. And it hurts. Sometimes a lot.

Any normal person would, I suppose, have given in and resorted to a more conventional treatment like Scholl Freeze Verruca and Wart Remover. But not me. Oh no, I am made of sterner stuff. I am, in fact, sterner than a stern wart. Potato, propolis, dandelion sap, more potato and now tea tree oil... these are the remedies I have resorted to, and that darn wart just keeps on going. Right when I begin to hope it is going away (because every remedy has worked to a degree), the pain comes back and I can barely walk. To ease the pain I curl my toes, or hobble on the side of my foot. Before I know it my foot aches, my leg hurts and my back is crinked. I keep setting time limits on when I will give up and go the big freeze, but the pain eases just on the deadline and I give the tea tree oil a reprieve. Because it is working. A little. Certainly the pain has been less the last week or two. I think the wart may even be getting smaller.

Standing on your feet all day and plantar warts do not mix so well, only adding to my dread at being on my feet all day. Which brings me to another factor in the saga of the wart - shoe selection. It's all about appearances. Feet must look good, and shoes must match the outfit. (and the handbag if you are particular). So I limp along in shoes patently unsuitable to be paired with a plantar wart. Have you noticed the nonexistence of soles in shoe fashions today? Develop a verruca wart and you will. Walking one millimetre off the ground is, at best, unpleasant and, at worst, downright agonising when a stone pokes right through into the wart.

So today I got tough and strong and threw my fashion conscience aside. I wore running shoes all day.

And it was marvellous! My little foot felt so much better! Still a few twinges here and there, but nothing like the usual level of pain.

Of course I'm hoping this means the wart is about to disappear *poof* into thin air. Let it be so, let it be so. But if, perchance, the shoe really was the trick, perhaps (just perhaps) I should place comfort over fashion? In the interest of analgesia, good posture and natural gait? Can I do it?

Hmmm, not sure on that one - but hey, comfortable shoes make a huge difference! This should not be revelatory, but somehow it is.