Yesterday I dragged myself out of bed on my day off, worked the stiffness and pain out of my feet, and headed out shoe shopping. The day before I'd spent no less than 5 hours online researching. Researching what type of shoe would be best for my club foot, what brands and models I should be looking at, and how much each of the ones who made my short list would cost at various online retailers. I have to be one of the few if not only people in the world who makes a spreadsheet to go shoe shopping.
So with my list in hand of my top 25, I confidently set out on my excursion. An hour and 30 minutes later I was in the first shop on my list. Where within 10 minutes I crossed out the first two hopefuls. Both were Timberland Pros and were at the top of the list because I used to wear Timberlands non stop. The Pro version has a very solid unmovable heel cup and since my foot/ankle doesn't bend very much I couldn't get my foot into the shoe at all.
Already feeling a little daunted, hey it doesn't take much to get me down when it comes to shoes, we headed to the largest shoe store in town. Instead of browsing for an hour, I handed the guy behind the counter my list and asked him if he had any of the ones on it or a comparable model with a heel to toe rocker sole. Less than 5 minutes later and he tells me they don't have a single freaking shoe on my list. Crap! We browsed around anyways hoping to find something I hadn't done research on that would work, but no luck. We asked a few of the employees if they knew where a medical grade shoe store might be in town, they didn't know but referred us to a scrub shop on the other side of town. The drive there easily took ten times as long as I actually spent in the store. Nothing there either.
At this point I'm getting pretty whiny about everything. We checked online and discovered two orthopedic shoe shops. One of which is closed on the weekends. Gah! So we went to the other not feeling very hopeful because once upon a long time ago I'd been there before with no luck. The Good Feet Store had one of the shoes on my list but could order the others. The lady who greeted us started on her spiel and even though I told her I wore a 7.5 to an 8.5 most days she insisted on measuring my feet. Which came up to a 5.5 on the bad foot and a 6 on the other. I could hear her in the back lamenting how they didn't carry shoes that small. I rolled me eyes and sent my mother back to tell them yet again I usually had to wear a bigger size. She came out with a 7. I barely got it on before I ripped it right back off again from the pain. She insisted that it shouldn't be too small and I insisted that it was. Length is never the issue when it comes to my feet. I finally had to take my sock off and show her my foot. She couldn't hide the gasp. Well that made me feel good. 'Oh you poor dear.' Yeah yeah yeah my foot is f-ed up. I know that thank you. Finally she brought me a larger shoe. Which was sadly too large because it was an 8.5 in a D width. It felt nice actually very roomy, but I know from experience in a few months they'd be way too roomy. She called the manager over who also immediately started on the sales pitch. The original lady nudged her and told me to take my sock off and show her, almost as if to say' you shouldn't be pitching to this one'. Sigh. Really. Again gasps. She immediately fixated on my oddly placed bunion. Telling me I needed this and this to help my joint pain there. I told her there was no joint pain. But its so red and inflamed! No its red from friction and pressure. Its not inflamed and its always at least a little red. She continued and finally I had to put the proverbial foot down, "That's actually the one spot on my foot that doesn't hurt' I said quite loudly. So probably for the next hour or so she's doing everything in her power to get me on their 'system'. A system that might be fine for other people but isn't right for a club foot sufferer or anyone that's had actually surgery on their foot. Geez lady I just want a freaking shoe. Finally with an upty tone in her voice she says in a way too loud aside to the other lady, 'well I think she's made her mind up'. Ya think?! I've lived with my condition for 27 years I know whats going to hurt and whats not. Despite all of this I was still seriously considering buying their $138 shoe even though it wasn't in the color I wanted because it fit and felt good once they got the sizing right, an 8 by the way, just so I would have something different by Monday. We had one more shop to go to.
Marti and Liz, they buy outlet shoes, store closeouts, returns, and occasionally name brand seconds and second hands. Within minutes I was in heaven. They had the shoe! In my size! In the color I wanted! For a hundred dollars less! I was freaking giddy. Feeling on cloud nine I tried on a few others and found two more shoes that fit very nicely. I knew I was getting the orthopedic ones but I was hesitant about the other two. My mom pointed out that I had budgeted a 100 for one pair of shoes and that if i bought all three I was still right on the money. Thats a good point. And that i wouldn't have to buy shoes for quite some time. Hmm that's another good point. In the end I wound up buying all three. New Balance 928 (8B), New Balance Encap990(7D), and an Easy Spirit 360 PumpUp (7). Each one a little different, the 928's for work wear, the Encap for work wear on a good day or a day where my bunion is a little sore, and the Easy Spirits for just running around. Heavy duty, medium, and light. Perfect. Now maybe I can start to phase out my hiking boots a little. Then my mom surprised me with a pair of dress shoes she had ordered for me. So cute and strappy with a wedge heel in a wide width. The only problem is my ankle is as of yet a little too weak to tell if I can wear them or not.
Its hard to believe I came home with four pairs of shoes! That's unheard of for me. Now hopefully I can get a little less pain and little less worry out of work.
Oh and I added another 364 dollars to the Fund what with my first full paycheck and all.
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