Today I got new orthotics for my shoes. They're made of cork with foam and at the ball of the foot, the blue squishy stuff that we all use (Dr. Scholl's kind of things) to ease the pressure on our feet. 

Initially, they seem comfortable.

I like Lisa a lot. She's very careful and seemed to really know what she's doing about orthotics.

You are fitted for them by stepping in a box of pink foam. If you've been measured for other kinds of orthotics, you may know the gauze soaked in plaster kind of stuff.

The wet gauze is wrapped around your foot and a cast is made. This is much less messy.

So I checked my feet every hour to be sure there was no rubbing against the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd toes.  I even wore them during tai chi class today.

I'll break them in over the next few days. They can be modified at any time.

Lisa removed a bit of the "stalagmite" (my word) where it was touching the 3rd toe.


This is all very interesting technology!

Another guy at the Hanger office in Rockville had a prosthetic leg. A motorcyclist ran him down and took off.

The man, who is 60, likes his prosthesis but wanted it modified some because softball season will begin soon.

He plays on a team in Olney off Georgia Avenue. He's the youngest; everybody else is in their 80s, he said.

When I first called Hanger Orthotics, and the lady took the information over the phone, she was giving me a lot of info, too.

She asked: Are you a _____ patient? Or a _____ patient?

I had to ask her to repeat it several times. It sounded like baloney patient.

"Excuse me, did you say baloney patient?"

"Below-knee patient." (Versus above-knee.)

Yes indeed, I am a baloney patient.




Baloney illustration courtesy of the Safeway deli on Bradley and Arlington.