“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” Abraham Lincoln

It's time for another update to my blog. Mainly because I can't stand to watch another daytime TV show!

Honestly, how much daytime TV can one watch? Ugh. I never realized how many bizarre shows there are in the day. Like, "They Didn't Know They Were Pregnant" or "My Strange Addiction". Really weird stuff. One lady eats toilet paper (must be 2-ply) another eats couch cushions. I mean, eating dirt and wall plaster is understandable, but these people are just WEIRD! Although, I must say, that after having to depend on people to bring food down to me in the basement, the tulips Sister Vassar sent me are starting to look edible!

I know you've all been holding your collective breath waiting to hear what happened with my foot after getting home from camp. To make a very long story short, the pain in my ___________(fill in the blank with your choice of dorsal, crown, frederick, pinnacle, summit, superior, etc.!) didn't go away. I consulted a chiropractor. The ultrasound wand treatment that normally feels so good hurt like heck. I consulted a foot doctor. He said he didn't need an x-ray to know it was a bone spur, ordered me really expensive inserts that he assured me our insurance would cover--it didn't--and THEY hurt like heck to wear. FINALLY, I was able to get into the Orthopedic Surgery Specialists.

The Dr. there took an x-ray, thought he saw something but couldn't be sure, so he ordered an MRI, which ended up costing us $1000 out of our own pocket, which hurt way more than my foot did!

The MRI revealed a ganglion cyst in the joint of some bones on my ______________. My options for treatment were cortisone shots to shrink and maybe even pop the cyst, or surgery to fuse the joint in my foot together. UGH. I opted for the cortisone shot.

I must interrupt here to say that when my husband heard it was a ganglion cyst, he told me that his mom once had one in her wrist. The doctor took a really heavy book and smashed it down on her wrist, the cyst popped and that was it. That is really how they used to treat them, thus earning ganglion cysts the nickname of "Bible Bumps." So naturally, I took my large print Bible to my next doctor's visit and asked him to hit my foot really hard with it. He declined. I should have been more missionary minded and taken my Book of Mormon.

The cortisone shots would help for awhile but the pain always ended up coming back. Until that fateful day two years later at YW CAMP in Brookings where my foot took a turn for the worse. Needless to say, CAMP and I don't get along very well and that is a story for my next blog.

And now, it is time to announce the winner of my "name for the top-of-the-foot" contest. I have to say that it was really hard to pick just one winner. The entries were all so clever and witty. They made me laugh! But one suggestion really stood out from all of the rest. It was sent in by a reader named Susan who simply suggested calling it the "bridge" of the foot. Yeah. I like that. So, congratulations Susan, you are a winner! Susan, you will receive a visit from Alice who will personally sing you her hit single, "Rick, the Tick."

Muah, ha, ha, hah! I- AM -SLOWLY- GOING- CRAZY- IN- THE- BASEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!