Chilblains

The nice thing about having a blog is that you can babble on about anything. Sure your readership may dwindle, but you don't know if people are avoiding you and you don't have to see the looks of utter boredom caused by your very presence. I have no idea what/who my readership is, so I will feel free just to prattle on at length about whatever I chose. Today, in honor of this festive season and because I can't get to my holiday party due to snow, we're going to talk about my toes. Actually, we're not going to talk about all my toes, just the second smallest one on the left foot.

Those of you who talk to me regularly (and are still with me here right now) may remember my going on at great length about my toe last winter. Last winter I was sure I had broken my toe. It was swollen and red and hurt like a mother. There were times I could barely walk. I had to buy all new socks. It got so bad that it hurt too much to wear socks with a seam across the toe, so I had to buy socks with individual toes and no seams. Fancy dress shoes, forget about it (so you can just imagine the effect on my social life). I almost went to the doctor, but I was pretty sure that if it was broken they could do nothing and would charge me $300. So I saved my pennies and suffered in, well certainly not silence.

Then at some point springish, I noticed I hadn't felt it for a while, I was healed!!

Healed that is, until the snow and cold snap hit. In the last couple weeks I have realized it's coming back. And now I'm sure it's not broken.

So, not to end this exciting story without a complete conclusion, I'll tell you what I've found. Since it seemed to be cold related, I googled frostbite and toes and quickly found 'chilblains'. Chilblains are basically ulcers of the extremities that occur in cold weather. Smokers get them, people with diabetes, old folks, people with poor circulation and me. The picture look much like my toe. There isn't much you can do about them, except maybe move to Arizona (something that is sounding very tempting at the moment) and rubbing them with lotion. And I'm here to tell you that the lotion thing is pretty effective. And charming too! After a walk or bus ride to work in the snow, I pop off my shoes and socks at my desk and sit there rubbing my toes. I am sure it is winning me some serious brownie points at work. Maybe I'll get promoted!

So, if you're still with me, Merry Merry Christmas. And if you're still with me, you're a true fan.

Thanks for listening. Maybe tomorrow you can read me ranting about snow removal and bus snow schedules in Seattle, ie the lack thereof (okay, I don't think I have any fans willing to sit through that 10 hour rant, probably not even my mom!)