I really am getting old!

A burning pain at the side of my ankle and a sore heel on my left side, a sore area under my right foot, weak joints and another little issue led to an appointment with my doctor in Cancun yesterday.

It hurts to walk, and I want this all cleared up before I head off to Norway - because I want to be able to walk through the airports, not be pushed in a wheelchair. I blame the foot pain on the shoes I wore for a couple of months instead of my usual crocs. They felt great at the time but I did notice my feet felt more tired than normal at the end of the day. I switched back to crocs about a month ago, and the right foot is better than it was - I'm sure it will recover with more time. But the left foot, it needs help.

My joints feel flimsy. I can barely lift myself out of the tub. If I get down on the ground, I can't get up without holding onto something and hauling myself up. I don't have the same strength I used to have in my hands. I don't know when this all started, but it came to a head when we were in the store a couple of weeks ago and I got down to look at something on the bottom shelf and realized I could not get up. Miguel had gone off to look at something else, and I fumbled around looking for something to grasp to pull myself up, finally finding a sturdy shelf to hold onto. How embarrassing!

So now I'm on medication for inflammation and seizures. Of course I don't have seizures, but the medication for seizures can also be used to relieve the pain of arthritis and fibromyalgia (something I've suspected I might have but have never pursued it with a doctor). Without a diagnosis from the doctor, I'll just say that I'm on these meds and hopefully they will do whatever it is she hopes they will do.

The medication for inflammation is for plantar's fasciitis, the cause of the pain in my feet (she thinks). She told me to go back to wearing my crocs, which I had already done. But I can't wear flip-flop crocs to Norway - it's still cold there. So I asked her where I could buy good shoes in Cancun, and she advised a store called "Flexi", in Malecon Americas.

Of course, I did not know anything about Malecon Americas, but it sounded like it belonged with Plaza Americas, and my doctor confirmed - "yes, it's the new part".

Oh my gosh - what a new part it is!! It is huge, full of name brand stores, many of which you see in the US. Luis, my taxi driver, parked near the entrance, but we still had to walk quite a ways to find the shoe store (of course it was the last one before you get to the connecting part with the old mall). Along the way I spotted a food court, full of American-style fast food joints. The old part of the mall has a Mexican feel to it, but this new part is all American - modern, shiny, and glitzy. I'm not sure who will be shopping in these stores, but obviously there are a lot of people with money living in Cancun who will be spending some cash there. I guess it's nice to have that option, we do lack quality clothing stores here (and I'm assuming they had quality clothing stores - I didn't actually pay much attention because I'm not much of a shopper - just get me to the store I'm looking for, buy my shoes, and get out).

I found a traditional pair of shoes that I can wear with pants or blue jeans and I'm hoping the shoes will stay as comfortable as they felt when I tried them on. They cost $500 mp - less than I expected.

I had a few other little errands to run while in Cancun, so by the time I got home my feet were pretty sore. Knowing I would be too tired to fix anything to eat, I bought a Big Mac at the Ultramar and gobbled it down on the ferry ride back to Isla. Sometimes a Big Mac just hits the spot.

I am not sure how I am going to do on these medications - I am feeling pretty groggy and it's a medicated grogginess, not my usual just plain tired grogginess. In fact, I think it's time for bed now. Nighty-nite!!