I have been dealing with chronic pain in my feet for the last four years. I have had shots, massage, pastes and potions rubbed into them, and operations. There just ain't nothin' can be done. I just have to live with it.

Consequently I have lost much of what I love to do outdoors. I cannot stand for very long and cannot walk very far unless I gear myself up for it. I know there will be pain but I focus on the lessening of that pain when I get off of my feet. I focus on what I am doing and what I can do. If I am going anywhere and will be standing for any length of time I like to be with a good friend. That way I can focus on him/her and not on my feet and lower legs.

I also try to replace what I love doing with something else I love to do that doesn't necessarily involve walking. My favorite activiy was always hiking and walking in the woods. I'd walk 5 miles to see a stretch of woods I hadn't seen before. Now, I do it by canoe. (and it's tough carrying that canoe through the woods...)*BG*

Or, at least, I will see more by canoe. I just got my canoe in 1999 and 2000 was not a year in which I was able to do much of anything since I lost my partner and I threw myself into a myriad of other projects to distract myself. The new millennium will be different.

I keep telling myself that what I'm going through is not as bad as what others suffer but there is no way to compare. What I feel may be more or less pain than any of that descibed by the people above. I have no standard of comparison and cannot judge the depth of suffering. So I focus on my pain as being in the lesser variety and take strength from the people who are suffering more pain than I.