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Happy birthday to Barry!! A bunch of us got together tonight at the Taylor's and we celebrated with a few of Barry's favorite things: His wife's ah-mazing Shepherd's pie, Mrs. Laurie's famous quesadillas, gummy candy of all sorts, Amy's super-rich chocolate pie, and of course, Halo! Yes, they do have three TVs and three XBox's in that room, haha. They were having a blast. Jen and I even jumped in on a couple of games; it was really fun! And Barry seemed to really enjoy himself (even if he wasn't surprised), so I think the night was a success :)

Today, I went to the doctor for the first time in almost a year. Well, let me explain what was going on:

So... for the past few weeks, I've had this strange bump on my left foot that started out the size of a pencil's eraser (maybe a little smaller), and has progressively gotten worse and worse and turned into what now looks like a golfball-sized bruise, with a half-ring of a red, raised ridge (I'm thinking that the ridge part just grew from the original bump). I've been trying just to wait it out, because there was actually ANOTHER bump, of similar starting size and location, on my right foot before this current one popped up. That bump grew just a little and then died down and went away, so naturally, I assume this one's gonna do the same thing. Well, it hasn't gone away. It hurts like crap, especially if I walk around or stand for any length of time. I've tried a bunch of different things to try to get it better - Arnica gel, soaking it in ice cold water, soaking it in ACV, Epsom salt, echinacea - but it's just kept getting worse and worse. So today I finally caved in and we decided that I should go see a doctor to make sure it's not something serious. We tried a new clinic and I loved them. I've had a lot of bad experiences with doctors over the years, but this little Walk-In Clinic treated me so well and they were so gentle. Now, granted, this was the least invasive visit I've experience, just by the nature of this ailment, but still. They respected my desire to keep everything as natural as possible too, which is unheard of for me - usually doctors try to talk me out of that. 

ANYWAY (sorry this so drawn out) They didn't know what is causing this strange bump/bruise/infection. They threw out a lot of possible diagnoses: a bone spur, gout, deep tissue bruising caused by trauma, insect bites, fungal infection, and "superficial cellulitis." She thought it was probably that last one, which is basically just inflammation and infection of the skin. SO we haggled about treatment for a few moments (I refused to take oral antibiotics or steroids) until we agreed on a topical anti inflammatory cream. If it's no better after a week or two, they're going to X-ray my foot to make sure there's no bone or deep tissue damage. 

So that's that! Thanks for your prayers, and I'd appreciate continued prayer that my foot would heal up quickly and I would be in less pain. It's been quite a month, huh? Just one thing after another. Looks like it's time for me to get super serious about nutrition again. I'll keep you guys updated. 

My sweetheart's birthday is tomorrow! ♥