Hagrid is in the House!

My knees are starting to bother me again, seriously. I almost cannot straighten the left one out all the way, and am walking with a slight limp again.

I started off the day by taking the bus down to Haggen to go grocery shopping. After I got back, I rested a while, then went downtown to see my therapist at Interfaith. We talked about how I've been feeling really tired lately, and how I thought that quitting smoking and the anemia may be factors, and he suggested something I hadn't considered: I recently upped my dose of Abilify from 5mg to 10mg, and tiredness is a known side effect of the drug. Oho! I'll certainly be talking about this with my prescriber later this week!

While at the therapist's office, I stepped on the scale: 416 lbs. That's up 4 lbs from my previous highest. No doubt quitting smoking is a factor, but no wonder I feel so bad, I've gained weight!

I also went to the podiatrist to have my new orthotics checked out. mostly, they seem to be doing pretty good, so I don't need to go back unless I have any further problems with my feet and ankles.

This journal entry also marks my first regular entry on Dreamwidth, crossposting to LiveJournal. I am still trying to decide if I should fully migrate over there. So far, I like what I see, though I am annoyed that they, too, have a 1000 maximum on tags.

I had an appointment with a podiatrist this morning (Dr. Michael Sherwin @ Family Foot Care) to look at my feet. He examined them, took x-rays, and concurred that I need new orthodics. I have an appointment for April 10 to get that done.

He also found that, at some point in the past, I broke one of the metatarsal bones in my left foot, which has healed since. I have no memory of this ever happening, but I've had so much foot pain in my life that it's possible I didn't recognize it as a break at the time, and thought it was gout, plantar fasciitis, or the excessive pronation that I do when I walk.

He also found a pinched nerve in the middle of my right foot, and gave me a cortizone injection in the foot (ouch) and told me to stay off my feet for the next couple of days. Which means I can't go to the food bank like I had planned tomorrow afternoon.

Can anyone go to the store for me to get some groceries and cigarettes in the meantime?

One of the reasons I have been having so much difficulty in finding a job is that the joint problems I have in my knees, ankles and feet limit the kinds of jobs I can take. Most of the readily available menial jobs in Bellingham -- fast food, retail, custodial, day labour -- are not jobs that I can do, because they require standing for long periods of time, and walking, bending and squatting a lot. I'm capable of working desk jobs -- within the limits of my mental health issues -- but those jobs are very hard to come by in the current job market. As I am fond of saying, I graduated from university at the end of August, just in time for the economy to tank.
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