Aching feet

Ben Contreras

IT all started with my right foot, a small gout-like swelling of the hallux. It was not painful unlike a few years ago when it was reddish, excruciatingly painful and pulsating. After a few days, my left foot began to swell a bit, and it was painful. I could not walk without the use of a crutch.

Taking the medicines I usually take didn’t work well this time. After a few days, both feet ached. All in all, it’s a bit more than a week already. In the last five days, I have been urinating by the bedside into a plastic container with small amount of water like the old “arenola.” I could hardly sleep.

It took a worse turn when several parts in my lower limb began to ache. I thought this is no joke. It was time to call a doctor.

Once, Dr. Leonard Khu helped me ease the pain with an injection. I thought that this time, I need another.

He asked me what medicine I was taking. I said I took some Arcoxia but  was afraid to take more since it seemed not to work anymore for me. Then, a relative recommended allurase aka allopurinol. He advised me to change it with another that’s milder but only after a uric test.

My daughter Kacy, after describing my condition, said that I may be having a gout flare. I think she is right.

After my injections in three parts of my feet, the relief came a few hours later. I slept quite soundly. The following morning, I could walk again with my crutch and went to the hospital for that blood uric test. The result was 4.16. Leonard told me not to take Atenurix anymore but to continue with the Arcoxia for another three days. The following day, I was already at SM with my wife. Thank you very much, Leonard.

Believe me, I took all herbal drinks my wife gave me, from premix to self-brewed herbs. I took the advice of my friend Joey Nacalaban to drink plenty of calamansi (10 pieces each time every morning before meals).

Perhaps, people’s metabolism works variably and responds to medicines differently. One drug may work for one but may not be effective for the others. The same is true with herbal medicine. I have a little knowledge about herbal medicine and it have helped quite a few. There were misses, too.

My current experience stirred the family, reaching as far as Canada. It’s comforting to hear from my siblings who showed they care.

On a strict diet the last seven days, I thank my personal nurse, my wife, for the care she gave me despite of her own health concerns. She really is a great wife and a good mother. The diet will go on strictly.

I think I would be fine and ready for work again.

• •

We are now at the homestretch of our fiesta celebration. Although I neither dislike it nor celebrate it, there seems to be a lot of activities going on. I don’t mind if the private sector would like to keep up with how the city government does it. It’s their money. But activities with the use of government funds should be moderated and properly accounted for. Extravagance can be a waste of people’s taxes.

There have been stories about expenditures supposedly paid for by big companies but passed on as expenses of the city government. Who allegedly benefited from it were a few names so familiar that one could only shake his/her head in disbelief.