In Her Shoes

When I asked Kristine what I should write about this week she replied, "shoes." That's right shoes.  With all that is going on in her life and all that you would expect her to be absorbed with during such a time, Kristine has but one thing on her mind. She is preoccupied by, if not obsessed with, the fact that she has an entire closet full of shoes and is restricted to just one pair of sneakers. This is, of course, because she needs added stability while she regains mobility in her left leg. However, this fact doesn't help abate her desire to buy and wear a variety of different types of footwear.   

I can't exactly put myself in her... ah-hum... shoes partly because I don't have her disability leaving my options completely open, but mostly because I can't even fathom having any sort of obsession with this attire for the feet. Even when I have had more than one pair of shoes at any single point in time (meaning two or maybe three if you include sneakers or flip-flops) I still gravitate toward that same familiar, established, no-need-to-break-them-in-any-more, comfortable pair of shoes.

For Kristine though the idea of wearing just a single pair day in and day out is torturous. She much prefers to have an assortment of different options at all times. When we travel anywhere at least half of our luggage is her shoes (this is no exaggeration). And buying shoes is like going on safari -- she hunts down her prized pair even if they just look good in her closet next to her others.

At the moment she can't even justify buying an additional pair of sneakers because the brace on her left ankle stretches the shoe out and she doesn't want to ruin another pair.  Knowing Kristine though this problem will not persist. Just like her dissatisfaction with the plain and unattractive canes she was finding eventually led her to a modern fashionable one from a London based company (switchsticks.com), she will again find a way to improve her look within the confines of her physical limitations.  

On a more serious note, ever since she has gotten over her respiratory infection Kristine has been coughing up a very small amount of blood almost ever day.  We talked to both our primary physician (who recently saw Kristine for her infection) and her Oncologist about this issue to better understand the severity. Both suggested that it could very well be related to the prior infection or to the frequent coughing that she has been having. Of course, given her current condition -- cancer in her lungs -- the blood is a cause for some concern.  Our Oncologist suggested that Kristine just watch it while she is in Houston to make sure it doesn't get any worse and to set up her 3 month check up scans as soon as she is back in Philadelphia later this month.  Neither doctor seemed overly alarmed given the very small amount of blood that is presenting, but just cautioned us to keep an eye out for more severe symptoms.  Otherwise Kristine is doing very well, feels great and is enjoying the warm Texas weather, even if she does have to enjoy it in sneakers.