March 20 - How Did You Know That?!

This post is mostly in awe of my mother, who always seems to know just enough about everything. It’s, frankly, crazy.

My right heel has been bothering me for a little bit now. Nothing too insane, just sort of achey. I have (quite expertly, I might add) ignored it. However, this morning, when I almost called an uber .2 miles into my .8 mile walk home, I decided that it was maybe time to ice it.

I got back to my apartment, bundled up some cubes, and elevated my heel up on a pillow on my couch. About 10 minutes in, I lifted up the towel to check it out. Oh dear. The icing decreased the swelling and had revealed a sizable bump right on the bone of my heel (which I will spare you all a picture of, you’re welcome). However, I did not spare my friend Anne a picture, who is a PA at one of the urgent cares here in Chicago. AKA my right hand lady on all things health.

Larkin oh my god. Was the response. I’m not going to lie, it doesn’t feel great to have your PA friend text you ‘oh my god’ about a heel bump. It actually feels very bad.

Yeah, I think it’s a bursitis based on my googling. I responded.

Um, duh. She said. Keep that thing elevated. You should also get some sort of compression for it. Do you have any ace bandages? And start taking ibuprofen to reduce the swelling. I’d say about 400 -600 mg every 6hr.

I obviously had to look on the back of my Advil bottle to know how many pills 400-600 mg was, but still, her advice was much appreciated.

Now, it might be common knowledge what a ‘bursitis’ is among the PA community, for obvious reasons. However, amongst us medical plebeians, I really don’t think that’s the case. I had never heard of it. My sisters had never heard of it. My boyfriend had never heard of it. But then there was my mom.

I hadn’t told my mom about my heel ache yet. Mostly I didn’t want to complain, plus I didn’t want to worry her. It’s really not a big deal. But when I called her I let her know that I had found myself with a bursitis on my right heel.

Oh, ouch, was her response. Make sure to keep that elevated and start taking ibuprofen if you haven’t already.

What?!?!?!! Was my mother a freaking PA in her last life? I stayed casual about it. Oh, yeah, I already texted Anne, I’ve been taking a careful amount since last night. But inside my head?? I was beside myself.

I think that a lot of kids grow up thinking that their parents are the smartest people in the world and know everything. Not many reach adulthood and hold the same opinion. But my mom? I swear. That woman knows just enough about everything.