Dr. Chuckles and My Pinkie

My running style can best be described as a shuffly jog. We can fuse those words and call it a "juffle". My juffle provides me with the very minimum amount of foot clearance necessary to propel my body forward. So many other runners seem to have springs in their legs. They literally bounce along like bunnies. I was never more envious of these runners than on the day I did a face plant on the walkway bridge over the Delaware River. Apparently, walkway bridges are not even surfaces and are not great places for juffling.  Once on the ground, my attention went immediately to my left pinkie. The poor thing was bent in all kinds of odd angles. I put it back together the best I could and stumbled home.

Now let's rewind back to June.When I started this marathon mission, I had tried to get an appointment with my long time family physician. For purposes of this blog I'll call him Dr. Chuckles. He is a good, kind physician and I trust him completely. I wanted his opinion on my running to this extreme and hoped for his support. Unfortunately, he was not available for a consultation because he was only putting in limited office hours as he recovered from a total hip replacement (his second major joint replacement). It is kind of ironic that he is also a long time runner and former marathoner.

The day after my fall, I decided to get a medical opinion about the fate of my pinkie. Well, imagine my excitement as I sat in the treatment room expecting to see a nurse or maybe even the new guy, Dr. JuniorHigh, when in walked Dr. Chuckles. I almost jumped up and clapped! I felt like I had just won the lottery. The discussion about my pinkie was short. It went something like this:

Dr. Chuckles, "Are you a concert violinist?"
MenopausalMarathoner. "No."
Dr. Chuckles, "No one is going to operate on your little finger. Leave it in a splint for 3 weeks and when you take it out, it will either be straight or it won't."

Ok, fine, no big surprise there. Still, I was determined to get the most out of this visit. I told him about my menopause and the marathon. He didn't hesitate..."You can do it." He went on to tell me all about his running days. He had a long time running partner and they would run and talk for 5 miles everyday. Topics included wine, women, and song. He ran 4 marathons, the first at age 44. He shared how his orthopedist had tried to tell him that his running had caused his joints to prematurely deteriorate, but his response had been that he believed his running was the reason he had lived long enough for his joints to have time to deteriorate. It was sad to see how much he obviously missed it.

By now, Dr. Chuckles had spent a relatively long time with me and I knew he would be out the door soon. I decided to squeeze one more tiny little issue into the visit. I showed him my big toes. They'd been hurting a bit lately. The ensuing discussion went something like this:

Dr. Chuckles."Those look like slight bunions."
MenopausalMarathoner, "Is there anything I can I do about them?"
Dr. Chuckles, "No, not much. They'll either hurt or they won't."

 It wasn't until I was driving home that I realized that even though I had initially brought up my menopause, neither one of us ever acknowledged, discussed, or mentioned it again.

Dr. Chuckles has been practicing medicine for a very long time.