A few months ago, after seeing countless ads on my Instagram feeds and in the margins of my Yahoo mail account, I decided to buy a pair of Vessi shoes. I have several pairs of walking shoes but none that I can wear in the rain without soaking my feet, and I was able to apply a discount code, so I thought I'd roll the dice and try them out.
It's the first time that I've ever bought footwear online.
Ten days later, the shoes arrived on my doorstep and I was excited to try them on. They fit more snugly than a regular pair of shoes but that is by design. They're 100-percent waterproof so you don't want any gaps that can let water in.
I wore them around the house for a couple of days before taking them outdoors, and the only issue that I noticed was that if I sat with my feet up for any length of time, my feet would become numb: especially, my left foot.
That foot has hardware in it, from my reconstructive surgery, and so the top of it bulges just a bit more than my right foot. All of my shoes are more snug on that foot.
That's the price of a pain-free foot that I wouldn't trade for the world.
I started wearing my Vessis outdoors, especially on rainy days. I'd step in puddles that I would avoid in any other shoe. One time, while photographing a memorial site, I accidentally stepped in some grass that was flooded and the water came right up to my ankles.
But my socks and feet stayed perfectly dry.
However, after a weekend in Toronto, where DW and I walked everywhere—and me in my Vessis—I noticed a small blood blister had formed on the ball of my right foot. It didn't hurt so I ignored it, confident that it would heal in a few days.
I wore my other shoes, most of the time, though I would put my Vessis on if it was raining and I was only going a short distance. (Though, I wore them for the photo walk that I lead, in June).
The blister, which started deep under my skin, was making its way to the surface, and that's when the trouble started. I began to play with it while watching TV.
One evening, I absentmindedly started picking at it, while watching TV, and suddenly, it began to bleed. A lot. Without noticing, I had created a small puddle on the hardwood floor of our bedroom (thankfully, my feet were dangling off the bed).
I cleaned the wound (and the floor), applied some antibiotic ointment, and covered the wound in a bandage before heading to bed.
In the morning, I noticed that some blood had soaked the bandage but thankfully, did not get on our sheets. I cleaned the wound, applied more ointment, and placed a fresh bandage over the wound, which seemed to form into a berry-like bubble.
Walking on it was a problem, as I always seemed to burst that bubble. Over six or seven weeks, I had gone through dozens of bandages (which was actually for the best, as many of those bandages were at least a decade old). I used them all up before opening one of our first-aid kits that is packed with several boxes of newer bandages of various sizes and uses: waterproof, flexible, and breathable.
When it seemed like my foot wasn't getting any better and continually bled, I made an appointment to see my doctor. She inspected the wound and, to my relief, told me there was no infection. I was, however, treating it in the worst way by applying the antibiotic ointment and keeping it constantly covered.
It needs to air out, she told me. Keep it bare for a couple of days, at least until it dried out. She applied some nitrogen to it, which made it scab up, and wrote me an order to have some blood work, with which she would follow up in a couple of weeks.
The blood work was to determine whether I was diabetic or not. The wound shouldn't have been taking this long to heal, and because my father was diabetic, I was at risk.
I meet with her to discuss the results at the start of August.
So, for more than a week, I've tried to stay off this foot as much as possible. I sit barefoot while I'm working at my home-office desk and whenever I watch TV. I only apply a bandage when I have to go out and when I do, I wear my spongiest shoes and tread lightly.
It's getting better.
This past weekend, I bowed out of kayaking with DW and my friends, and I spent most of my time barefoot and sitting at a desk, editing video and producing content for my YouTube channel. Not only did I upload one video to my channel, which I'll share tomorrow, but I also produced a second video that will be available on my channel on August 3.
And I've begun work on yet another video. Plus, I wrote today's, tomorrow's, and Wednesday's blog posts.
Who knew that a pair of shoes could lead to me being so productive?
I still love my Vessis. They are comfortable (even though they produced a blister, I wasn't in pain while wearing them) and they keep my feet perfectly dry in the wettest of conditions.
But for now, I'm sticking to my other shoes.
Stay tuned for more news on my foot...
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