Take a stand on problem of continued foot growth

by Beth Teitell
Tuesday, July 16, 2002

In the grand scheme of things, it's not a big problem. But it's hard to keep the grand scheme in mind all of the time, or even some of the time, especially when your feet have just grown a size, and now you need to go out and buy an entire new shoe wardrobe, a procedure not covered by most HMOs.

All these years I've been stressing about the crow's-feet around my eyes, not my actual feet, and look what happened. I'm a size 10 now. That's clown territory.

Since I didn't have a live-action cam on my feet I'm not sure how the growth occurred - was it a one-time jump, or a slow and steady lengthening? - but one day at the gym I noticed the big toe on my right foot was numb.

When I got home I tried on my other shoes and they were small, too. Perhaps some strange shrinking force had been at work in my closet, I thought (hoped). I know this sounds far-fetched, but it happens periodically to my clothes, so you never know.

Actually, I knew. But I didn't want to face the truth.

``There's something embarrassing about having huge feet,'' a friend said when I mentioned the situation.

``Huge.'' Thanks a lot.

You know what burns me? People will tell a bleached blonde with a raccoon stripe down her scalp that she looks ``natural,'' but reveal you wear a size-10 shoe, and this is what you hear:

``Wowza!''

``You'll need to start shopping at that shoe store in Cambridge where the transvestites go.''

``Maybe you should call the WNBA and find out what they do.''

I did make a call, but it was to a podiatrist, Catherine Wu, a doc with Foot & Ankle Associates. I was expecting her to talk about age and pregnancy-related growth, but this is what I got: ``Diabetes can cause feet to get bigger.''

Diabetes? I was still reeling from that, so I could only half hear what else she said, but in addition to mentioning benign, if depressing, causes - like collapsing arches - she used words like ``peripheral neuropathy,'' ``collapsing valves'' and ``venous stasis.''

I had been standing when I called Dr. Wu, and would have keeled over, had it not been for my feet.

``You mean it might not just be a fashion problem?'' a friend (size 7, narrow) asked when I told her about my medical consult. ``You could have a serious problem?''

Could have a serious problem? I do have a serious problem!

If my feet grow even one-hundredth of an inch more I won't be able to shop in normal shoe stores any more. Size 10 is as large as most stores go. I'll be at the Forgotten Foot, in Framingham.

But maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. You know how they say if you want to feel better, hang around people worse off than you? Well, they're right. After a day of taunting - ``You're going to have to walk backwards, like a diver with flippers on,'' one jokester told me - I called the Forgotten Foot.

``Ten? That's not big at all,'' owner David Sodekson said. ``I've got 12s in here.''

Twelve? Wowza! That's huge, I thought. But then a sobering thought hit me. At one point in my adult life I was a 9. Then 9 1/2. Now I'm a 10.

``Your feet are like Italian lire,'' one of my friends said, predicting I'd see 13 in no time.

I looked down at my feet and realized this was as small as they'd ever be again, and it hit me that some day I'd long to be a size 10. My feet looked - dare I say it? - petite.

Well, almost.