Aesthetics/Function
Jun. 3rd, 2004 05:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
radegundOh, I am definitely moving into a Tired Phase. I've zombied my way through today, doing clever things like printing out the wrong version of the paper I was working on, twice, and then maybe twenty minutes later, after I discovered my mistake, printing the right version twice too because I forgot I'd printed it the first time.
This evening we're invited to dinner in the house of some people I've never met (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
niallm knows one of them; they've recently had a baby and they're kindly offering chat and advice), so I'd better wake up by then...
Meanwhile, I've taken the depressing step of acquiring two pairs of proper support stockings (knee-highs, a snip at €22-fucking-75 a pair, argh), on the advice of my doctor. Varicose veins cannot be cured, he informs me. One can only slow down the deterioration, and for this, one needs the full surgical shebang.
The stockings are, as you can imagine, bloody horrifying. One pair is black, the other allegedly "flesh" coloured, but really a drab brown that would be deeply disturbing if it turned up on flesh. They're miles thick - and the black pair, to add insult to injury, is ribbed.
Also, they're surprisingly comfortable. They feel good when they go on in the morning, and apart from the fact that my feet are way too hot, they feel really supportive of my poor sore bulgy veins throughout the day.
(And it could be worse: if I had diabetes - which is yet another potential side-effect of pregnancy - I'd have to wear the toeless version...)
So will I be strong and disciplined, and wear these monstrosities faithfully every day - and perhaps acquire more so that I always have a pair that's clean and dry? Or will I rebel after a week or so and go back to the flimsy but aesthetically acceptable Mothercare "medium support" tights pooh-poohed by the doc?
I'm inclined to think I'll do what I'm told, partly because I'm ridiculously terrified of varicose veins (they run in my family; I've seen how bad they can get), but also because on the aesthetics/function question I'm generally firmly in the function camp. But my mettle will be tested, I feel. It's bad enough having to walk past every display of cute new summer lines en route to the Expensive Stretchy Things section. Having to confine myself to long garments (because there is no. way. on. earth. that full-length support tights would be bearable in this weather) and encase my lower legs in hideous, sweaty sheaths may well bring my inner aesthete screaming into the foreground.
What would you do? Toe the line, or throw medical advice out the window?
This evening we're invited to dinner in the house of some people I've never met (
niallm knows one of them; they've recently had a baby and they're kindly offering chat and advice), so I'd better wake up by then...Meanwhile, I've taken the depressing step of acquiring two pairs of proper support stockings (knee-highs, a snip at €22-fucking-75 a pair, argh), on the advice of my doctor. Varicose veins cannot be cured, he informs me. One can only slow down the deterioration, and for this, one needs the full surgical shebang.
The stockings are, as you can imagine, bloody horrifying. One pair is black, the other allegedly "flesh" coloured, but really a drab brown that would be deeply disturbing if it turned up on flesh. They're miles thick - and the black pair, to add insult to injury, is ribbed.
Also, they're surprisingly comfortable. They feel good when they go on in the morning, and apart from the fact that my feet are way too hot, they feel really supportive of my poor sore bulgy veins throughout the day.
(And it could be worse: if I had diabetes - which is yet another potential side-effect of pregnancy - I'd have to wear the toeless version...)
So will I be strong and disciplined, and wear these monstrosities faithfully every day - and perhaps acquire more so that I always have a pair that's clean and dry? Or will I rebel after a week or so and go back to the flimsy but aesthetically acceptable Mothercare "medium support" tights pooh-poohed by the doc?
I'm inclined to think I'll do what I'm told, partly because I'm ridiculously terrified of varicose veins (they run in my family; I've seen how bad they can get), but also because on the aesthetics/function question I'm generally firmly in the function camp. But my mettle will be tested, I feel. It's bad enough having to walk past every display of cute new summer lines en route to the Expensive Stretchy Things section. Having to confine myself to long garments (because there is no. way. on. earth. that full-length support tights would be bearable in this weather) and encase my lower legs in hideous, sweaty sheaths may well bring my inner aesthete screaming into the foreground.
What would you do? Toe the line, or throw medical advice out the window?
