Snuggled in a fluffy white bathrobe in an upscale spa, I was waiting to have my feet pampered with a deluxe pedicure as the basin was filling with warm, fragrant water.

“Your feet are extremely dry with thick, hardened skin on your heels that have deep cracks. I see feet like this in women with sickness,” the woman remarked, a little too loudly, inspecting my feet at close range.

“What type of sickness?” I whispered, feeling very embarrassed as people in the crowded spa turned to gawk at my feet.

“You should see your doctor about your feet.”

This woman giving me a pedicure could see as plain as day the signs of a serious health condition right there in my feet, but it would take 10 more years to finally receive my formal diagnosis: severe hypothyroidism. [Read more…]