Keeping Your Head Might Keep Your Foot

A while back a favorite wine glass, gold on the outside and cobalt blue on the inside fell to the floor, shattering, glass everywhere. (I hardly drink, though known to imbibe wine or single malt scotch here and there. But so rarely I forgot this fav glass was crammed into a cupboard).

With elbow grease, though, I swept it all up.

Fast forward to several days later, I started to feel something odd in the bottom of my foot. Like a neuroma. Or… what?

I couldn’t see or feel anything specific.

It got worse… and… worse.

Then it started to get red.

I began to limp.

Then, I remembered the shattered glass.

So, I poked and prodded and discovered a discrete painful lump in the middle of the redness.

Which, minute by minute, was getting far worse.

It must be a sliver of glass. It needed to be removed, but by now, it was WAY down in there.

I should be able to deal with this, right?

So, got out a magnifying glass, my phone with its bright light, antibiotic cream, hydrogen peroxide, liquid silver, a lighter, my tweezers along with a sewing needle.

I sterilized the last two items with the lighter.

Cleaned my foot, then proceeded to dig. Carefully, not like an invading army, but a strategic sculptor.

It was so deep, perhaps between 1/4 and 1/2 of an inch, I had to prod, dig and squeeze.

Wasn’t easy.

I almost gave up and went to a medical center.

But… persevered.

After many failed attempts, and so not wanting to go to an ER… it came out.

A small blue piece of cobalt blue glass.

Drenched the foot with hydrogen peroxide followed by liquid silver and repeated again and again. Finally, antibiotic cream.

To finish the job, I stenciled the shape of the redness, to be able to track it to make sure it wasn’t getting worse.

For internal care, took vitamin C, iodine in a capsule (12.5mg), and vitamin A (the anti-infection vitamin) and also had some Ivermectin on hand. It’s a super bactericidal agent. Took 15 mg of that.

Drank a lot of water.

Took some Arnica montana, too, that I keep on hand.

Went early to bed.

Woke up early.

First thing, I looked at the ink lines to see how that redness was doing.

All gone!

The foot was completely fine.

I reapplied the antibiotic cream and a band-aid.

Then went on my merry way.

Moral of this story: Avoid the ER if at all possible. Have a pantry that is well-prepared for mishaps that can turn into disasters.

I was at the gym the AM after all this and mentioned this tale to their friendly staff.

I said, “You know, if I had type 2 diabetes, I would be a nervous wreck. Any cut or wound in an extremity, like the foot, can lead to a non-healing wound. Maybe initiate a problem leading to a future possible amputation.”

Living smarter “today” can mean avoiding a disastrous “future”.

You are:

• what you eat,

• what you digest,

• how you move,

• what you think,

• and, even what you store in your pantry.

Everything adds up.

Be prepared. For a rainy day. Or a bit of blue glass.

The more prepared, the less muss and fuss down the road.

Dr. B.