Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Inner/Outer Body Healing

On Friday Morning, a few minutes before leaving for work I was outback running barefoot with the big dogs for the house when I smashed open the bottom of my foot into the corner of a brick on the back deck. Immediately my run came to a stop, I grabbed the back of a chair and looked down knowing that what I was about to see would need attention. Ouch. I panicked a bit internally trying to figure out if I could get this blunt force laceration protected in enough time to make it to work. It started to bleed vibrant red blood onto the deck, so I pulled myself up even though I was standing and moved to the bathroom where I put my foot under the faucet in the tub and flushed the wound with cold water. Burning. Next came the hydrogen peroxide which when mixed with my blood turned foamy pink swirling down the drain. Then I cleaned the area with alcohol which reminded me once again how alive I feel. I dressed the wound with an antibiotic ointment coated 2" gauze pad and then wrapped it with tape. There was no way that I would be riding my normal commute and when I looked at the kitchen clock I realized that I was even too late for the last inbound 40X bus a mile away at Lawyers/Idlewild. Within no time I loaded my bike and bag into the Montero and was headed down the road only a bit late for work. My foot hurt and I wondered what the day would bring. Was I going to have to go and use that wonderful health care insurance that I have been paying for for years, or was I going to be able to take care of this one myself?
Photo taken in the afternoon on Friday after I made the first re-dressing of the wound by Mikey Garzon
It was a difficult day on the job because every time I pushed down on the left pedal I could feel the sharp pain throb in my shoe. The problem became even worse when I was off the bike walking on it. Limp apparent. When my day was over I decided that I would try to fix this one myself by taking care of it and going to a place of internal healing over the two day weekend. The next morning I told myself to breathe slowly and deep while I sat alone in the back under the hemlock tree in the sun. Two days of looking in and I could feel my skin holding together and sealing itself. In the hot sun I drifted in and out of a meditative state for what seemed like two consecutive days. The area was clean and very much alive. By Sunday evening the cut looked much different than it had Friday. There was no sign of infection and the inside of my foot was no longer exposed to the outside world. I went to work Monday with just a light wool sock over it hoping to keep the dirt out. On Tuesday(yesterday) I kept the sock off and instead put a large band aid over the boo boo. When I got home from work I noticed that the wound was just about healed completely.
Photo made yesterday evening by St. Lissa

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