ChillsQuote of the Week

"Life is too short to be little."
~Disraeli

Monday, July 4, 2011

Never walk barefooted at public places: A report of plantar warts

No image is displayed in this post to protect the virginity of your eyes.

Hello. How are you doing? Fine? Good to hear that. What about me, you ask? Well, not as fine.

Do you usually wear shoes, slippers or anything that covers your feet when you’re not in your house? If you don’t, there is a chance of you contracting a range of diseases which can cause some trouble to your feet.

Outside of your house, on that dirty grey cement floor, on the grassy plane of field, on that basketball court, on that swimming pool compound, on that toilet floor (the most likely place to breed bacteria) or on that whatever outdoor ground that you step, thousands of bacteria and microorganisms thrive. Some are good while others are just plain mean, like the ones that can cause Plantar Warts.

I believe that I got those warts when I went to a camp. I was barefooted in the dorm and several times outside of the dorm. In the middle of the camp, I suddenly felt something under my left sole.

No pain at first. It just felt like a small tiny stone got into my left shoe. When I checked, I see no stone. Instead, I found that there’s a small white circular area on my sole with a discernable tiny black spot at the back of the flesh. Didn’t look to me as a big deal, so I just ignored it. But every time I walk, I felt like something got embedded into my sole.

After a week of getting the mysterious thing on my left sole, I found the same thing on my right sole. Wah, I think one foot wasn’t enough for the virus. It wanted to conquer both my feet.

I did some research online and concluded that they were plantar warts. To the doctor I went, and was given an acidic solution to put on the warts every night. After a week or so, there wasn’t much improvement, and I didn’t go back to the doc.

However, after more than 1 month, the warts have succeeded in increasing their sizes. The warts weren’t that big as you might think, it’s had grown to a size of a small mole. But because plantar warts are located in the worst location on the body (the soles of the feet), they would be constantly stepped on no matter what and it would be harder for them to come out. That’s what I opine.

One thing that you should know about this kind of wart is that it’s plantar, meaning that it can only exist on your soles and not anywhere else on your body. For those warts on other parts of the body, they have different names to live by.

So after doing a medical checkup last week, I decided to just consult the doctor on the fate of my infected feet. And last Saturday, I underwent a procedure to burn off the warts. Die warts…die!! I could even smell the burning smell of flesh as the doctor did his stuff.

Now I’m just recuperating at home and I try to minimize any movements that need the use of my feet which includes walking. No more sports, no more going out for the moment now.

With the small volcano holes on each of my sole, for now I’m contented to just sit and lie back in my house and becoming a recluse for a while. It’s not easy though, not moving around is difficult for me. And everyday I have to rendam my feet in salt water followed by applying antiseptic cream on it.

For my feet, I forwent a trip to Port Dickson, forgo a trip to East Malaysia (Kota Kinabalu, Kuching and Sibu), which I confirmed months ago, possibly forgo a frisbee tournament coming up soon and forgo every opportunity to go out. :[

Health is ultimately the most important thing in our life.

So don’t overlook small things in your life like going barefoot outdoors. Just DON’t do it. You have no idea how much you have to go through and how much suffering you would have to endure.

If you’re thinking, “I’ve done it as long as I have lived and nothing has happened so far,” you can consider yourself lucky. You may never know when aral will melintang. Put simply, if it’s your bad day then you’ll kena la.

So take care. Health comes first.

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