toe update: better and better

Here's how my toe looked after I got up:

In the above photo, the bandage has been flipped up so you can see whether there's any leakage. There isn't, so this was another leak-free night.

Below: this afternoon, after coming home from work. I elected not to wear any bandage to work—very much daring Mother Nature to do something. And as you see: nothing. No bleed-through at all for the sock:

Below, I've flipped the sock inside out to see whether there was any leakage inside it, however small. Nothing, which is delightful:

Below, the naked toe. I'm not sure I even see a hole anymore. I might be able to switch from antibiotics and lotion to just religiously washing my feet:

I think my prediction that I'd be completely healed in July is coming true. I'm just in time to go distance walking during monsoon season and the worst part of summer (July-August). Korean summer lasts about four months; I'd put its start at around mid-May, and it goes through mid-September before daytime and nighttime temperatures both start backing down. By late September, the days are still warm, but the nights are substantially cooler. True fall doesn't come around, though, until about mid-October. As I've described it before, it's like a switch flipping around that time: temperatures suddenly fall off a cliff, and the real coolness begins, which is right when my hike is coming to a close.

Korean summer has never been something I enjoy; it's more like something I have to endure to get to the ephemeral relief that is fall (Korean winter is also about four months long). But fall brings immense rewards: it's become, for me, the best time of year to walk across South Korea, mainly because of the incredible views you get of the harvest. Should I ever try walking on Jeju-do again, I'll know to go about 1.5 months later: being semi-tropical and so far south, Jeju's harvest season lags about that far behind. I didn't see nearly as much of the Jeju harvest as I'd wanted to, but now, I know better how to plan for a Jeju ramble.

But first—we have to make sure the toe has healed, and we have to get through this damnable summer. Keep your fingers crossed.