Thursday, May 30, 2024

bloodless

As an experiment, I went to work yesterday with no bandage on my toe to see whether I was still bleeding. I didn't check my foot until after I'd gotten home from a full day at work and a 7K walk afterward. Result: no bleeding at all. So I don't have to bandage up my foot anymore, it seems. Not until the next time I fuck up my toe callus with nail clippers.

The walk was interesting. It started off with chest pain, but that may have had something to do with how, right at the beginning, I helped two kids carry their bikes up a set of stairs so they could bike along the high-level creekside path by the Yangjae Creek. There were three kids: two boys and a little girl. The girl was the one who most obviously needed help dragging her bike up the stairs, and when I'd finished helping her, I went back down the steps to help one of the boys, who was also having trouble getting his bike to the top. "Thank you very much," the boy said in accented English when I'd handed him back his bike. I smiled and nodded as my chest throbbed from all the climbing and descending and the lifting-with-heart-failure.  The kids biked away. I belatedly thought I should have asked to take their picture, but by then, it was too late. Still—maybe the deed earned me some good karma, unlocking some kind of cosmic achievement that I can cash in later whenever there's an emergency.



7 comments:

John Mac said...

Sounds like that powder worked like a miracle. Glad you have one less thing to worry about now. Stay strong!

Charles said...

This may be a stupid question, but do you need to trim your toe calluses? Is there a disadvantage to just leaving them alone? Do they cause pain when you walk or something?

Kevin Kim said...

Charles,

Yeah, the right big toe, in particular, gets thick calluses that can become uncomfortable if I leave them alone for too long.

Charles said...

Ah, well that sucks. I guess this is something that comes with all the walking.

Kevin Kim said...

C,

Yeah, it's a combination of walking and being heavy.

Anonymous said...

Kevin, have your ever tried something like a lava stone? Rough stone that rubs away the dead skin, but almost no danger of going to far or too deep. I know people use them on heels and stuff like that.

Brian

Kevin Kim said...

Brian,

Something to think about. Thanks. I was thinking of a nail file.