A man is walking by a manicured lawn where gardeners are busy at work. Something startles him and he jumps back onto a metal rake. The teeth of the rake shoot through the sole of his shoe and stab into the heel until bone stops it’s progress. The man limps to the doctor where the wound is irrigated until there appears to have no more artifacts to wash out.
Fast forward a year.
The man’s ankle is swollen. Given his age and diet, is it gout? Or perhaps time catching up to a break he’d had when he was a younger man causing arthritis. Maybe he landed wrong stepping off the curb and he’s sprained it. He makes an appointment with the doctor but before the scheduled date arrives, he feels dizzy and nauseous. One morning there is blood and pus leaking from the swollen area. A visit to the doctor drains it, and stitches it up.
Fifty years ago they might have been the end of it. It would, in time, have been the end of the man too.
You see the rake drove a particle into the bone and it lodged there causing an infection that went septic. There were no red lines traveling along the veins of his leg. The infection traveled through the bone, causing an inch of heel bone to be removed to reach the healthy part. Furthermore, the man will be on antibiotics for six weeks, taken intravenously to make sure the infection doesn’t kill him.
He could have lost his foot.
Fifty years ago, he probably would have.
A hundred years ago, he probably would have died after living for months with the draining absess.
Disease is a funny thing. If the man didn’t have such a strong immune system the problem might have been diagnosed earlier or it could have gone septic faster, killing him before modern medicine could intervene.
Who hasn’t stepped on something, driving it into our foot? Who hasn’t cut themselves working in the yard?
Be aware that even minor problems can become big issues–whether health wise or life wise. Take care of things while they’re still small and manageable. More importantly, listen to your body, your loved ones, your friends and family.
Everything means something and everything can teach us something.