I mentioned how I have been struck with several accidents lately, and the most recent one was quite dramatic due to the prevailing fear related to "INFECTIONS!" Oh yes, the ominous relentless demon that will possess your body and force it to abandon itself to death and doom! Or so we are told.
Ok, that may be putting it quite dramatically. But the fact remains that - regardless of our beliefs and worldview - our societal programming surfaces suddenly when we are in fear. And having a wound you're not quite sure about is a good attack vector for fear to find a foothold in our psyche.
So, I burned my foot with near half a liter of near-boiling cocoa a good 5 days ago or so. It hurt a lot. The cocoa caught most of the upper side of my right foot where the skin turned into a massive bubble on the foot's back. Biggest I ever had. Biggest most people around me have ever seen live.
Bigger than my toe these photos do not capture its final size ;)
Now I felt quite at ease with my body's innate healing capabilities, as long as the bubble would stay intact.
You know they say infection risk dramatically increases when a burn bubble is torn. But they also say risk of death increases dramatically when one crosses a street. It is not untrue, but not a guarantee to get hung up about either. But we do get hung up abaout it, our programming is yelling to call someone in a white coat, quickly!
So, being in this weird recent time vortex on Earth, Mercury retrograde and whatever else, a lot of things came together that didn't quite allow me to just rest. I went places and though I took it easy - I tore the bubble accidentally. God! I was quite sad about that, the fear of infection popped back up suddenly and I rolled my eyes. "Shush you stupid phantom!" But man did it make its case again now that the wound was technically "open" again.
Reading other people's posts about getting hurt and promptly going to "the doctor" didn't help matters much, because I tend not to do that anymore. At all. Everybody has to make their own decisions.
Sure if I need a mechanic (surgeon) I am fully down with that. But anything non-related to mechanical issues like its overall functioning, and what to do about an open surface wound... is something I would not like to delegate anymore. At least not to the cast that has overtaken the medicinal system in the Western world a long time ago with dubious claims as to what constitutes health.
And so, I opted for self-healing, fueled by good advice from nature nutters like myself.
How did it end up?
I think a combination of rest, placebos and willingness to just stop everything else is what healed me. The body doing its thing and me getting out of its way to do so.
What exactly did I do?
Right after burning it, I held the foot in cold river water our van is parked next to. The foot still hurt when I took it out the water, but slowly after hours I could lift it more and more until the pain out of water was at least bearable.
I quickly started to apply propolis (the magic builders stuff bees use in their hive) to largely cover the affected areas. I also applied some Melissa distillate which is great for burns. And felt alright with this combination.
When I visited my friends the next day with this huge bubble they advised to put some freshly cut and carved Aloe Vera leaf on the wound, they said "just pop the bubble and put it on". Did not feel comfortable with that idea (fear of popped burn bubbles at it again!). But then universe decided for me: In an unlikely move the bubble actually did catch a tiny twig in the yard - and popped. Water rushed out, the foot tingled and then the wound starting hurting again. Damn!
Put the Aloe leaf on instantly, and bandaged it up. Changed the leaf before going to bed that night. I did this for three days and there was no pain at all. All that was happening was that there was slight swelling in the whole foot, so much so that when I walked around it hurt. Anybody who has ever had swollen feet knows that feeling of congestion.
My mother who is a wise herbal witch of sorts suggested to put on lavender oil. I always have some with me in our first aid kit. But she said it would be best to put that lavender oil right on the wound after the burn happened. Like instantly.
Well too late for that, now I could merely be late or not do it at all. The idea of putting oil (even a high quality herbal oil) on an obviously dirty and delicate foot did not sit quite right with fear so I trusted her expertise and applied it. The foot got better quickly. The other little bubbles I had applied the oil to shrank in a matter of hours and are no longer present now. Quite a miracle how the lavender took the moisture away.
The main other advice was this though: Slow down! Put up your foot, drink water and just let the body do its thing.
And that's when it really hit me: Of course we can trust our body to do its thing. It's just that we get in the way of that so often. So gather many good things that can potentially help your body and just rest!
Here both feet in comparison. Notice the slight swelling near the toes in the right foot compared to the left one.
I also had an MMS marathon the last 5 days, taking it several times a day as an antibiotic substitute that doesn't outright killl all cells where it is. That was sort of my talisman. I love MMS, it has helped me many times, and having the option to go for it whenever something bodily is weird or slightly worrying is a godsend. It directly combats the infection fear demon.
But despite all that I think I may have gotten an infection regardless of what I applied if I had simply not stopped to rest.
I was rinsing my body, having the foot up for a good three days now and making sure it is bandaged over night so as to not accidentally rub the wound on anything and thereby reopening it. And I think I'm over it now! Foot looks great and I catch myself wanting to move around and do stuff (a little too soon, maybe tomorrow!). Had to promise my mom I will take this as a lesson and slow down longer. No infection, despite the dirt still being everywhere on the foot. What do you say to that MR. DOCTOR?
Whether it is aloe vera, lavender oil, propolis, MMS, the resting and allowing liquid to exit the swollen areas or the amount of water I drank daily: This worked without ANY issue.
This photo is from today. Notice how the un-popped smaller bubbles are impossible to pinpoint any longer!
