Two Millimetres of Trouble

Two months ago, just before going on holiday, I noticed something sticking out of the sole of my foot. In summer I walk barefoot quite a lot and enjoy it, so at first I thought I had picked up a rose thorn or a thin metal splinter. Then another thought came: maybe it was a plantar wart.

Through the translucent top layers of skin I could see a small black dot. I tried to get it out. After struggling with it for a while, I realised I would not manage and left it for better times. It did not cause much discomfort back then, although I never stopped feeling that spot.

And so we set off on holiday.

I do not know exactly what happened next. Perhaps the metal began to oxidise, perhaps my body began to reject the foreign object. But my holiday became unforgettable thanks to pain and sweat. Every step from early morning — to the shop, to the beach or just anywhere — brought no joy at all.

Walking became harder and harder. I started placing my foot wrongly and curling my toes, trying to protect the sole from that painful point. In the mornings my tendons were already aching. At one point I was not even sure I would be able to drive the eight hundred kilometres back home.

This went on for about three or four days.

And then the pain went away.

I could still feel that something was there, but it no longer hurt. Once I got home, I did not pay much attention to it, and almost another month went by.

Thick, hardened skin began to grow over the spot where the splinter was. I could feel it when walking, and it started to hurt again. Then I thought I must have been wrong from the very beginning. Maybe there had never been any wire or splinter at all, just an ordinary corn.

I bought all sorts of plasters and started fighting the corn, especially as the skin there kept getting thicker and kept growing. Little by little I almost convinced myself that my first conclusion had been wrong and there was no foreign object there.

But yesterday I decided to look into it once more.

I soaked my foot well, set up a bright lamp, put on my glasses, took tweezers and disinfectant. Bit by bit I started removing the hardened skin.

And again I saw the black dot.

The very same one I had seen two months earlier.

After spending some more time and gathering my courage, I dug down to that dot far enough to grip it with the tweezers and pull it out.

Thank God, I have good medical tweezers. Their tips allow very fine work, and that is exactly why I was able to grab something so tiny.

And there, in the photo next to my fingernail, lies that metal fibre. Just a few millimetres long. It had been in my body for about two months.

Why did I even decide to dig into that corn?

Because walking had lately become almost unbearable. I was curling my toes again and placing my foot wrongly. My tendons ached. In the mornings it was no longer the splinter spot that hurt most, but the tendons. It was hard to bend my foot and hard to climb stairs.

My life is quite active. I need to move a lot and stay physically fit. And I could feel everything gradually heading in completely the opposite direction.

This morning, for the first time, I woke up without that pain.

There is still a bit of thickened skin where the splinter was. When I walk it feels as if a piece of chewing gum is stuck to my sole. But the pain is gone.

Sometimes we think our lives are shaped by politicians, the boss at work, our children, our wife or husband. We expect some huge circumstances, huge problems that can break into the course of our lives and change everything.

But a two-millimetre splinter can break your life.

It makes you place your foot differently. You start curling your toes. The load on your tendons changes. Then it can affect your hip, then your back and spine. And because of one tiny fibre a person gradually begins to change their whole way of life.

Once again I am convinced that the Almighty has everything under control.

We often expect our lives to be shaped by something big and frightening, while completely underestimating the small things.

And yet sometimes it is a small thing that can change the direction of our whole life.

So I draw one more conclusion for myself: every tiny fibre is under the Almighty’s control.

May the Almighty be praised, who created such infinite order in this vast world.

Blessed be His Name for giving us health and watching over everything that happens in our lives, down to such a tiny fibre.

Klaus
🔗 https://t.me/tora4you/5