Voluntary Health Associations & Medical Disciplines

“How are you today?”

“Doc,” the neighbor says, wincing in pain, “my foot hurt so much. I can hardly stand up. My left foot has serious pain!”

“Well, let’s take a look and see,” I say.

As we unlace the old, mostly holey sneakers and peel away the equally holey and soiled socks, I am repelled by the stench, not the normal odor you might encounter from someone whose feet have not been cleaned in a while, but rather the stench from the abscesses and dried blood that have built up over time. Every touch educes a loud wince from our patient.