Well my toe is infected. Worse case scenario is MRSA. Best case scenario it's just a pussy cut. Being on the far side of the world complicates things for me though. Further complicated by it being my little toe on my foot with only two toes. I lost the other three in a lawn mower incident when I was 11 months old while my mother was mowing the lawn. I say incident instead of accident because to this day I don't really know what happened. I don't have any memories from that age, and once during a heated exchange my mom told me it was my dad and not her who was operating the mower. I visited the lawn in 2012 and talked to the couple who bought the house, they reaffirmed that it was my dad, and I was riding on top of the push mower. The 80's right!?!? So who fucking knows what happened. Then again maybe a hypnotist or a strong LSD trip might bring some toddler memory out of my subconscious. Needless to say, my baby toe is precious to me. It allows me to wear flip flops! The infection started from a small blister that formed on my toe from walking all over in my Converse. Later, while living in a river barge house, I hung out in the evenings barefoot. Put my feet in the river. Swatted away flies that landed on the raw blister. I didn't think much about it (except the flies as a disease vector). After traveling to the islands, attending the full moon party, and feeling it might be prudent to give it some air instead of keeping it bundled up in socks and shoes, I bought some sandals. I love wearing sandals. They're my preferred footwear, even when it is raining in Mendocino. I didn't bring my Rainbow sandals in the first place because despite this being the sandal capital of the world, I hold being able to run or agile in an emergency as important. Running in sandals sucks, and I can only imagine how my Beijing escape wouldn't gone down without my All Stars. The trouble with the sandals I bought is that they were cheap plastic style sandals and ended up cutting into my toe deeper along the crease of the strap. I woke up two days ago with a pain in my foot. No longer a sore toe, I was walking with a slight limp to my gait and needing drugs to lower the inflammation and pain. Alcohol is generally my first line of protection from all ills (and I stand by that, especially for colds). Thailand however is rich with pharmacies that don't require prescriptions from doctors (whom I swore off years ago). I managed to get some strong ibuprofen with codine and some antibiotics. The antibiotics are the correct type for festering open sores, and the pharmacist, after I showed her a photo of my toe, also gave me some antibiotic cream. I got some hydrogen peroxide, clean dressings, iodine, and her prescribed cream "Fusidic acid". I'm keeping it clean and changing the dressing every few hours. My largest concern at this point is having to fly home in 11 hours. With a 9 hour layover in Beijing tomorrow, then another 12 hour flight to SFO. I didn't want to ignore it and just take pills to drown the pain out. So I picked up the antibiotics, the cream, the dressings, and fresh socks. I'm not wearing the sandals because they basically started the chaff that spread the infection. I haven't started the antibiotics yet because I'm still drinking. Sitting in a bar in Bangkok in the afternoon, killing daylight before I head to the airport. I could start the antibiotics, but they'd be useless with all the alcohol in my system. Fannytrekkers need to weigh the risk and reward of their actions.
I bought some gifts/souvenirs today, I'm carrying them around in a plastic bag. I may buy a last minute bag (roller or backpack, I haven't decided) to put all these items in before I board my flight. Luggage is such a pain in the ass, but I don't want to get my shit lost because its loosely placed in a hefty bag. For those who have never had the joy of riding the Dirty Dog in the US, the most common form of luggage in the American south is the hefty bag. It really puts perspective on those who pay $200 for a commuter flight from Nashville to Atlanta, versus those who take the Dog for $30. I don't feel like I'll be violating any of my Fannytrekker principles. I'll pick it up last minute and only deal with it in the airport , where it is the least likely place to experience the typical travel burdens of luggage. Hell, they've got moving walkways in airports. The advantage of fannypack only travel presents itself when moving around between hotels, between trains, between ferries. When you can just hop onto the back of a moped taxi instead of paying some ass $20 to drive you across an island to your bungalow. And finally sorry for the graphic photo. I know some of you want to see a picture of the infection, but no one wants to look at my toes.
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