See [[Being the Spark]]

Small things Big Difference: Genwise Summer School

Anyone who has had a verruca will understand that small things can make a big difference!

I am a keen swimmer (see [[Floating in Systems]])and one of the hazards of spending time at a public swimming pool is the potential to pick up a verruca. This is essentially a wart on the sole of your foot.

The last time I had a verruca was back in 2017. I tried to treat it with Over the Counter (OTC) products but this just made things worse. The skin around the verruca reacted and the verruca grew bigger!

Walking became very painful so I started avoiding it. As a result I started putting on weight. This caused even more pressure on the verruca and even more pain when I walked.

I started limping to avoid putting weight on the verruca. After a while I noticed pain in my lower back, caused by the limping. This made it very uncomfortable for me to ride my horse, so I stopped doing that too. My horse started losing fitness too and this really started to affect my self esteem.

I had been on a waiting list to have my verruca treated at the local GP surgery. After many months my verruca was frozen off at the surgery and I could start to address the problems it had created.

This is a salutary tale in how small things can have a big impact across a system.

We have a saying "prevention is better than cure". How could I prevent this happening again? What are my options? I could stop swimming but this would also have an impact on my wellbeing. I am going to try wearing "swimming socks" when pools re-open and I am able to swim again. I will report back on this experiment. Watch this space!