There’s a nursery rhyme, little melody-esque song that I remember from my childhood called “This Little Piggy”. The original poem is as follows:
This little piggy went to market,
This little piggy stayed home,
This little piggy had roast beef,
And this little piggy had none.
This little piggy went …
Wee, wee, wee,
all the way home!
After my experience today with Dr. Corey Thompson, who specializes in feet, ankles, and wound care, I have a remix of the poem I’d like to share. In my version, piggy’s represent toes.
This little piggy went to the doctor.
This little piggy broke their bone.
This little piggy infected the rest of the foot,
And this little piggy had maggots.
This little piggy went…
swiftly to the urgent care,
where it was popped up and amputated.
The end.
Thankfully, I only saw pictures of these grotesque images. But, whenever we were waiting for patients or recording op notes, Dr. Thompson would share his wound care stories with me. These lovely images have flooded my brain for the past few hours and I don’t know honestly if they’ll ever leave. Additionally, as a foot and ankle guy, we saw a lot of pretty gnarly stuff. My favorite was a man who had had a cast on his foot for 3 months, and when they removed it there was a horrendous stench and three inches thick of dead skin built up on his swollen, bruised food that Dr. Thompson had to pull off. Surprisingly, I didn’t pass out… Then.
Our first patient we saw was a man who had ruptured his Achilles. I thought it’d be interesting, as I suffer from Achilles tendinitis. But while looking at his x-rays and listening to Dr. Thompson diagnose the surgery, recovery time, and what it actually meant for the Achilles to be ruptured, I quickly realized it was hitting too close to home. I excused myself quickly to the bathroom, as I was losing vision and felt like I was going to vomit. I made it to the bathroom, didn’t throw up, but put some cold water on my face and brought myself together. I didn’t pass out! But it was definitely close. It was definitely a beneficial day for me today- I know now I have no interest in specializing in foot and ankle, and especially not wounds.
