New York City, New York, Unite States, February, 2020
The next year, while in New York City, I had the nail of my big toe growing into the skin. I think I had been out dancing a lot on it. After a few days it was clearly and undeniably infected. Everyone who saw it freaked out and told me to go to a doctor immediately and get antibiotics (this is the American way). I don’t take antibiotics. This is how I maintain one of the strongest immune systems in the world. I had between five and ten close friends and family insist I take antibiotics, but I knew better. I had lived with a damn good Podiatrist for nearly a month. I saw how he handled things.
I gave Mark a ring, explained the situation, and asked his advice. I remember when I told him that everyone was insisting that I take antibiotics he called them a bunch of “sissies” and said to definitely not bother with antibiotics for something so minor. He then proceeded to tell me how to perform home surgery on it (which, if you remember, he was quite experienced with). This required a set of medical tools that I naturally didn’t have but as I had happened to make a short trip to New Jersey to visit my dog who I had adopted out when I began traveling to one of my best friend’s families, her father for some unknown reason had everything Mark listed.
So, I sanitized an area of my room and proceeded to do a self operation for about one hour. It was extremely painful but also extremely rewarding because Mark, the expert that he was, told me that after I did the operation he described the infection would go away naturally in 2-3 days. And it did. My body fought it off. For those of you who didn’t know, this is how the body works.