Day 7, Leg 5

Today is my buddy Charles's favorite sort of day because I'll be showing off pics of my poor, injured foot. After looking at the initial damage, soaking up the mix of blood and blister fluid, and giving my feet a good wash before showering, patting everything dry, and applying fresh dressings, I've come to a few conclusions. 

First, the right foot is objectively worse off. There's no skin damage on the left foot, and that foot's aches and pains are fading. The right foot is a different story: the blister not only tore open but began bleeding, which makes this more than just a mere blister issue. I'll be changing dressings throughout the day today, staying off my feet except when necessary, using a good amount of gauze and Leukotape to keep the area dry and padded while I walk, and visiting a pharmacy to resupply once I'm in Daegu. I hope there are pharmacies near my motels; Daegu will take two days to get through (I skirt its western edge).

Second: that heavy rain did my feet no favors. My shoes ended up soaked, and as of today, they're still damp, making them double-plus ungood to walk in. I'm pretty sure the wetness is the real reason I went from a blister to bleeding. 

I've hand-washed all of my clothes; they're currently drying with the help of a wall-mounted oscillating fan. Meanwhile, here are some pics from yesterday:

outer sock

inner sock, still on my foot

inner sock, now off my foot

This bloody wad was sitting on top of my foot when I took my sock off. I initially wondered whether I'd lost a chunk of flesh or something, but as you'll see in the next picture, that's not what happened at all.

Suspecting something was up, I stretched and unrolled the wad, which turned out to be a bloody bit of Leukotape that I'd wrapped partially around my pinky toe. Because I was exhausted when I got back from dinner, I couldn't focus very well, which is why I'd thought at first that this might have been a chunk of flesh. Thank God it wasn't, or I'd have had to consider canceling the walk. 

It's very tempting to rip the loose skin away, but I haven't thus far. 

With the neuropathy in my feet, I'm in a similar position to a leper who must be careful about cuts and bruises: these can get infected, and I'd never feel anything happening until it was too late, so I have to get in the habit of checking myself constantly. 

Through the motion of walking, the blood had squished up between my toes, making it look as though I'd been bleeding between my toes. Once I wiped the blood away, I saw that it was all clear. 

still bleeding after some washing and patting dry

Probably the least affected of all my foot wounds—if this even counts as a "wound." I had clipped away a bunch of callused skin before the walk had even begun; what you're seeing is less blood and more discoloration from schmutz that got in between the callused layer and the normal skin. I've swabbed and dried the area—including under the callus—as best I can. Not much I can do about discoloration. Anyway, this area isn't bleeding at all.

first bandaging, which I bled through

a closer look at the craggy, stalwart big toe

The above photos are all pre-shower, by the way. Except for the last one. 

If the bleeding worsens after tomorrow's 40K walk, I'll probably have no choice but to cancel. Luckily, I'll be in Daegu, so I'll eat at my favorite Chinese restaurant to celebrate my defeat, after which I'll go home, let my poor dogs heal, then ponder what to do with the rest of my vacation days. Otherwise, today is a day of rest, YouTube watching, reading (I've got a backlog of Kindle stuff), and bandage-changing. Yippie.

UPDATE, afternoon:

The bleeding must have stopped overnight.

no pockets of collected blood that I can see

a little dried blood inside

post-shower clean toes

re-dressed for the moment

I expect I'll be bleeding again tomorrow evening; it might be too inconvenient to change dressings while I'm on the trail. The latest forecast (checked a few seconds ago as I write this at 6:20 p.m.) shows the rain ending tomorrow by 2 a.m. I'm getting up at 2:45 with the goal of being out the door by 3:30 a.m. The forecast then shows several days of either sunny or cloudy weather, with no rain in this region until the 28th. I'll be past Daegu by that point, but the forecast might at least bode well for me for a few days. As always, I'll check the weather daily. In mountainous country, predictions change constantly. 

Tomorrow morning, I'll also redo my dressings with the addition of gauze and Leukotape to lock the gauze down. Will it help, or will it be a soaking mess? I guess we'll find out together. 

If I reach a point where I wipe the blood away and bone is visible, I'll stop there. This isn't a survival walk, and while continuing on to Andong might be doable, it would also be insane. As much as I love walking and have talked about the possibility of dying while doing the thing I love, I'm not an agony junkie. Walking with pain is something you get used to, but walking with increasingly severe injuries is just masochism. I'll know a lot more about my situation when the segment ends tomorrow.

Maybe this just isn't my year.