Wednesday, April 2, 2014

How an old pair of socks can change someones life.

John Bunyan wrote, "You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you."

A sweet man, Ruben, 71 years old, came to clinic this week.  He has very high blood pressure, and this was the first time we had seen him.  Our first concern was to take care of his blood pressure, but that soon was followed-up by caring for his really bad leg ulcer.  As he was removing his shoes so I could clean his wound, I noticed he had no socks on his feet to protect himself from the rubbing of his shoes to his delicate feet.  I asked him about that, and he just looked up at me and said, "no tengo."  (I don't have any).  If you know me at all, you know what that means.  I immediately went to my clothing closet and scrounged for some socks.  I am still awaiting shelves, or some other means of putting up the clothes so organize and sort them, so currently they are still in bags.  Anyway - after looking through all my bags I didn't find any socks to give him.  With him promising me to return the following day so I could clean his wound again, I wrote myself a note to bring him some socks from home.  They aren't new socks, but they are good quality, with a lot of life left.  I brought him three pair.  His face lit up in joy over his "new" socks.  I had to give my heart a second to catch up as seeing the joy in his face made it skip a beat.  Amazing how something as simple as a pair of socks can literally change a mans life - by helping to protect his feet from this happening in the future.

 

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