Don't Pick It, You'll Only Make It Worse

There are scabs, and then there are scabs. Diabetics sometimes heal slower than normal folk. Old people heal slower than younger people. Injuries on certain parts of the body heal slower than other parts. Picking at it only makes it worse.

So when you have, say, a scalp abrasion on a 90-year-old diabetic scab picker, you have an injury that could potentially take a serious chunk of time to heal. And has.

Ethel is also a pack rat. Anything that has ever been thrown away has been done by someone else, usually out of prudence or desperation. Still, no matter how much sorting and weeding we do, she still has a near bottomless reserve of hiding places out of which she can draw the most bizarre stuff.

So it comes to be that, after picking the scab off -yet again - I find her, mystery tube of goop in hand, ready to apply it to her scalp.

"What the hell is that?" I ask in alarm, not recognizing it.

Something the doctor gave her years ago. 13 years ago, it expired in 19-by-God-97. And is (was?) an anti-fungal for Lord knows what, I don't know where it's been hiding since then but it's gone now.

"The doctor gave it to me, it must be OK to use," she protests. I have no idea which doctor, or even if he's still practicing this long after, but that doesn't matter to her. To her mind, one tube of salve is as good as any other, and even better if a Doctor said so. She won't get that they don't all have the same stuff in them.

I coated the spot with A&D instead.