Battles, and Wars

I got my first wart when I was about twelve years old.  It was on my left knee, and we headed for the Doc to get it removed.  It came back three times.  My siblings and I are prone to them.  My sister had a stubborn one on her foot and my brother still sports on on his hand. He tried burning it off with a hot nail, and it only grew bigger.  As we are also prone to those pre-cancerous moles (compliments of my dad) our trips to the dermatologist were mostly for the sake out getting our three every six months removed. That's what the insurance covered and it was more important than the warts. So, I couldn't tell you when the one on my right foot came up.  Or the two on my left foot.  Or the one and the three tiny one in a row on my left knee.  Its been a while, like as in years.  They don't hurt, and I'm not overly vain about my feet or legs anyhow, so they went unnoticed.  Then I got engaged to a great guy who likes my feet.  I tried my best.  Having heard from the doc that picking them makes them go away, I picked at them.  Till they bled, and then some.  I bought some freeze off that didn't have any affect.  I tried for months and got no results.  The didn't even shrink.  We got married, ect.  One came up on my left hand.  Last month, a bitty one on the right elbow.  Now, I hope I'm a patient girl.  Did I fuss when Those Whom I Hate made me their home?  Did I put up a fight? Hardly.  But, this is insulting.  I'm afraid I'll wake up one day to be all wart, no Stacy.  Everyone has their limit, and I had reached mine.  I'd hear many times that duct tape kills warts.  I guess it depraves them of oxygen, and also the sticky pulls them off over time.  Even my doctor (another one) suggested it to me.  I started with my hand.  I duct taped it for two weeks.  It didn't turn red, itch, anything, and the wart was getting smaller!  Delighted, I tried once to tape my right foot, the largest and oldest wart.  The position on my foot wouldn't let the duct tape stick, so for ONE DAY I taped a thin layer around my foot.  It was a pain and I abandoned the attempt.  Well, after two weeks, I noted my hand was red and irritated, for the first time.  I left the tape off.  Overnight, my hand swelled in that area.  I looked like a burn victim, and the area was fire red.  Little blistery thing sprang up, almost like ant bites, but scores of them, and itched like crazy.  Everyone asked my if I'd burned myself.  About a week after trying it on my right foot, the top of my foot had the same reaction, almost the same intensity, despite the different length of time they were with the duct tape. But, I was in a battle now.  We bought wart freezer, the best kind, and went to work on my left foot, left knee, right elbow.  The knee seemed promising.  It promptly formed huge blisters, which is how it works.  We could see the warts rising off.  Moral soared.  Two days later the blisters popped, leaving raw skin and underneath, the healthy roots of all the warts, safe and sound.  I felt optimistic about my foot.  The blisters took longer to form, and I thought it might actually get the root. My foot followed suite though, just three days later. It was the same story, the raw skin and the wart roots, much larger than the wart you see on the skin, by the way. I watched my elbow anxiously.  I have mentioned my optimism.  The removal worked, it did lift the warts up, it just didn't get deep enough.  But my elbow was a baby.  It would have shallow roots, and it was so small.  A week after the treatment, my elbow reacted exactly like my knee and foot.  Luckily, I have a strong disposition to enjoy life.  I persevered, in spite of severe losses.  In the meantime, I had five sore spots of raw skin (one on the elbow, two on the knee, and two on the foot) and a bad burn looking reaction on my other foot and my left hand.  You might say that the warts won this round.  It has taught me one thing:  stop it with the home remedies.  As soon as I'm healed, a call will be made to the dermatologists.  The battle rages on. He who laughs last, will laugh with relief to be wart-free!

As an update, I still have the reactions on my foot and hand, but slowly its getting better.  I feel like my hand will actually scar.  The areas from the freezing treatments are no longer painful, skin has grown enough to cover them and I don't put on bandages anymore.  I'll update you after my doc's appointment.