Rosa had always prided herself on being in tune with her body. She drank herbal teas, did yoga every morning, and rarely missed her evening walks. But something felt off lately — and it all started with her feet.
It began with a weird tingling, like ants crawling under her skin. At night, her legs wouldn’t stop twitching, and her sleep grew patchy. She shrugged it off as stress. Then came the cramps — sharp, toe-curling ones that woke her at 3 a.m., clutching at her foot like it was on fire.
“You need more potassium,” her daughter said.
So Rosa added bananas to her breakfast.
But the clues kept coming.
The skin on her heels cracked open no matter how much lotion she used. Her toes looked different too — the fine hair that once dusted them had vanished, and her nails turned yellow and thick.
Still, she said nothing. Who had time to worry about feet?
Then one morning, Rosa couldn’t slip into her favorite flats. Her feet had swollen overnight. She ignored it — until the numbness started. It was subtle at first, but one misstep on the stairs made her realize she could no longer feel the floor beneath her left foot.
That was her wake-up call.
A visit to her doctor confirmed what her body had been shouting for weeks: poor circulation, early signs of nerve damage — and undiagnosed type 2 diabetes. Rosa sat in stunned silence. All this time, her feet had been trying to warn her.
She made a promise that day: no more ignoring the signs. Because the truth is, her feet had never failed her — she had just failed to listen.
