The month of October was the month of my big toe. What I thought was just a bad nail trim and easily fixed by a podiatrist turned out to be a lot more. After my initial appointment I learned not only was it an ingrown toenail, but also infected and had developed an abscess. Now the area of infection/abscess was hard to reach. In fact, I had to get about 8 shots in my big toe just to numb the area. And let me tell you, that hurt like the dickens. Who knew there were so many nerves in the toe? I remember actually reverting to Lamaze breathing as if I were in the throws of transitional labor. Maybe it was because it was so unexpected or maybe it actually hurt that much, but either way I cried like a baby in that sterile room while the podiatrist literally cut both sides of my nail back to the root to allow for proper draining. Does that gross you out enough? I myself was so horrified at what he'd done, I had my dear nurse friend, Vicki, come do wound care the first night. Even the thought of looking at my toe had me nearly fainting. Two weeks of twice daily soaking, scrubbing, applying ointment, and redressing all while taking oral antibiotics. Um, it's just a toe. Then I went back for my actual ingrown toenail procedure. Good times. I got to do the whole thing over again. Yep. 8 more shots around the toe and the whole enchilada. This time I was in a surgery room laid back with a cloth hanging at my midsection so I couldn't see what was happening. They had me "grounded" so I wouldn't get electrocuted when they started to cauterize the nail roots on both sides. From my view it was as if I was having a c-section. Um, it's a toe. Anyway, this time around I was not in tears. Not sure if it was because I knew what to expect or there was no infection this time or maybe it was because I was caught up reading the story on my phone of Big Tex on fire while the doc was working. I left the office just thrilled to be done. Four days into my second round of recovery I made another appointment to see the podiatrist because I feared my toe was not draining. It was very red and puffy. I good scraping around the nail bed and I was oozing once again. Two more weeks of twice daily soaking, scrubbing, and then adding just a bandaid. $850 later, lots of tears, lots of epsom salt, and lot of bandaging has me with a new toe.
