Infection

Wednesday I came home from my usual 10 hour shift with no issues, business as usual. I worked in the kitchen on some craft stuff for a while, and then decided I needed to shave. I drew some water into the tub and while shaving, noticed that having my right foot submersed in the water was making my big toe really ache. I didn't think much of it, but noticed that the tip of my big toe and all around the nail was deep red, or almost purple.

I don't know what started it, as I wore the same shoes I wear to work nearly every day, and I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. I sat around the rest of the afternoon, as the pain and soreness began to get to a point where it was unbearable. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't walk, I was miserable. We called the nearest Urgent Care Center and off we went.

It only took the nurse one look to start cringing (oh, great) and she slipped me a name of a podiatrist before the doctor came in, prescribed me antibiotics, pain pills, and epsom salt soaks, and told me that I would have to see a podiatrist to get it dealt with.

We stopped by CVS and filled the prescriptions on the way home. I slept well with the Darvocet, and even made sure to wake Klif up in the middle of the night to get me one when the time had come.

The next morning I called the podiatrist's office, who said they could get me in in an hour, and got ready to go. Klif headed off to work, and I hadn't taked a pain pill since the middle of the night, so I choked down a half of a chicken patty and drove to the doctor's office.

Once there, the doctor basically started giving me options, like removing anything ingrown, anti-fungal persriptions to lessen the pressure, etc etc. He said the most drastic would be to remove the nail. I told him that I had been through all of the other options, and that I didn't want to deal with this stuff anymore, so we all agreed that removal was the only option. 4 numbing shots in the toe and 15 minutes later, I was toenailless. I started to feel a bit queasy while in the chair. Probably a mix of adrenaline and the fact that the pain pill I took in the middle of the night was taken on an empty stomach.

The nurses got me all ready to go, and I headed out to my car, only decided that I wasn't about to drive home. I called Klif at work and he headed out to pick me up. I headed back into the office to ask if it was okay to leave my car since Klif was coming, and they said that was fine, and then proceeded to make the waiting room into my own personal comfort chamber. They had me lay on the couch, propped up my foot, brought me a trash can (in case!), brought a fan from another room, placed a cold rag on my head, and gave me the remote. For a second I thought about calling Klif and telling him to take his time.

I made it about 5 minutes in the car before I got sick. 6 times, even. Poor Klif, having to watch...and smell. That chicken patty looked and smelled a lot worse the second time. I spent the next day a half in bed, which really didn't help my craft fair inventory for Saturday, but oh well.

The morning after, I went to change the gauze as expected, and foud that the original gaze pad that the doctor had used was now fused with the raw flesh of my nail bed. I have never known pain like this. I still have some to remove, but have been making little bits of progress with antibiotic ointment and patience.