Then there’s the ToeBro. OMG that show makes me cringe! Gah!
I’d been a bit apprehensive about removing the bandage today, but it came off on its own this morning! Two hours too “soon,” but I did the warm-water-and-betadine soak and put a Neosporin-infused Band-Aid on it. It’s actually less sore this morning than it was at the end of the day yesterday, but I expect that the more I move today the greater the chances I’ll want some (preventive) Tylenol later. I can’t quite get the Band-Aid to stay sealed at the top, so I ordered a “toe cap” thingy that I can start using when I go back into the world on Monday. I’m diabetic, and a *little *more paranoid about infection – especially when it comes to my feet – than the average bear.
I like to spend mornings in my home office catching up on stuff, but around lunchtime I’ll migrate to the living room and spend the rest of the day on the couch – minus occasional “relief” trips to either the bathroom (for me) or the back yard (for the dog). 
I decided to skip my friends’ shows tonight; I’m just going to chill this weekend.
When I first asked about a podiatrist referral, my primary care doc was like “I can do a lot of foot stuff right he…” looked at my toenail “…yeah, I’ll get you a referral.”
Did they have/use the freezing spray stuff first back then? I have a feeling that made a huge difference for me. She was able to quickly freeze the spots where the needles went in, and I barely noticed the sticks – I felt a little burning when the anesthetic was applied, but that was it. She did mention that women tend to tolerate the needles/anesthetic better than men. 
Yeah, I knew better than to look at *any *of it. 
I am generally not a squeamish person: I’m fine with needles and blood, I can watch surgeries (while I eat), etc. I usually surprise my phlebotemists by being able to watch my quarterly blood draws, and in my late 20s/early 30s I was a hospital volunteer (maternity and ER) for a while. Not much bothers me. What *does *bother me, though, is pain – traumatic (for lack of a better word) pain. Even just the expectation of it. My nail had been infected for a long time and was causing me daily pain, but it was different from the “having a toenail ripped out” pain I’d been anticipating. Even knowing that I wouldn’t feel a thing, watching it get removed would look like it hurt; I knew it was a bad idea for me. I’ll have a sympathetic reaction to seeing or hearing about someone else’s traumatic injury, too – an open fracture, a large scalp laceration, a nail being ripped off, etc. Even just typing this is kind of giving me the willies!
After my procedure yesterday I was thinking that a simple toenail removal must have been a breeze for my podiatrist compared with foot or ankle surgery.
(BTW, I looked up microdeckia…I’m going to start using that. :D)
I wish you a full and speedy recovery on the former and needless worry on the latter. But not the car business. You brought that on yourself when you bought a Datsun.
(Datsun… Ha! I slay me. That joke’s never going to get old.)
It’s better than the one the guy at the car shop makes: for oil changes and other scheduled maintenance I wait for my car, and when it’s done he comes to the waiting room and says, “Your Prius is ready!” Every. Time.
Catch The ToeBro a couple of times. He sure takes the mystery out of nail removal! His patients feel no pain, but the moral support people scream and squeal and threaten to pass out.
I am asking for a podiatrist referral. I, too, am Diabetic, and a toenail fungus is relentlessly marching across my toenail beds. My family doc said to forget any OTC topicals. “Save your money, they don’t work.” Oral meds DO work, but they really pound the liver, and when you stop taking them, guess who shows up again?
And since I am on oral Diabetes medication, my liver is already busy.
The fungus causes my itty-bitty toenails to curl up, become thick, and damn near impossible to cut without bleeding. If I avoid cutting them, the corners dig deep into tender flesh and hurt like Hell. I want to get the damn things GONE. My grandkids already make remarks about my ugly feet. I’ll just give them one more thing to razz me about.
~VOW
yah, I’m not sure how well I’d do now that I went through it. Even though there wasn’t any pain.
I still remember the infection I got after having my appendix removed. I was 9. It just got worse and worse. Finally ended up back in the hospital. The surgeon looked at it and said, yep, that’s infected. It will have to be drained. Without warning he reached over, grabbed a scalpel and harpooned me. I’m not exaggerating. He then pushed on my abdomen and about a quart of green fluid came out. Yah, that’s not going to happen again.
Yeah, my podiatrist said that treatment with topicals and oral meds can take up to a year and only works about 40% of the time. I didn’t have another year of toenail pain in me. She only mentioned it in a “I have to at least offer this” way; she pretty much immediately recommended removal — which was fine with me. The only real decision I needed to make was whether to kill the nail altogether or take my chances and see what grows back.
If it helps any, an ultrasound is easier to go through than a mammogram. But you didn’t want medical advice. You wanted sympathy, so there, there. I guess. Better now?
Vicks Salve is supposed to work on toe fungus. Mr.Wrekker swears by it. Every night before bed I get treated to eau d’menthol. Plus side; I can breathe.
It doesn’t work any better than placebo. Only effective treatment is taking an oral antifungal for 6 months, then the cure rate is maybe 75%, with a rate of liver inflammation due to the medication around 3-4%.
Even removing the nail won’t work unless you cauterize the nail matrix so it never regrows.
Yeah that’s kinda what I figured.
I totally saw that as sympathy and not advice.
Hey! My doc said there’s a *chance *the nail could grow back without the fungal infection…don’t take my hope away, man.
Heh. Or teenage boys, apparently.
And no, no freeze-y spray for me.
Even though my post-care instructions said I could shower the very next day, I didn’t shower at all over the weekend because I was afraid of water hitting my toe (I’m *such *a baby). Luckily for my fellow man, I also didn’t leave the house at all. 
I couldn’t avoid showering before work today, though, so I finally took a deep breath and stepped in…and it wasn’t bad at all. phew I kept my toe out of the direct shower spray, but little drips and things didn’t hurt. I think I’m in a headspace where many things *seem *like they’re going to hurt, so I avoid them. I caught myself starting to limp a little over the weekend, despite the absence of pain, and had to nip that in the bud.
What *does *genuinely still hurt is any pressure on the nail bed. This morning I experimented with wearing closed-toe slippers to take the dog outside: by the time we got back in and I’d fed her, I was feeling some discomfort. So, I stuck with the planned flip-flops for work. I’ll keep trying the closed-toe slippers, though, and when they stop bothering me I’ll try real shoes again. I’m pretty impatient when it comes to healing…I’m *so *ready to be able to walk around without thinking about it. I’m expecting that to take a few weeks; I’m hoping for solid progress by Memorial Day.
In other news, I got my car back today. 
That just leaves this Friday’s follow-up tests, and then things can start getting back to (relatively) normal!! 