Nasty Toe

About ten days ago, Madolyn and her grandma went for pedicures (I was only slightly jealous).  Madolyn liked her polish, but commented on the soreness in her big toe from the lady 'digging' around too much.  Fast forward a week and we now have a 'nasty toe' to deal with.  The other night she released a bunch of gunk from it, which seems to have helped.  She has been soaking it in Epsom salt and it is healing slowly. 

It reminded me of my nasty toe experience from about eight years ago.  I hadn't dealt with ingrown toenails before, ever.  I didn't really understand what one was, but all of a sudden my big toe was sore...and I mean really sore.  And then I could hardly put any weight or pressure on it.  And eventually, it was not only very sore and very red, it was nasty.  I could not figure out what was going on.  I didn't think it was an ingrown toenail, but I really didn't know for sure. 

I was desperate and I searched the phonebook in Lawrenceville for a foot doctor (that's where I worked at the time).  I found one doctor that came to town once a week.  I called the number and left a message.  He returned my call and we made an appointment for the next day (thankfully that was his day in town).

As a little background, I had never met this fella before, but I had met his brother who happened to be an attorney.  I didn't work with him a lot, but I was familiar with him, always thought he was very friendly but also kind of shy and maybe somewhat reserved.  If I thought the attorney was shy and reserved, I hadn't seen anything yet.

In our conversation on the telephone, I simply told him what I knew:  my big toe was flaming red and so sore I could barely walk on it.  That it was becoming unbearable and I really needed it to be looked at as soon as possible.  I told him I didn't remember any episode occurring that caused injury to it, and I hadn't been digging around on it or cutting my nails too short.  I had no idea what was wrong with it, but it was obvious SOMETHING was going on.

I arrived at the make-shift podiatry office, which had formerly been a dental office.  (As I think about it now, this guy could've been a fake, I never really thought about it before.)  He escorted me to a big dentistry chair and got me all situated.  He got his gloves on and took his first look at the nasty toe.  And said, in the softest, calmest, Mr. Rogers-like voice, "Oh my, oh my goodness.  I, I didn't really think it was going to be this bad.  Oh my..."  If I heard, "Oh my" once, I heard it fifty times.  The guy was starting to alarm me.  Was my toe going to fall off or something?

So he exits the room for tools and stuff, returns and again quizzes me on whether there has been any trauma to the toe lately.  I could not think of anything that had happened to it, at all.  Nothing stood out.  He said I would probably remember.  Nope, I could not think of a thing.

When he comes back, he again starts in on the "Oh my" comments.  All the while, I'm beginning to wonder if this guy knows what he's doing.  It's starting to disturb me that he's completely baffled, shocked, confused, amazed, grossed out...by my nasty toe.  He is a podiatrist, right?  Would my toe make it?

He tells me that he has two options.  We can treat it with some medicine and see if that clears it up or he can make a cut down the side of the toenail and get the gunk out, which will speed things up.  I opt for plan B.  I want some relief and I wanted it asap.  He also said he could not guarantee it would clear up without cutting it and releasing that stuff anyway.  Okay, go for it.

He sprayed my toe with some freezing spray that almost caused me to pee my pants, but that was the worst of it.  I didn't feel a thing after that.  He made the cut and then got really "excited" when he saw the gush of green, nasty goo that oozed from the nasty toe.  I'm telling you, I'm not sure where that all came from, but there was a bunch of it and it was disgusting.  Again, he made a few of his "Oh my" comments.  He was starting to give me a complex.

He completed his work, bandaged me up and apologized for not believing me on the phone when I said it was extremely painful and nasty.  Honestly, I hadn't realized he didn't believe me, so that was wonderful to hear...

My toe healed nicely and I didn't even need a follow-up.  I never really got an explanation for what turned my toe so nasty, but I didn't care.  I could walk again!  I was pleased with the doctor's work and would go to him again if I needed to.  All in all it was a good experience...it's just never a good sign when the doctor gets that shocked look on his face and starts stammering around with words. 

I've been keeping a close eye on Madolyn's nasty toe.  Nothing she does is ever easy or normal, and I can only imagine what the doctor would say about her...