Vertigo
08-14-2007, 10:19 AM
Guess who has no big toenail?
If you guessed "vertigo" then you are correctamundo.
I had surgery on my big toe when I was about 13, and the toenail has always been funny ever since. It's mostly like 90% "dead" basically only being attached at the cuticle, and a little along the sides of the nail where it connects to the sides of the toe.
So Mark (not site owner Mark - my husband is also named Mark) and I get back from California Sunday night. He goes off to use the restroom and has me carry his laptop bag. So I set the bag down, then I go to lift up the bag and it slams into my mostly dead toenail ripping the nail straight up. It was vertical, connected only at the cuticle. I tried pressing it back down to no avail. I also tried just ripping it the rest of the way off. Neither was happening, so I decided to go to the emergency room.
Now this is at 12:30 AM Sunday night/Monday morning. I had to be back at work at 8 am Monday. So we get to the ER at 1:15. They do all the usual check in crap and take me back to the room. Once the doc comes in he checks it out and then tells me what they would normally do is press the nail back down, suture it on, and wrap it up. Problem is, most of the nail is already dead, and since it's funky, it has grown in in kindof a weird shape. Since most of the nail wasn't "attached" in the first place, there isn't really a way to suture it back on. I asked him since half of the toenail was already dead can we just take it off? He says that is probably not the best idea, and we'll have to try to press it back down. I tell him to just numb it up and we'll decide from there. Two gigantic shots of adrenaline and cocaine are injected into my toe, nearly making me vomit all over the place. Luckily I'm one of those people who can keep myself from throwing up usually, so I was able to keep it together.
After about 15 minutes he comes back in and starts trying to press the nail down. But, I was right, and since it's a funky shape, and ripped all the way to the cuticle, the pointy parts of the nail on the sides are not wanting to go back into the skin. So he looks up and says "should we just take the nail off?" I'm like "Go for it. Let's just get rid of it" So off comes the nail and some goo, and some skin... it was really interesting to watch and KNOW what it probably felt like, but not being able to feel any of that pain was nice. (Funny side note - all the nurses kept cringing and freaking out when I first came in, because they were imagining what it was supposed to feel like, but lucky for me it didn't actually hurt all that much).
Another nurse came in and wrapped it with some gooey gauze, and then wrapped more gauze on top of it, making me a total mummy toe. Then I got a RX for 20 vicodin and was sent on my merry way. Didn't get to bed until 4 am and had to get up at 7. Luckily my uncle had covered my job for me while I was on vacation last week, so he came in again for me yesterday at about noon so I was able to go home and put my foot up and rest.
It aches, and I'm pretty scared of what it's going to look like when I unwrap it tonight to rewrap it in new gauze. It may grow back nicer, it may grow back ugly again, or maybe not even grow back at all. Could be interesting.
Anyway, I just find it sucky that I can not manage to stop injuring myself. It's like every time I start feeling good again and getting ready to go back to the gym and finally able to help my husband with the house remodel crap, something freaking stupid and lame happens and I can't do shit again for a couple months. At least it's just this - it could have been something a lot worse.
If you guessed "vertigo" then you are correctamundo.
I had surgery on my big toe when I was about 13, and the toenail has always been funny ever since. It's mostly like 90% "dead" basically only being attached at the cuticle, and a little along the sides of the nail where it connects to the sides of the toe.
So Mark (not site owner Mark - my husband is also named Mark) and I get back from California Sunday night. He goes off to use the restroom and has me carry his laptop bag. So I set the bag down, then I go to lift up the bag and it slams into my mostly dead toenail ripping the nail straight up. It was vertical, connected only at the cuticle. I tried pressing it back down to no avail. I also tried just ripping it the rest of the way off. Neither was happening, so I decided to go to the emergency room.
Now this is at 12:30 AM Sunday night/Monday morning. I had to be back at work at 8 am Monday. So we get to the ER at 1:15. They do all the usual check in crap and take me back to the room. Once the doc comes in he checks it out and then tells me what they would normally do is press the nail back down, suture it on, and wrap it up. Problem is, most of the nail is already dead, and since it's funky, it has grown in in kindof a weird shape. Since most of the nail wasn't "attached" in the first place, there isn't really a way to suture it back on. I asked him since half of the toenail was already dead can we just take it off? He says that is probably not the best idea, and we'll have to try to press it back down. I tell him to just numb it up and we'll decide from there. Two gigantic shots of adrenaline and cocaine are injected into my toe, nearly making me vomit all over the place. Luckily I'm one of those people who can keep myself from throwing up usually, so I was able to keep it together.
After about 15 minutes he comes back in and starts trying to press the nail down. But, I was right, and since it's a funky shape, and ripped all the way to the cuticle, the pointy parts of the nail on the sides are not wanting to go back into the skin. So he looks up and says "should we just take the nail off?" I'm like "Go for it. Let's just get rid of it" So off comes the nail and some goo, and some skin... it was really interesting to watch and KNOW what it probably felt like, but not being able to feel any of that pain was nice. (Funny side note - all the nurses kept cringing and freaking out when I first came in, because they were imagining what it was supposed to feel like, but lucky for me it didn't actually hurt all that much).
Another nurse came in and wrapped it with some gooey gauze, and then wrapped more gauze on top of it, making me a total mummy toe. Then I got a RX for 20 vicodin and was sent on my merry way. Didn't get to bed until 4 am and had to get up at 7. Luckily my uncle had covered my job for me while I was on vacation last week, so he came in again for me yesterday at about noon so I was able to go home and put my foot up and rest.
It aches, and I'm pretty scared of what it's going to look like when I unwrap it tonight to rewrap it in new gauze. It may grow back nicer, it may grow back ugly again, or maybe not even grow back at all. Could be interesting.
Anyway, I just find it sucky that I can not manage to stop injuring myself. It's like every time I start feeling good again and getting ready to go back to the gym and finally able to help my husband with the house remodel crap, something freaking stupid and lame happens and I can't do shit again for a couple months. At least it's just this - it could have been something a lot worse.