The adventure of the twin purple toes

K, this is not meant to be a complain-fest or evoke multiple responses of sympathy. I just wanted to write about it. If you don't want to read about surgery or the fact that I have been in pain, please don't read this! And remember...I'm NOT looking for sympathy...I'm gonna be fine, and I know that. So only read this if you want to know what happened...but remember...I warned you (and I don't want any sympathy!!!) Thanks! :)

So, flattering picture, I know. I had surgery on two ingrown toenails yesterday. They were kind of extremely bad and kind of really painful. I went to the clinic at my school cuz it's cheap (and the hospitals don't take my out of state insurance). It had been raining and was super cold so I had tennis shoes on and my coat accompanied by all the warm accessories that you typically pull out for the winter (I get cold after anesthesia). So I went into the office and they said that I wasn't scheduled for the correct amount of time, so I probably wouldn't be able to get the surgery that day. I was devastated, but after the nurse practitioner saw my toes, there was no question...today was the day I was going to get the surgery. She took me into another room and had me put my feet up on the little paper covered bed. She called a girl in to hold my hand as she gave me the shots. The girl talked to me about school and my family, and just about everything to try to distract me. My toes were pretty beat up so a lot of the numb-er just kinda fell out and I got the needle stuck in my skin multiple times. The girl told me that not too long ago one girl held her hand so hard (from the shots for an ingrown toenail) that she left ring imprints in her hand. I didn't squeeze or anything, I just tried to focus on talking. It was weird, cuz my head would get all pressure-y, like it was filled with a HUGE, dense cloud that made my voice sound far away and my vision get all white, when it really hurt (which it did...she shot the stuff directly into the infection....just imagine someone injecting something into something that already causes you moderate discomfort...ouch!!!) Well, after I couldn't feel my toes she started cutting out the nail...but to my surprise my right toe was NOT numb. It hurt, so she shot up my toes again...this time they got totally and completely numb...to the point that I couldn't even feel the needle when it went in to give me the shot. So she went to work on cutting in and ripping out. I so didn't want to watch. Normally I get really curious with what they do to me, no matter how gross or disturbing, and since I can't feel it, I just pretend it's not happening to me...this is different tho. If I watch I get really nauseous and start imagining I'm in pain...so I made sure I was not watching AT ALL!!!! I still cringed cuz I could hear the cutting and feel the pulling...but I wasn't in pain...just kind of freaking out, that's all. She showed me the chunks of nail she was able to get out...they were huge and all spiky on the side that was growing into my toe. it was probably about 1/4 inch wide and totally jagged on one side...I just couldn't believe how BIG it was. I couldn't believe that THAT was what was causing me pain...no wonder!!! She asked me if I wanted her to kill the nail bed of the part she had just removed. There was no question in my mind: I had lived with this for a year...I NEVER wanted it back...even if my nail was thinner or whatever...NEVER ever did I want that giant piece of nail on my toe again...so she killed it. She warned me that because I'm young and my cells regenerate pretty quick there was a possibility that it would grow back, but she killed it the best she could. I was just fine with that. She then wrapped it up and taught me how to take care of it for the next few days. I got my shoes and socks back on, and made a follow up appointment for Monday.It was weird walking around with numb toes...yeah, my balance was pretty much totally off, but I made it to the bus.

The numbness started wearing off right around the time the bus came, and by the time I got to the stop near my apartment I could hardly walk. Someone saw me and offered to take my backpack. Even tho I refused she walked me to my door. It was way nice...she is in my ward and her name is Sandra...she was really nice. After she left I collapsed on the couch barely able to get my shoes off, my feet hurt so bad, but I got them off and it helped. I called home and let my family know of my adventure (so far). Through the conversation the pain got worse so I went on a mission to find some pain medicine...I ended up taking 4 ibuprofen, but it didn't kick in for a while.

So I got back to my apartment after the surgery at about 3:00 and sat on my couch with my feet up. I thought it was going to be a little annoying (the pain) boy was I wrong!!! Shots, sprains, fractures, broken teeth, spilling hot glue on my bare skin...I can handle it! But this was RIDICULOUS!!!! I was trying to do homework, but I just couldn't focus and my head kept feeling like there was a really dense cloud inside it. So I decided that I'd watch Battlestar Galactica till the pain subsided then I'd get back to my homework...yeah, that is SO not what happened. I started watching it and all of the sudden I was cringing and writhing in pain. It was like a really hot, little, focused ice-fire was finding its way up my legs. Also, when I have anything numbed I get REALLY cold, so I still had my socks on and I had a blanket...but they hurt me. My socks felt really really tight...I was too cold to take them off, so I just left them on and made sure they weren't stuck to the bandages (the purple bandage sticks to EVERYTHING!!!) So I tried focusing more on the show and tried texting a few of my friends to see if I could distract myself from the pain. Well, my friends were in class...so that backfired and I ended up feeling completely and totally alone, and the show started getting really emotional and even the tiniest thing would set me off crying...I turned the show off and realized that it was the pain that was making me cry (I've learned that constant intense pain, like this, or a migraine, is what gets me crying...spurt-y pain, not so much). I then decided I should try sleeping...maybe that would distract me...that one worked, but I was asleep till about 7:30 and when I got up I wasn't throbbing and crazy in pain, I just couldn't walk. I took some more ibuprofen and this pain reliever my roommate had from England (typically taken with ibuprofen) but I couldn't sleep...until 4 in the morning.

I woke up at bout 9 today (maybe 8:30...either way, it was REALLY sleeping in!) and I could walk a little better, but socks and shoes were out of the question and I couldn't stand for very long...so I emailed all my teachers and didn't go to school today, and because I can't get closed toed shoes on I can't go to work tonight...which is really annoying because I was looking forward to getting a lot of hours in this week.

So yeah, I'm not posting this to get sympathy, cuz I'm really fine, and I'm soooo grateful I was able to get the surgery (and it only cost $10 total...I got it done at school). I'm so happy that I (hopefully) won't have to worry about this annoying adventure I've been going through for about a year any more!!!! YAY...that's my adventure of the day!

~Manda