Putting My Feet Up

Must say that I really love my BlackBerry. Other then my pet peeve I have not posted about it. I can certainly understand now why they call it the CrackBerry. I used to scoff at it But now that I have one... wow.... I purchased a micro-SD card so it has now replaced my PDA as my MP3 player. It can do just about everything the PDA can any ways. Now the GPS is something that I would have to pay Bell for so should I actually need the GPS I'd likely use the PDA for that. I can sync it with both the PC and the Mac so the calendar and contacts are up to date. I've had a love/hate relationship with FaceBook but the BlackBerry has a Facebook application which is a trimmed down version. Basically I can check status updates, post on people's walls, and send messages which is all I really need. So I am always on it. Brian and I have email wars on it. I also have Google Talk but it doesn't seem to be working quite right... possibly because I'm still signed in on the Mac. Plus I have unlimited email capabilities. There are games, memos, and a number of other applications for it. Oh yeah and it's also a phone. Okay so now that you all know I love my BlackBerry that really wasn't the reason for the post.

My goal for yesterday was to go to the hospital right after work yesterday. Plans didn't quite work out that way but I did make it to the hospital... just a little later. Fortunately I had the BlackBerry there to keep me company. So I had music to listen to and was writing an email. Sort of made it all tolerable... especially since I was there for 3 hours in the end.

Since you may be wondering why I was there (if you haven't already looked at the labels any ways) I was battling another ingrown toenail. Was at the hospital about 6 months ago and all they did was give me antibiotics. So it never really got better and just got infected again. The nail doesn't seem to grow out... just into the skin. For the last two months I have been trying to battle it on my own with Epsom salt baths and just digging at it, trying to drain the infection. But with no luck... just a lot of pain. I woke up yesterday adn just decided that it was time. Maybe it was the fact it was hurting to walk... or the fact that it was constantly bothering me... or just the concern that the infection was going to get worse and cause more problems. So I went.

So I get put in one of the rooms to wait for the doctor. One of the other nurses comes by since she wants to put a patient in that room. After all there are only certain rooms that they can do sutures in. She asks why I am there and I tell her. The response, "I wonder if they'll even do anything." Things that a health care professional just shouldn't say. I had been there for about 2 hours at this point and I do remember the last time I went in for the same problem. I wanted them to do more this time... And I really don't want to have them doubting it. In some ways I felt like she was minimizing the complaint as well... since if they aren't (or might) not do anything then maybe I shouldn't be there.

So the doctor comes in. He wasn't going to do anything about the one since it's not bad enough. But the one that has been painful he decided to cut away part of the nail, which is exactly what I was expecting. First of all, when they decide to freeze it that really hurts. Fortunately he had prepared me for that. I won't give you the vivid image of them cutting away the nail. I will say that one of the nurses and someone else came in and they were talking about putting a picture up for kids to take their minds off the fact that they are being stitched up. My response, "I'm sure it wouldn't just be the kids that would like that since right now I'd rather be looking at a picture then watching him cut away my nail." Bandaged it up and I was on my way. Now since the toe was frozen I figured the walk home would be no big deal. I figured it would feel weird but that was about it. I was wrong. I think the anttistetic started wearing off partway through. But it really started hurting. By then I had no choice but to keep going though.

Fortunately I am off work until tomorrow night. I am under orders to walk as little as possible for the next couple of days. If nothing else it is forcing me to take it easy today and put my feet up. Not exactly something that comes naturally. I want to go run errands... do laundry... 101 other things... and instead I am updating my blog and taking it easy.

Does This Look Infected, Round 2

For the last week or so I have been battling with an ingrown toenail. I didn't want to go to the doctor about it. See a long time ago my family doctor had told me that if I continued to get them then I would need to have the nail completely removed. I really didn't want that to happen. So whenever the toenail got ingrown I pretty much did some home surgery (Read: butcher job) to cut away the nail and drain the infection. Needless to say that's not recommended. But I didn't want my nail to be removed since then it leaves the toe exposed and causes even more pain when you stub your toe. So basically I was afraid to admit that it was a recurring issue. However, this time it has been really bad. Tried the epson salts and tried digging it out (don't try that at home). Not working so well. The other day I was evacuated so I was standing outside. I'm sure that didn't help anything. I really didn't want to put pressure on my foot. Then last night I was standing more at work while talking to the manager in between calls. The pain just kept increasing and increasing and... you get the picture. So finally I decided to head straight to the ER after work. Do not pass go... do not collect $200. Needless to say they weren't so entertained with the home remedies and the DIY surgery attempts. I was there for 2 hours (short trip for me). The doctor didn't want to cut it open at the moment since he couldn't tell just how ingrown it was. So now I am on antibiotics to get rid of the infection and if it still doesn't get any better then I'll be back getting the nail cut away from the edge. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. I don't want to be back at the hospital. I was also reminded as to how with Fibromyalgia your sense of pain is really messed up. What would be a tolerable pain for most people may be twice as painful for me, just because the pain receptors are all out of whack. Unlike the fire I will not be posting pictures of the infection later.

Cruel & Unusual

As I write this I am soaking my foot in an Epsom salt bath... talk about cruel and unusual punishment. I have a really high pain tolerance and all I want to do is remove my foot from the water. I know I need to do it, to try and get rid of the infection but c'mon. Looks like I'll be doing as little walking as possible in the next few days since I can't put any pressure on it. And this better work. I'd hate to think I am enduring this pain for nothing. Probably should've done this before I started on the home medical procedures though. It would've worked better. Live and learn I suppose.

Part 2 of the cruel and unusual punishment... applying alcohol to it. For as bad as soaking it was... that was 100x worse. I might need an alcoholic drink now to recover from that experience. Wow.

Does This Look Infected?

All week I've been battling an ingrown toenail. I get them frequently. The nail never seems to grow properly. at one point my family doctor was thinking about removing the nail completely but I didn't like that option. Maybe after this week I'll reconsider. It became infected so I was trying to drain it, let it heal. But I couldn't seem to get it to drain. It was just extremely sensitive and causing a lot of pain. I could barely walk and it was quite painful. Since I don't have a family doctor I just about went down to the ER but really didn't want to sit there for three hours. So today I was back to the home medical care, trying to tear away some of the skin. Hope no one is eating while reading this. It worked a little too well. All of a sudden it was bleeding... left a nice trail of blood across the apartment. What kind of stain remover works on blood? I think I might soak it in a little while... see if that helps. It has stopped bleeding at least. The things you do on your day off.