threadwalker

I have a big toe-owie. It's on my big toe and it's the result of a home-pedicure gone awry. That's enough detail.. it's my own dang fault and there are no pictures forthcoming.

Consequences of Owie: Pain. Lots of pain. I have been plagued by fears of toe-nail surgery, cauterizing, and foot casts so I spent the last 3 weeks coping and hoping it would heal on its own in time for next weekends race. No luck. I think it's getting worse, too.

I caved in and saw the doctor because I couldn't walk in my 1-inch heals without constant pain. And I LOVE my shoes. Yeah... it's all about vanity.

At lunch today she prodded, squeezed and pinched my toe; I let out one screech and then held my breath... Like who the hell expects a doctor to grab an inflamed, wounded toe and squeeze? I should have expected it though; she's remarkably unmerciful and very focused on the job of diagnosis and healing. Anyway, she wrote a prescription for antibiotics and referred me to a podiatrist. But to add insult to injury, she pointed at my running caluses and said they had to go too.

Gronk???? They got the same "treatment", but they don't hurt. I protested; aren't caluses the result of skin hardening up inorder to protect your foot from abrasion? She (unmercifully) disagreed, outlined certain risks and said they had to go. She seemed kind of regretful when she graphically described how they would be removed. I'm proud that I didn't puke. I'm very squeamish.

Yeah... we'll see about that. No one is cutting into my feet without explicit permission from me and without convincing me that my quality of life will be vastly improved. With that thought, I called the foot doctor right away for the sake of my toe, but he/she can't see me for 3 weeks.

Really? Wow! That seems like a HUGE wait to me.

After womaning up and going to the doctor I feel let down. I don't WANT to cope anymore. I want the doctor to do whatever aweful unpleasant thing is needful in order to make the constant pain go away. But now I have to wait 3 weeks to see a specialist? Who are all these other people filling the podiatrists schedule? And does this mean the podiatrist is good because people are booking him/her up or bad because once you see him/her you're never cut loose? My (unmerciful) doctor seems to like him/her so instead of retrenching I tried to convince the nice voice at the podiatrist's office that this was urgent, but they didn't budge; she suggested I get referred elsewhere if I needed urgent care. sigh.

I will take my antibiotics and cope. I will refrain from jumping jacks, jump rope, box jumps and maybe after 2.9 weeks I'll be healed and won't need to make my podiatrist appointment. And I'm taking my bike out next week; if it don't hurt to bike, I'm racing on 7/10. Fah!