Warning: Don't read any further if toenails/feet gross you out.
Last Tuesday afternoon I had surgery to hopefully permanently fix my ingrown toenails. Oddly, my toes looked better than they had in years when I went in. For quite a while I did not have enough of a nail on either of my big toes to cause much trouble (i.e. getting ingrown). Now that they seem to be growing better again, presumably from better shoes/orthotics/running gait, etc, I'm excited to have close-to-normal looking toes again, but not so excited about the ingrown toenails coming back. I had never gone to a podiatrist for my toenail issues until a few months before IMFL. I was always able to "fix" them on my own, but this time around they were becoming too much for me to handle. Everything hurt on my big toes, always. I went in twice to let the dr. dig them out which was super fun, but did not get them fixed for good because you cannot swim for 2-3 weeks after which was not going to work heading into an Ironman.
So I finally did it and I am glad I did it when I did - things are slow at work, I had a few holidays, I'm not running a ton, and I have no need to swim for a while.
The only bad part of the actual procedure was numbing my toes. In all actuality, it didn't hurt that bad, but it did a number on my stomach. It was a good thing I was lying down or I probably would have hit the floor in no time. They used a cold spray while doing the first shots, but I could still feel plenty, especially the ones between my toes. They had to do both toes, so as soon as I'd "recovered" from the first foot, he moved onto the other. My toes look like a pincushion now from all the places they stuck them.
Fat toes full of lidocaine:
After letting my toes get good and numb for a while, the dr. cut both edges out of each toenail and then used a chemical to chemically burn the area which kills the nail matrix in that area, hopefully preventing the nail from growing back in that area, and thus ingrowing. I could not feel a thing and made sure I didn't look at a thing until it was all over. It was really no big deal at all and I just played on my phone and read a magazine while he went to town. Trying to get my flip flops back on afterward was a bit funny though - it is hard to do when you can't feel half of your foot! I got all bandaged up, and have to wash and re-bandage my toes daily for two weeks.
I was not supposed to shower until the next day, but I had my BBH girls run that night and didn't want to miss out with them. I walked most of the way with the slower girls, but still managed to run a bit too, with no pain (but that was because they were still numb!). Anyway, I was stinky after the run so I decided to use double plastic bags and duct tape and shower.
Epic FAIL!!! Both were soaked when I got out of the shower. Oh well, I tried.
This is how they looked Wednesday morning (the day after) after I took the bandages off for the first time - a bit oozy, but not awful:
This is how they looked Wednesday afternoon on I-10 on the way to San Antonio, and for most of the last few days (pink Coban is awesome!):
They never really hurt that bad, but I seemed to have more than my fair share of dogs and kids step on them over Christmas. They continued to ooze and bleed a bit which surprised me (the bandages have constantly had gunk on them when I change them, but I guess that is why I'm supposed to be taking care of them in the first place!). Christmas day I tried to run a bit but got grossed out. They did not hurt super bad, but did not feel great either. I turned around after 3/4 of a mile and called it a day with a whole 15 minutes of running.
They never really hurt that bad, but I seemed to have more than my fair share of dogs and kids step on them over Christmas. They continued to ooze and bleed a bit which surprised me (the bandages have constantly had gunk on them when I change them, but I guess that is why I'm supposed to be taking care of them in the first place!). Christmas day I tried to run a bit but got grossed out. They did not hurt super bad, but did not feel great either. I turned around after 3/4 of a mile and called it a day with a whole 15 minutes of running.
Sunday I did my long run because I was running out of time to do it. I only ran 10 miles, but surprisingly my toes did not bother me at all after the first mile or two. I wore my Newton racers which have the most toebox room of any of my shoes. They have continued to ooze a bit though and I wonder if running makes the ooze factor a bit higher. Dr. said I'd be back running a day or two after the surgery if I wanted to be, so I think it is all normal, but I'm about over it all. I'm still wearing flip flops most of the time and get some funny looks wearing flip flops and a heavy winter coat.
This is them just now - I didn't do a good bandaging job and both fell off with a few steps of entering the office today (good thing it is jeans day for the rest of the year and not many people are here, also good thing the picture is not that clear - they are a bit gross today):
This is them just now - I didn't do a good bandaging job and both fell off with a few steps of entering the office today (good thing it is jeans day for the rest of the year and not many people are here, also good thing the picture is not that clear - they are a bit gross today):
The pain has not been that bad but I'm still about ready for it to all be over, but I guess it really does take a while to heal and I get why I can't swim for 2-3 weeks. I go back next Wednesday to have it all checked out. Hopefully they are back to normal by then.
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