I Guess I’m a Wimp

Warning: This post not for the squeamish.

So I went to Kaiser today to get my ingrown toenail taken care of on my right big toe. The doctor rubbed my toe with some reddish-brown stuff, sprayed on this super cold stuff, and then injected some intense pain killer right next to/into my two main nerves in my toe. I think it was about this time that the doctor asked me if I felt OK. “Yeah, I feel fine,” I replied. He asked me if I felt sick to my stomach at all. No, I didn’t. He then took my pulse. He had the nurse in there to put a cool towel over my head and give me some ice water while the doctor removed about 1/4 of my toenail. I had no idea that I was about to faint, but they said it was pretty obvious, and it happens pretty often. I guess that makes me feel a little bit better. But I keep telling myself that it was because it was 2pm and I hadn’t eaten yet.

Also, I am impressed. Impressed with my toenail that the doctor called “one of the most impressive ingrown toenails he has ever seen” and that if there were an ingrown toenail exhibit at a museum, my toenail would be in it.

I was more impressed with the doctor and the whole procedure. As they are removing 1/4 of my toenail, the only thing I felt was the doctor grabbing my toe. I think I was so nervous because I was expecting a lot of pain. I figured they’d be snipping the toenail right down to the root and it would hurt a lot. But the worst part of the whole procedure was when he was injecting the pain killer next to my nerves. And that only pinched a little bit.

Hopefully my toe will be less numb tomorrow morning and I can walk to work still.

This whole ordeal has impressed upon me that I need to take a little bit better care of myself. If I had gone to Kaiser soon after I noticed a problem, rather than two weeks later, the whole experience probably would have been a lot more pleasant.