by Charlotte Raynor Piggush

Created on: December 21, 2008

If you are at all squeamish about gross medical things, perhaps you shouldn't be reading this so I am warning you ahead of time. I am going to talk about toenail fungus.

The reason I am writing about this is that I am diabetic and have had toenail fungus for years. Yes I tried the usual topical and oral treatment methods, none of which worked. My big toe's nail had become very painful because the nail got real thick and gross stuff was growing underneath of it. (Hey, I warned you!) My regular doctor was concerned and sent me to a foot specialist, and we decided to take off two toenails on my left foot and two on my right. (the worst ones) They did one foot earlier today (November 24) and we'll do the other foot in six weeks.

I wanted to let everyone know that the procedure is not as bad as it sounds. The worst part was when he shot the Novocain in my two toes. That really hurt badly! You would think a couple of little shots wouldn't, but believe me; it almost had me coming off that chair. After the doctor got finished putting the two shots in each toe, I got to sit back and get my breath back for a few minutes while they became numb.

The doctor then came back in and proceeded to take off my two toenails and scrape the gunk out. Meantime, I sat there talking about dogs with the nurse who was real nice. I think I felt two stings of small pain, but nothing I couldn't deal with after those shots. In about fifteen minutes he was all done-no problem. I was amazed because I had been worrying about this procedure for days. The nurse wrapped my toes up in pretty blue bandages, gave me my instructions and off I went.

I won't have to worry about toe nail fungus on those two toes anymore. The doctor put some kind of medication on them so that the nail will not grow back, therefore no more toe nail fungus. Starting tomorrow, I have to change the bandages three times a day, after washing them with anti-bacterial soap, put on Neosporin on one day and some other spray stuff on alternate days, and go back to see the doctor in a week. I think I can handle that. The night of the surgery, I was to elevate my foot to avoid swelling. They were a bit painful that evening, but extra strength Tylenol really helped.

I went back to the doctor after a week and he said they looked great. I still think they looked like chopped meat. I was to continue with bandaging, Neosporin and washing them three times a day and given an appointment in 2 weeks. They seemed to still ooze a lot, but the doctor said that was normal. They were still a bit tender, but not really painful.

From then on, the toes seemed to get better each day. They looked more human and were less tender. I am really glad that I had them done.

The moral to this story is, if you have bad toenail fungus, and your doctor thinks you need to get your toenails removed, don't worry about it. It's no big deal. If I can handle it, anyone can handle it.

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