The toe nail

Got Trevor up early today. Not for football but to give him time to soak his foot. Today we see the doctor regarding the huge infected toenail on his big toe. Last spring another doctor removed half the toe nail. Trevor had  an infection that would just not go away. He was kicked out of the pool one day in swimming when the pussy mess burst in the water.

We are again at a similar impasse. After a week at scout camp Trevor came home so filthy from head to toe, the toe was a nightmare. A purple bulbous mess of blood and puss on one side and the toe itself looked stretched and discolored with infection. Trevor has been soaking the toe every day. The soaking helps but the infection never quite goes away and his toe smells, not a good sign.

He finally told me to make the appointment at the doctors, he wanted the toe nail gone. He wanted it cauterized so the nail never would come back to bother him again. I called the doctor's office and explained our situation. They found the doctor that specializes in the toe nail issues and set our appointment in the surgery room.

Tom didn't like us arbitrarily removing the nail without consulting to see if that was the best option. I asked the doctor his opinion. The doctor initially wanted to just take a portion of the nail and then rough up the nail bed to encourage the nail to grow properly forward when it returned, not dig into the side. He did not want to cauterize the toe nail bed. The nail protects the toe especially with football. Once he took a good look at Trevor's toe, he saw that the infection was on both sides of the nail. He opted to remove the whole nail and rough up the bed on both sides. This will put Trevor out of commission for football for five days. Doctor said he could play again on Monday if he could tolerate the pain. Keep the toe wrapped in the surgical bandages for 24 hours to let the wound scab over. Then just wrap it to keep it clean and protected.

  Rather do this now in the preseason warm ups than later. Trevor will be ready for the first game, just miss the practice scrimmage this weekend. A little sorry we didn't get to this earlier, but Trevor really had a busy summer. Hard to catch a time when this wouldn't have been an issue with activities.

The doctor used three needles of pain killer and really worked over the whole toe to deaden it for surgery. Trevor had said the last time the toe was not numb enough. He was worried about the pain. This time this doctor made sure Trevor would be pain free while he excavated the toe nail.

We stopped by subway on the way home as a treat. Now we just have to wait and give the toe time to heal.