Goodbye Toe Nail

I am deeply saddened to announce the death of my big toe nail. Okay, so I am slowly getting over it but to be honest I am semi-shocked it completely fell off because I was nursing it since day one of taking off my hiking boots at the lodge in Tanzania.  It all started, I believe at least, on my way down from Kilimanjaro.  The pain of my toes smacking the front of my boots were almost unbearable.

Once we finished the trek down and headed back to the lodge, upon taking off my boots, I realized my feet were pale almost blue like and my two big toes were suffering big time.  My left one was blistered in the nail bed and the nail was raised and my right toe was also lifting.  It was extremely painful.  I ran them under cold water in the bathtub there then bandaged them up.

I had extremely swollen feet on my way home from Tanzania to Toronto. That in itself was irritating let alone these two big toe nails whose future was unknown.  Once I got home I soaked my feet in epsom salt and Vince attempted to take the bandages off without me either gagging or crying.  It was such a gross feeling as the bandage became loose and I knew my toe nail was also wiggling along with it.

It has been about 1.5 weeks since being home and I was religiously soaking my feet three times a day, cleaning it with anti bacterial wipes and constantly keeping an eye on it.   Considering I only  have 15 hours a week of in class work, I had time to keep an eye on it while doing other things around the house. But of course the day it decides to fall off I am in my Shakespeare class.

I looked down and it was hanging off, and it took everything in me once again to not gag nor cry.  I waited for the class to be over, despite not being able to think about Shylock or Antonio, simply only my big toe nail.  After class I went into the bathroom took some toilet paper and grabbed my nail and flushed it down the toilet.  It seems way more dramatic than it actually was, kidding it was pretty dramatic.

I had to babysit after class, so I quickly went to Wal-Mart on my way and grabbed some bandages to keep the skin from getting infected. I didn't have time to soak it until I was finished babysitting.  I was and still am a little worried about it since being diabetic we are told to watch our feet and that things can take longer to heal. It makes me wonder if this is going to be an even longer haul than what google states as 6-9 months of regrowth.

Oh well, as much as I am sad that I only get to paint 9 out of 10 nails, and that I will have to pay even more attention to my feet. I am glad it didn't go with a lame story like, 'someone stepped on my toe...' instead I got it from doing some hard work climbing and then coming back down Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.

Kayla