Will the toe heal?

[vovat]

So, I went to see the doctor on Wednesday, and she referred me to a podiatrist. After a fair amount of hassle, I managed to make an appointment with one yesterday. Apparently my toenail is not actually ingrown, but there's some other weird kind of infection there. I've been ordered to bathe it in a solution of salt, vinegar, and water twice a day, and apply a cream to it after that. If it doesn't clear up by Tuesday, I'll have to make another appointment. I'm hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. I wish it had been something they could have just taken out.

One thing the podiatrist visit brought home for me is my incredibly low threshold for pain. Maybe it's because I didn't play any sports as a kid. :P If I do have to go back, the doctor is apparently going to use a needle to numb it.

The newest They Might Be Giants podcast is made up of demos from the John Henry era. Most of them don't sound that different from the finished products, but they're still interesting to hear.

If you haven't yet participated in my latest lyric guessing game, you might want to go ahead and do that now. I'm planning on posting the answers in my next entry (whenever THAT might be).

Finally, happy belated birthday to countblastula and kristenjarrod!

Comments

[travspence.livejournal.com]

bathe it in a solution of salt, vinegar, and water twice a day

You should also rub a toad on it and bury a handful of salt under a pomegranate tree on the next full moon.

In other words, hasn't the podiatrist heard of antibiotics?

Hee I like the toad idea.

[bec-87rb.livejournal.com]

Maybe he's not sure what exactly has gotten in there, so he hasn't got a clear idea of what would be effective. Feet are prone to fungal and yeast infections, because of shoes, and those require different meds, sometimes injected at the site for more concentration. Oral antibiotics are systemic, so less concentrated in the toes.

Pure guess-work here.

Vovat, did you check to see if his certification is from Louisiana Witch Doctor U?

Re: Hee I like the toad idea.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

He seemed to be pretty sure that it was swollen tissue, sort of like (and this sounds really gross) a hemorrhoid on my toe.

And hey, maybe I got the infection because someone picked at the toe of a doll that looked like me, so a voodoo cure would be the best bet! {g}

Re: Hee I like the toad idea.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

This is such a switch, reading down my friends page-- my aprilbabies community is dominated by a bunch of don't-trust-conventional-medicine/home-remedies-are-ALWAYS-best types; I was just gawking at how many mothers are dead set against their babies having ANY vaccinations, mothers that do NOT have a family history that would cause them to be leery about SOME of the vaccinations, whereas I in fact DO and yet I am trusting my pediatrician who says those vaccines have in fact gotten safer over the past 19 years! Then I come here and see a solution of salt and vinegar and think, hmm, that might work, maybe he doesn't even need the cream... yet everyone else thinks THAT'S old-wivesy!

Vinegar is also great for getting spitup-and-human-waste odors out of clothing in the rinse cycle. This I say with the conviction of experience.

Re: Hee I like the toad idea.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think it depends a lot on what's actually wrong. I mean, an infected toe is hardly comparable to, say, the measles. There seems to be a pretty popular movement nowadays to disregard conventional medicine, even though the statistics indicate that it's been a lot more successful than folk remedies. I'm sure some babies DO have problems with vaccinations, but wouldn't actually getting the diseases they're being vaccinated against be worse? I don't really know for sure; that's not something I've looked into.

The salt/vinegar thing does sound somewhat like a placebo, but even the regular doctor said that salt water would help stop the infection from spreading, so I'm inclined to believe it will at least be useful in that respect.

Re: Hee I like the toad idea.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

The vaccine that has caused the most controversy over the years is DTP, which is diptheria, tetanus, and whooping cough (pert--I forget what the P-word is, but it's basically whooping cough), and anyway it was the P that was causing the problem, and they've since changed it to DTaP which is a lot safer (it uses just parts of the disease instead of the whole thing). The problem is not so much the vaccines but the reactions to them-- often fever and sometimes (but much more rarely since they changed that vaccine)seizures. High fever can cause serious developmental issues in a baby, and actuallyy the seizures are probably more a symptom of the fever than the vaccine. My mildly autistic brother did have seizures after his shots as a baby. Autistic tendencies run in our family, yes, so for the average person there's probably nothing to worry about-- you need genetics for any real disorder to happen. But for those who ARE geneticly sensitive, did the shots set it off? My doctor is not too worried about our genes here because the vaccines are much less reactive than they were in 1988, and at any rate, it's important for all parents to watch their babies carefully for fever. And I remember what Dan was like when he was a baby, and I can already tell Sammy is much more socially advanced than his uncle, so he might not have any of our autistic tendencies after all.

Actually, it's probably the vinegar that's the active ingredient in your toe solution. Vinegar is an amazing disinfectant.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think that's where the cream comes in. I was also already on an oral antibiotic from the other doctor.

I'd already been soaking my foot in salt water. I'm not sure what the vinegar is supposed to add, but even if it doesn't help, I doubt it'll hurt either.

Maybe it's because I didn't play any sports as a kid. :P

[bec-87rb.livejournal.com]

Or you didn't play sports as a kid because you had a low pain threshold.

Re: Maybe it's because I didn't play any sports as a kid. :P

[vovat.livejournal.com]

No, I think I didn't play sports as a kid because my parents didn't force me to. {g}

I really don't know how my pain threshold actually compares to other people's. Maybe I'm just more prone to screaming when something hurts.