Chez Nous in Maine: May 2011

I think we have discovered one of the worst ways to hurt yourself right before summer.

It looks like this:

This dadgum toe has caused her so much grief and pain. It originated when she dropped Mike's laptop on it. That was on Thursday, May 19th. We took her to the ER that night to have the nail drilled to release the pressure that was building up behind the nail. That didn't do any good. They also sent her for an x-ray and ruled out a fracture. So aaallllll of the pain was because of the huge hematoma behind the nail. They gave her crutches and told her to not walk on it for a few days. Well, at first those crutches caused her more harm than good because she is so floppy. But then she got the hang of it and has been doing pretty good. They also gave her Tylenol with codeine for the pain....she was crying incessantly. It HURT!!!! So all week we've been restricting her play, letting her watch a whole bunch of NetFlix, keeping it elevated, and keeping ice on it. On Saturday we took her back to the ER because she was still in a lot of pain. The pediatrician recommended we go get it drilled again (they don't do that in the office). But by then it was coagulated (supposedly) and drilling wouldn't produce any release of blood. Then I called the doctor again on Tuesday because she just wasn't getting any relief. She was still in alot of pain....waking up in the night crying, not walking on it, not even letting us put a blanket on her. The pediatrician referred us to the orthopedic surgeon. He reviewed the x-ray, reiterated the same thing the ped. told us, agreed there was no fracture and sent us home. Yesterday morning I noticed it was flaming red and hot around the nail bed. Mike agreed that it looked infected. I took her in.....again. The doctor then became concerned with a blood or bone infection. That meant she had to have yet another x-ray. I know....painless, right? And it was. But she also had to have blood drawn from both arms!!! That was traumatic! I had to hold her down and it made me feel terrible. I hate restraining my kids while other people hurt them!! The preliminary labs indicated no infection....good news. We had to wait until late yesterday evening to see if she would be admitted for i.v. antibiotics. She didn't have to be admitted. Phew!! RELIEF!!! They prescribed this really strong, nasty smelling puke inducing oral antibiotic. She took a dose last night, but then when I gave it to her today she threw up. It smells like cat poop. IT IS NASTY!!! We had a follow up today so the doctor could check it again to make sure the infection hadn't spread. It wasn't any better, but it wasn't any worse. Which meant she would not be admitted. Relief again!! She was so worried about being admitted and having to be there for her birthday and missing her baptism. They sent us home with a tablet form of that same antibiotic. She was very glad about that. She is pretty good about swallowing pills. The doctor told her she could stop using the crutches as long as it didn't hurt too much. She hasn't been able to walk on at all until yesterday when the doctor said she could stop using the crutches.

Tonight I was putting flowers in my window boxes and all of the kids were playing in the driveway. And wouldn't you know it?? That TOE!! Liam stepped on it. She wailed, and screamed, and cried and thrashed about. And so much for all of that blood being coagulated....it bled profusely!! Made me feel like I was going to pass out. It was gushing. If Mike would not have been here, I would have called 911. It was that bad. I freaked.....I hate blood. Once it stopped gushing, we could see what happened. You know the bottom of the toenail where it's tucked into your toe at the bottom of the nail bed? Well, there is a slit all the way across her nail bed and the nail is completely ripped out at the bottom, but still connected a little bit on the sides (WARNING: graphic pictures below!!). It is so gross!! We knew the nail would fall off.....eventually. But Liam wanted to expedite the process I guess. What is supposed to happen is this: The body knows that the nail is falling off. So it will make a callus in the nail bed to protect the nail bed until the new nail grows. Well, since the nail is falling off prematurely it means that the nail bed has no protection. It is extremely painful...it's just a raw nail bed. She can't get it wet, she can't walk on it and she can't do anything to make it bleed again. So she's going to have a pretty crappy summer. The worst part of all of this is that she can't be baptized tomorrow. She was absolutely heart broken when I told her. She has been looking forward to this for months. I assured her that she still gets to get baptized, just not on her birthday. After a good cry (another one) and some big hugs she was okay.

Now we just have to wait....and wait....and wait for that dadgum toe to heal. In the meantime we have to give her some strong pain meds, keep her on the antibiotic so it doesn't get infected, (the risk is much greater now that the skin is compromised) restrict her play (tie her to the couch) and change the dressing four times a day.

Here is the toe during dressing change tonight: