I was in a crash last Friday.

[ricky]

I have had a couple of encounters with doctors in the past week now. The first one was when I was involved in a head on collision last Friday evening. I was just coming home from my son's bus stop after picking him up from there, and someone pulled out from a side street without looking or stopping and turned right into me, head on! I had to be pulled from my car on a back board, and taken to the hospital. They did all that because I had hit my head on the steering wheel and windshield, and because of my back problems, they didn't want to take any chances. After the hellish ambulance ride in that 10 ton truck,(it rode like that anyway, it was a one ton actually), I spent another 5 hours in the ER. I had the x-rays taken shortly after I got there, and the tech had to pull my arms down towards my waist to get a good shot of my neck because of this back board I'm still strapped to, and believe me, if you've ever been on one, you never forget it! They are horrible! Then I spent the next 4 hours waiting to see the doctor. I asked the nurses to take me loose from the board because it was killing me, but they refused, saying that the doc would be in shortly and do it. (right!!!) Well, after I had laid there for like 2 or 3 hours in complete agony, and I had felt how I was strapped down, I released the straps and rolled to my side to get some relief. I laid there like that for another hour before the doc finally came in and talked to me and my wife about the x-rays. He said that there were no fractures, bit I has severe degenerative disc disease in my entire back, (no kidding!!!) He told me that they would give me a shot of "Deloted", (I think that's how it's spelled, it's 20 times stronger than morphine). So after the nurse comes in to give it to me, she has me pull my pants down so she can shoot me in the butt. So now I'm laying there with my diaper and plastic pants exposed, and she say "this might hurt", she sticks it in and I never feel a thing, (because of the numb spots I now have thanks to my back surgeries). My wife was right there and she was amazed that I never flinched or felt anything, because the needle was 3 inches long and she said the nurse put it almost all the way in. Anyway, after another hour when the drug had started to work, they finally let me go home. So now I have this horrible neck pain from the impact, and my chin is all bruised from hitting the steering wheel, and I've got aches and pains all over my body as well. It's calmed down a lot in the last few days though, (thank God), so I'm pretty much back to normal.
My little Buick Skylark is totaled now though, but better it than me or my son. He escaped without any injuries, thank God. I'll try to post a few pics of it soon. I'm still trying to figure out how to compress them so they will fit here. Not having any luck at it.

Then yesterday, I had an appointment with a podiatrist, (foot doctor), that I had made 6 weeks ago to have a bad toenail removed. As I sat there he took this stuff that nearly freezes your skin, so you don't feel the needle going in to numb your toe. I watched him stick this 2 inch long needle almost all the way into my toe slowly, and never felt a thing, he was good! Then he just took a scalpel and ran it under what was left of my toenail and lifted it right off, and then put this acid stuff on a Q tip to kill the nail bed. He wrapped it up and that was that. I still don't feel any pain from it, and he had told me that I probably wouldn't. And am I glad for that! When I damaged it 20 years ago, the doctor that pulled off the nail then just basically ripped it off and I about went through the roof! He said it would grow back, but it was never right after that. I had dropped a truck frame on my foot after cutting it in half, and thought my foot was clear, but the truck just caught the end of my big toe, breaking the bone and pulling the nail up from the back so it was still stuck in the front, but the back had ripped up and was just sticking up in the air, You talk about hurt!!! I did a little dance after that, and made up a new song with some colorful words right there!!!!!! LOL

[Darkfinn]

I've had surgery like that on both of my big toes... it isn't really all that bad... but I'd rather not go through it again. The doc didn't remove my whole nail... just about half of it.

[Kenshin Himura]

My big toe on my left foot has been hurting for a while now and I am doing my best to keep it clean I know I need to get it removed but i'm scared of the pain and I hate needles!

[ricky]

Originally Posted by Kenshin Himura

My big toe on my left foot has been hurting for a while now and I am doing my best to keep it clean I know I need to get it removed but i'm scared of the pain and I hate needles!

Hey Kenshin,

If you get a highly recommended podiatrist, they can remove it for you without any pain. I was really leery of doing it myself, but the guy I went to was so good, I never felt a thing, REALLY! If I were you, I'd ask around to all your friends and acquaintances for any recommendations. I'm sure there's bound to be a good one in your area. But seriously, the only thing I felt was initially, the spray he used to make the area cold, and it numbs it so that you never feel the needle going in. And I hate needles, but I sat right there and watched the whole thing. It was kinda surreal, if you know what I mean. I can see it going in, and I know it's supposed to hurt like hell, but the only thing I can feel is a little pressure from him holding onto my toe while he's got this 2 inch needle stuck in it. If I had known how nice this was going to be, I'da done it years ago rather than suffer with this thing the was it was. It never grew back all the way, The inside edge of the nail bed was killed when my toe was crushed, so it was only growing out in a triangle shape, all the way out on the outside edge, and diagonally across to the back of the inside edge, and it was forever getting ingrown. And man did it hurt. I had to dig it out at least once a month or I could hardly walk because my shoe would rub on it.
But yeah, ask around. it's not as bad as you think. Good luck kiddo. Rick.

[Corri_aka_Drew]

Youch man.
You just always seem to get the short end of the stock dont cha?

[ricky]

Originally Posted by Drew

Youch man.
You just always seem to get the short end of the stock dont cha?

Well, I have to admit that this hasn't been my century, for sure. In the 1900's, LOL, I had a good time, good health, and good luck. Since 2001, things have just gone down hill all the way.