I have to go to a specialist!!!
I've had problems with ingrown toenails for many, many years. They've never been a big deal before, I just dig out the ingrown part, put some antibiotic cream on it and wait until the nail grows back in, repeat. I've never had to go to the doctor for them before.
About a year ago I smacked my large toenail on a wall and it lifted it up. Since then it's become yellowed, and looks very strange. The last couple months I noticed it was curling under on the sides, which it's never done before. I still didn't think to much about it. I had looked up online that nail fungus is fairly common and can be cause by such an injury.
Because of that I didn't think to much about it when I had a round of athletes foot about a month or so ago. I treated that like I had in the past rare occasions I've gotten it, chalked it up to the nail and walking barefoot around the public pool. The athletes foot didn't go completely away though like it had before.
So you're wondering what all this has to do with the title, a specialist, or an ingrown nail?
Well my nail has ingrown again, but this time because of the curling I can't get to it to get it cut back out and with the fungus I'm afraid to go digging in there anyways.
So at 5a.m. this morning my toe throbbing woke me up. I'm not a happy camper when anything wakes me up that early, let alone a painful toe I can't fix. I made an appt with my doctor and scheduled at work to get a lengthy lunch so I could go today. Well my regular doctor said he can't do anything for it because of the fungus and depth of ingrown and I need to see a foot specialist!
I've never had to go to a specialist for anything before. I just figured my regular doctor could just make a cut in the nail, remove the offending piece, give me some antibiotics and anti fungal stuff and boom, be on my way. But no such luck. I did get something for pain/swelling though.
I had to call my insurance to make sure the foot dr. is covered. Well turns out she is but I've only met $200 (counting today) of my $800 deductable for the year, so most of this if not all is going to be out of pocket expense.
And to boot I'm told she'll probably have to numb my toe and remove the entire nail!!!! I'm having flashbacks of the screaming and hyperventelating I did when they numbed my finger for the stitches in the spring. My regular doctor gave me something for anxiety and said to not drive myself and be sure to take the medication before my appt. with the specialist.
I have an appt with the specialist this Thursday at 2p.m. I'm so nervous about this. How much is it gonna hurt? Will I still be able to walk, wear shoes when they're done? How much is this going to set me back financially?
Basically I'm a worried wreck about it and could really use your thoughts and prayers please!
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