Toenail Follow-up

BTW, my toenail has already grown back.
Yay!

Bill, Do NOT Read This Post

I just happen to know that my husband gets quite squeamish when this subject comes up :) To be fair, I usually do too.

Anyway, I've joined the club of marathoners who have lost toenails!

I'm not entirely convinced that it was a marathoning thing, but I'm sure that all the running I do didn't help.
See, I have been rather lax when it has come to pedicures in the past month (which is very unlike me). I've just been sort of layering polish on top of polish. So last night, I decided to take my time and actually do things properly. As I was removing the polish from my last pinky toenail I noticed it was extraordinarily long. I also noticed that as I wiped the cotton ball across, the toenail came almost completely off.

I started freaking out.

Bill asked what I was doing and I was like "You don't want to know. You don't want to know. Get me the toenail clipper!!!"

I clipped it off and it bled. I cleaned it out and put massive bandaid coverage over it so that I didn't have to see it.

Then it started hurting. Really hurting.

I know I have no business even complaining. I know many people who've lost a lot more than a baby toenail. I don't think I could handle that.

Luckily my toenails grow super quickly. AND my baby toe is super stubby and small...so I'm hoping I won't have to worry about it for much longer.

Clean Bill of Health

Yay! I got my toenails checked out (finally) and I DON'T have a fungal infection. But what I do have is traumatic onycholysis (I was going to put a link here, but the photos on the pages I found are so gross that I decided not to). Basically all that means is that the top of my nail has seperated from the nail bed. She said if I clip them very short and make sure I dry them with a hair dryer after I get out of the shower, they should grow back fine and I won't lose anything. She also gave me this great article called Nail Disorders in the Elderly Woman (I provided the link for download...it is a really really good article). She said that I would have to promise not to get mad about the elderly part because it was really for all women and she didn't know why they put elderly there and all of her patients complain to her that they are not elderly when she gives them the article. (Then she whited out the "Elderly" before giving me a copy, which made me laugh). I also have to put a vinegar solution under my toenails at night. Gross. That gives a whole new meaning to stinky feet. BUT at least I will be able to paint my toenails and wear sandles again! Hurrah! I just might redeem the manicure/pedicure gift certificate I got for my birthday this week!

GROSS

Ok. Yes. I am talking about my toenails again. So stop reading if you are squeamish.

So after removing my nail polish and looking at my toenails again I started to worry. And I started to think that maybe wearing nail polish on my toenails was sort of exacerbating the problem. So I went to Superdrug to check out solutions. There is this one topical medication that is like nail polish but I cannot find it ANYWHERE. The only reason I know about it is that I got a pamphlet on it at the London marathon. It has these gross illustrations of toenails on it and I kept reading the brochure over and over this weekend (Bill was like "you are obsessed with that brochure aren't you?") So I didn't find that. But I found this other lacquer that looked the same. It was expensive! 16.99 GBP which translates roughly to $34!!! I didn't get it after I read that it was for "preventative treatment for healthy nails". That is not me.

So then I came back and started searching online. This is all very gross.. I think I have either distal subungual onychomycosis or proximal subungual onychomycosis or both, if possible.

I say this because my big toenails are brownish yellow and on closer inspection they have a bunch of white dots by the cuticle. So according to IntelliHealtheven if I do get this thing treated, it will most likely fall off, wwhich is I guess what you all have been telling me from the very beginning even when I was bragging that I had solved the problem with my stupid Sally Hansen Miracle Nail. And even if they don't treatment takes 12 weeks of therapy with an oral medication...which I won't even be able to get until I get home, which is 2 weeks from now!

No cute peep toed high heels all summer :(

Ow Ow Ow!

I look ridiculous today...
Even though I took today off, I trudged downtown anyway to meet my husband for lunch (it was worth it :) but, it was kind of funny when he had to literally PULL me out of the booth. No, I cannot walk. But it was still totally worth it. And between the ice, the Aleve, and my wiccy magic muscles bar I am going to try out in a few minutes, I think I will be okay.

Also, my toenails did NOT fall off ALL SEASON!!!! Hurrah! I really really think that clipping them super short and painting them is what saved them...a good tip I will have to remember as long as I run. However, they are a gross brownish yellow color. At first I thought that this was from the nail polish I had been using, or some sort of gross fungal infection, but the truth is, that I've had both of those and it looks nothing like that. Bill thinks that it is because my toes have been constantly banging against my shoes for an extended period of time. Anyone else ever get anything like this?

One more question...when I got finished yesterday, I had a ring of salt around my mouth. And all day my skin tasted extra salty. I realize that this was because I was sweating like crazy, but just wondering...does it mean I had too much salt before the race? too little? too much or not enough water? I will never figure out all of these weird things that happen to your body during a marathon!

As for my reward... well I went to Tiffany's today and have a lovely new pendant. And it seems that I am not the only one who rewarded myself for the marathon. Apparantly at least two other people visited Tiffany's today with the same idea. At least that's what the saleslady said. So how did you all reward yourself for yesterday's massive mileage? And if you didn't reward yourself...you should! 26.2 miles is a huge feat! (at least I think so)

Gross! Gross! Gross!

If you are easily grossed out, do NOT read this next post.

So I've been having toenail issues, which I guess is a common thing for marathoners. Last weekend, I noticed that my big toenails on both feet had these splits in them. Not at the top, where it would be convenient, but in the middle...on both sides. I was just waiting for it to crack completely off. I put bandaids around both of my big toes before my long run on Saturday, if nothing else, to keep them on for the run. After about 11 miles I noticed this swooshy feeling right around my big toe on my left foot. This was accompanied by a lot of pain in the big toe. Just great!

I stopped at the Gatorade stop with about 2 miles to go and proclaimed to one of my coaches "I think I lost my big toenail." She said "It'll happen." Then she told me how shes lost a lot of them and how her toenails are just starting to look normal again after two years. Automatically I think "No more cute open-toed heels?!" I CANNOT do that. I do not mean to sound shallow or overly girly, but I LOVE wearing high-heeled sandles, and getting pedicures all summer. I think I went through all of high school without a day of unpolished toenails.

When I got home, I dreaded taking off my socks. I gingerly pulled away the bandaids. They were fine. It was my bandaid wooshing around in my shoe. False alarm.

All I know is that I am not going down without a fight! I went out and got a toenail clipper and something called miracle nail and gave myself a very careful pedicure. So far so good! I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed!