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May 02, 2005
Hello Toe, Goodbye Toe
I managed to rip off a large portion of my left big toe this evening.
I'll just let that sentence sit there for a minute.
I was walking into the garage wearing socks (and *other* clothes, not just socks) to get something out of the refrigerator when I slipped on a piece of chalk. Not a tiny, thin stick of chalk like teachers used in school. I'm talking about a big, thick, round, hunk of sidewalk-drawin' chalk. Chalk that, interestingly enough, was almost the exact color gray (grey?) as the garage floor. My right foot stepped directly on the chalk and I started rolling forward. My left foot, in a rush to help keep balance, came forward really, *really* hard stubbing the big toe in the process.
Stubbing is such an innocent word. It's kind of cute - "stub". What really happened during the "Stubbing" is that I basically kicked my big toe directly in the concrete garage floor. I felt like I had broken it. Which is stupid because since I've never broken my big toe, I can't really say that I know what it feels like. I cursed and cursed. Damnit. And I hobbled upstairs to our bedroom where Claudine and all three kids were playing and watching T.V. I told Claudine about what happened and we joked about it. I asked her if she wanted to kiss it and I lifted my foot up to her face. That was when we both noticed the large amount of blood pumping out of my sock. Whoa-oooh. Better take a look at that.
I hobbled back into the bathroom where I took off my sock. And I was greeted by a portion of my big toe waving back at me. Which is to say that a portion of the tip of the toe had separated itself from the rest of the big toe. Claudine immediately jumped into action. And so did I. While Claudine was looking for all sorts of medical equipment, I went down to my office to take a picture of my toe. And of course, it was then that I discovered that the batteries in my digital camera were dead. So I don't have a picture of the wound to show you.
Claudine patched be up with these things called "Steri-strips" which are the next step down from actual stitches. She *could* have stitched me up right there in the kitchen if she needed to. I think that's pretty cool - I'll never have to go to the emergency room for stitches any more. I'll just have my wife stitch me up in the kitchen. But I don't have stitches this time. In a couple of days, she'll take these Steri-Strips off and look to see if that little chunk of flesh at the end of my toe wants to remain part of the toe or if I'm going to have a deformed little piggy for the rest of my life.
Posted by aellis at May 2, 2005 10:20 PM