Gosh, Baby! I Hardly Felt a Thing!

Today was my very first time! I say that with an exclamation, and I'm not really sure I should. I mean... your first time is always exciting, if only because it's new, something to put on the list of "Done That"s. But then... Maybe this isn't something to be all that excited about?

Mum, Dad, calm down. It's nothing nasty!! Well. Not the nasty thing you're thinking about (ewww! I'm your Daughter!!)

Today I had my very first operation. Real, live surgery, and I got to be awake for the whole dang thing!

So, about a month ago now, I gave myself a "pedicure" with a toothpick. My 2nd toe on the right got a little weird a few days later, prolly from my digging around. No biggie. It looked like a callus, on the tip (past the nail), and I figured it's full of pus. So, what do I do? I play. I dig. I poke. Gotta get it out, right? But it wasn't coming out like it should, just little bits of water, not the real stuff I could see in there. So I got a lancet, conveniently included in my med kit, and continued to dig deeper. But still, nothing coming. Damn.

All this time, it has both itched and hurt at the same time, like a mosquito bite you've already scratched too much. I scratch, say ouch, and scratch some more. And keep playing with the new bloodblister/scab that has formed. Play, pick, play, pick.

Last night it starts THROBBING. Damn, did that mo-fo hurt. I took a couple codeine and nothing. At midnight I finally call medical who says, 'hey dumbass, you take Ibuprofen for inflammations' and that I need to haul butt to a doctor in the morning. At the PC office, L says, "Oh, prolly just a staph infection. They're really going around right now. Don't worry!"

The good Dr. S had a different idea. "That's jiggers", she says with hardly a glance. It's WHAT?!? I want to stand up and vomit, just like the kid in the waiting room did minutes before. I have ^shudder^ critters living in my foot?? She says she can cut it out, no prob, it will just take a second. I, for those of you who don't know me, immediately turn into a baby and beg for a local anesthetic. PLEASE! Please don't just cut me! Turns out, for needle jabs between the toes isn't really a nice feeling. (Mum, Dad: This was further affirmation that I could NEVER be a heroin addict. Please breathe a sigh of relief) I made a promise not to kick her, like the kid before me (who was attempting to have a roach removed from her ear canal) and strangled the IV pole instead.

10 minutes later, she had me laying, sort of, on the table for the katikati of the jiggers. The anesthetic was amazing! I hardly felt even the pressure of her touching me, and certainly not the pain of a knife slicing me! But did I whimper and whine? You betcha! She packed it and sent me on my way, with a bloody crater in my toe. G-Ross. It still hurts like a toe that's been sliced, but I have pills for that. I'm not afraid!

Her advice for avoiding jiggers in the future? "Go back to America."