Warning, this is kind of gross.
The big crisis this morning started with a nice healthy bowl of oatmeal. Axel was busing his oatmeal bowl to the counter and it slipped, falling onto his big toe. It took me about as long as the toenail took to turn purple (1 minute) to realize the usual mommy soothing was not going to make it better. Ice, of course, is never a favorite among the under 5 set, so I didn't even bother. Besides, if my toenail looked like that I wouldn't want anything to touch it.
After a dose of Tylenol and elevating the foot I got down to the research of what to do. I looked up nail bed injuries and found that releasing the blood under the nail can relieve the pressure. Further, with small children, it can be necessary for continued proper development. So I called Dr. Wisner's office and he had a 9:30 opening. At the office, Dr. Wisner decided that the toe was not broken (phew) but there was a significant amount of blood under the nail that needed to be released. He used a thing called a cauterizing needle to poke a hole in the nail and drain it, Axel howling the whole time.
Axel is resting comfortably downstairs right now, the day off from preschool. Since the draining, the pain in the toe has been greatly reduced. We are happy about that. The doctor says he will probably lose the toenail. I told Axel that I would paint his other toenails to match and he is pretty excited about that. I did not tell him he would probably lose the toenail.
The big crisis this morning started with a nice healthy bowl of oatmeal. Axel was busing his oatmeal bowl to the counter and it slipped, falling onto his big toe. It took me about as long as the toenail took to turn purple (1 minute) to realize the usual mommy soothing was not going to make it better. Ice, of course, is never a favorite among the under 5 set, so I didn't even bother. Besides, if my toenail looked like that I wouldn't want anything to touch it.
After a dose of Tylenol and elevating the foot I got down to the research of what to do. I looked up nail bed injuries and found that releasing the blood under the nail can relieve the pressure. Further, with small children, it can be necessary for continued proper development. So I called Dr. Wisner's office and he had a 9:30 opening. At the office, Dr. Wisner decided that the toe was not broken (phew) but there was a significant amount of blood under the nail that needed to be released. He used a thing called a cauterizing needle to poke a hole in the nail and drain it, Axel howling the whole time.
Axel is resting comfortably downstairs right now, the day off from preschool. Since the draining, the pain in the toe has been greatly reduced. We are happy about that. The doctor says he will probably lose the toenail. I told Axel that I would paint his other toenails to match and he is pretty excited about that. I did not tell him he would probably lose the toenail.
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