Welcome to my blog, or should I say to the ramblings of an old man. I doubt that my ramblings are of much value, but at least I have an opportunity to share them.  So, please be kind and humor me. If nothing else of value stands out in these thoughts, I hope that you at least sense the value I place on a daily walk with the Lord.  That walk is what has provided me with motivation and a sense of purpose throughout my lifetime.  My prayer is that you, too, are experiencing this direction and joy in daily living which is available to everyone who puts his trust in Christ.  So, thanks again for joining me.  Please don't go without leaving some comments here so I can get to know you better as our paths intersect today in this blog.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

The Big Toe Mystery

The day before we left for Florida, I had an appointment with my foot doctor for my diabetic foot check and to have my toenails trimmed. That morning, while taking a shower, I was surprised to see that the bottom of my big left toe was black and blue. I could not remember having bumped it or doing anything which would have caused this bruising. I showed it to my doctor that morning and he didn't find anything wrong. He guessed that I had just broken a blood vessel. The next day we traveled to Florida, followed by two days of extensive walking at Disney. On the second day at Disney, I bumped my foot against a cement wall and my foot really hurt. Later that day I began to have a stabbing pain in my toe that would hit suddenly every 30 seconds or so. I took some Tylenol, but that didn't give me any relief. I tried to sleep that night but the stabbing pain kept me awake. I got up and rubbed it and walked around and nothing would give me relief. Finally, about 4 am, Dianne got awake and I told her that I thought I needed to go to the emergency ward to get something for relief. I knew there was a hospital about a mile from our motel. So we got up, dressed, and drove there. Fortunately, we were checked in very quickly – earlier they had had a very busy Friday night but when we arrived there was nobody waiting. Finally, after all the insurance forms were completed, they took me to a waiting area. Then a physician's assistant showed up and, without even looking at my foot, he informed me that I had an infected ingrown toe nail. I informed him that this couldn't be the case since my feet had just been checked by my foot doctor. Again, without even looking at my toe, he guessed that it could be gout, a guess which he later reversed. He then guessed it could be broken and sent me for x-rays. Actually, he never ever even looked at my toe. Finally I had an x-ray taken and a male nurse then appeared to tell me it was broken. He taped my toes, gave me a boot to wear, and gave me instructions to stay off of it for two days. He gave me three prescriptions and released me. I felt that it was a wasted adventure, except for the pain pills, and decided to leave. On the way out, the physician's assistant, knowing that I didn't believe the diagnosis, asked me if I wanted to see the x-ray. I said sure and he showed me something I couldn't interpret anyway. So we left to prepare for our trip to see the Phillies play later that day. The one prescription helped (I didn't try the other two) and three days later the pain was gone. The great boot that they gave me fell apart the next day. I imagine that my insurance was probably billed $150 or so for it. I thought of going to see my family doctor when we returned home, as they suggested, but there was no longer any pain or discoloring or anything that indicated I had had a problem. I have heard stories about Florida doctors and hospitals. I now believe most of them. But the physician's assistant and I do have two things in common. First, neither of us wanted to be there at 6 am Saturday morning. Second, neither of us know what was really wrong. And that, folks, is the big toe mystery.

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