Bye, bye toenail...

***WARNING*** Not for those with a weak stomach

Last February I had my Right big toenail removed ("permanently") since it was severely infected and chronically ingrown. It was ingrown for nearly a year and a half with numerous attempts by the podiatrist to alleviate the problem. The procedure for the removal was horrible. My toe was injected with numbing medication numerous times. Then the doctor yanked as hard as he could to get the whole toenail to come out. He exclaimed as he was bracing himself and pulling with all his might that I had a really strong nail matrix (bed). Then he applied a chemical acid substance to the nail bed to kill it and keep it from growing back. That was the worst pain of the whole surgery! It felt like someone was drilling holes through my toe with a very dull hot poker (slowly). Apparently I'm not very sensitive to the numbing medication... cause I was feeling more than expected.

The recovery for this was awful! It was horrible throbbing pain for days!!! I couldn't lower my foot below my heart or I'd wail in agony. Soaking it in Epsom Salt was killer! Finally after 2 months, it seemed to be feeling back to normal (minus a nail). Then I was noticing that it was awfully callused... only to find out it actually was portions of nail growing back in. The sides of my nail were growing back despite the attempt to kill the nail bed.

So I waited till after my reunion, so I could wear cute heels. Then I went in last Friday to the doctor to have the nail removed again! My parents came to watch the boys in the waiting room while Josh came back with me to hold my hand through the procedure as he did last February. It was just about as painful as I had remembered it. He tried to inject an excessive amount of numbing meds in my toe to relieve any pain... to no avail.

However, I'm pleased to announce... the recovery is NIGHT AND DAY! It doesn't hurt hardly at all! I feel completely normal! I soak it once a day, change my bandage and dressings and wear flipflops outside the house (what else is new), and that's it. HOORAY!!! I'm positive it's cause it wasn't infected this time. GEESH that must've been some infection last time!! I do remember the doctor commenting that it's the worst ingrown toenail infection that he had ever seen!

For those of you who like bloody stuff (Michaela, Sherri, Diane)... here are some before and after photos...

Only click on these links if you want to see pictures of a bloody toe - or are just too curious to restrain yourself.

2 weeks post first surgery in February '08

5 months post first surgery in July '08

day before last surgery in Oct '08

2 days post last surgery

I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST POSTED PICTURES OF THAT!!


after all this is said and done, I NEED A PEDICURE!

Cosby, Cosby, Cosby...

Well, Cosby has been with us for about a month now. He's fitting in quite nicely (once we got over the bathroom issues). All the cats seem to really like him. He's very feisty! He loves to play with us and the other cats (especially Lexi and Maya). Brady has even learned to play with him using an old shoe string. It's hilarious, and he's quite amused too!

Morning pets with Daddy. (Nice look Josh!)

My 2 boys

Morning cartoons

Brady shows Dylan how it's done...

Dylan's ROLLING!

Yep, that's right. He started rolling last Thursday from back to tummy! Opposite of how Brady started. This means that he can go from being happy and content on his back playing under his gym, to being upset and frustrated on his tummy - unable (most of the time) to roll back over.

Check out more happy pictures of Dylan!

Michaela making Dylan laugh

Baby blues (I think they're gonna stay blue)

"I love my feet Mommy!"

Dylan's girlfriend, Addie

Dylan met his future girlfriend, Addie May Foster last week! They are 3 weeks apart and are both happy babies!

Addie is the first daughter of my dear friends from highschool, Jake & Melissa!

10 yr. Highschool Reunion!

Wow! Ten years has gone by already?!?! BCS Class of 98 Reunion was at Hotel Deca in the U District Saturday 9/27! How crazy it was to see so many people I hadn't seen in so long. Our class was around 90 and maybe 30-40 classmates made an appearance (not including guests). I feel bad I didn't get to talk to everyone. But I tried to chat with as many as I could - especially the ones I hadn't seen in ages! Everyone looked great! What fun!

Lindsay (Stabbert) Sckorohod, Kara, Melissa

From accross the room...

Lindsey, (hubby) Mike, Wendy, Michaela, Emily (Hodge) Nudelman

Amy (Hile), and others...

Steven, Ben Scott, Cory Lanman, Amy (Clegern) White, Christy Halvorson, Amy Whims

Michaela, Faith, Courtney, Stephanie Hoover, Trevor, Ben Scott,

Anita, Emily, Melissa, Kara

Melissa, Michaela, Kara

Birthday Fun!

Brady turned 2 on Saturday! We took him to Family Fun Center for some excitement! We went on little kids rides and had a ton of fun! We were worried Brady would be too scared of the rides. He was a little concerned and upset when he got into the airplane with me, but once it started he loved it!