My Big Toe!

Ok, for the faint at heart, this is a warning. I am going to talk about the joys of my big toenail. :) So, I have learned why my parents were so adamant about me wearing shoes that were the proper size, fit, etc. At the same time, though, I have played sports my whole life - I've lost a few toenails here and there - big and small - and you know what - they didn't hurt as bad as this did. I was invited to play soccer with the Penang State Women's Team against a Chinese Men's team. I don't have any cleats, so I just borrowed. They weren't my size - at all. I basically shoved my foot into them and went on. Having really small shoes on helps me to run faster - for a while. At half time, I was about to die my feet hurt so bad, so I played the rest of the game with my regular runners on. That night my toe got pretty big and painful. The next day it got worse. I realized that I probably needed to have it looked at so I nominated my friend Nellie, a nurse. She said I needed to have a hole BURNED through it to relieve the pressure - yes, BURNED!! As fun as that sounded, I was open to other suggestions. My toe was pretty big at this point and I really couldn't wear shoes or put weight on it. After a second opinion we decided to BURN. Nellie was excited because she had always wanted to do this. After I saw the glowing, unbent paper clip flying towards my inflamed toe, a blood curdling scream that scared two students and a dog away, squirting fluid and a couple tears - the pain was considerably less! :) Yea for Nellie! Yea for big toe nails! Yea for my new cleats - they are my size!!