You know you are a missionary nurse when...

So...since I've been a missionary nurse I've had the opportunity to do all sorts of "fun" things. Lanced many an abscess, packed wounds, stitches, start IV's on the field, delivered babies - that kind of thing. However, it's always been on someone else! Makes sense, right?! Okay - now a little history - Mike PROMISES me that losing toenails is something that many runners experience. He had some friends that would lose them DURING a marathon. Well...after over 600 miles of training, and doing a marathon, I noticed that my big toe started to turn green underneath the nail. STOP here if you don't want any more information :-)

Then I noticed the toenail next to it. I looked at it, and I could almost lift the nail completely off. We have some friends visiting, and my friend Renee asked me when was the last timeI removed the nail polish completely off of my nail? I had to admit to her it had been a long time. So - off to go get the nail polish remover, and a few minutes later I exposed both of the nails to find that yes indeed, both nails were dead. So what's a girl to do? Well, I was able to pry the second nail off completely with just a little tugging - there was already a "baby nail" growing in underneath. But then there was the big toe...About 2/3rds of it I ended up being able to clip off and remove at the base...but there was a third of the nail that wouldn't come off - it was still attached underneath. A few hours later I got up the courage to go upstairs and prepare what I needed for my minor surgery. I pulled out the lidocaine, scrubbed my foot, and gave myself two injections to numb my toe. I then proceeded to shove a hemostat underneath the toenail to separate it from the skin underneath. Finally, I grabbed the nail with the hemostats, rolled it, and completely removed it. Yes...all by myself...alone upstairs on my floor. I really do need another medical person here.