Anyone wondering how my poor toesies are doing mid-summer? As I let you all know in May, I had severely bruised my right big toenail while going a bit crazy on the elliptical at the gym to the point where it was in the process of falling off. I realized it was happening in about March, and it only fell off at the end of June.
For anyone who has had a similar situation, you can agree that it is one of the most disturbing processes to witness. I know a few friends who have had a pinky toenail fall off, but this was my big toenail (is there a more intelligent name for it? I’m not sure) which is a significantly larger space. I tried to mask it with dark nailpolish, which would then cause me to stare at the toe in disbelief since I knew how bruised and awful it actually looked under the polish. Slowly but surely, the toenail began to lift off near the moon and began the arduous process of lifting off.
A slow process it was. I was able to wear open toed shoes, and unless you looked extremely closely, nothing seemed awry. I figured the old toenail would slowly move off, leaving room for a new growing toenail in its place.
I was wrong. One day in late June, I had showered and was settling under my covers to read a bit before I logged on to Lovelyish. Fully with socks on (I’m one of those people who cannot be in bed without socks) I was under my blankets and suddenly felt something … off. I wasn’t sure how it had happened, or what caused it, but my toenail felt really really loose. I was instantly nostalgic to my adolescent years, that gross feeling of a loose tooth hanging in your mouth. I slowly took off my sock to see that my toenail WAS vry much loose… I could essentially pull it back and it was hanging very gingerly.
After an hour long battle where I could not decide what to do, a cross between pure disgust and terror, I was able to successfully remove my old toenail. What was left was an awkward stub of a new nail growing, and some leftover bruising. I instantly threw out the old toenail … hell, I even took the entire garbage bag out I was so skeeved by the whole affair.
A dermatologist looked at my new nail and said it is growing just fine. Here’s proof that I’m slowly becoming a normal person … also note the Essie Brazilliant on my toes. Cheers to my return to bright summery colors! I have high hopes that I’ll be able to get a pedicure by my birthday in December (it’s sad I have to hope for five months from now…)
This would all seem like old news, well and good, if I hadn’t screwed up my other toe…
Often times I ask my friends how things like this could happen to a person. They usually respond that they don’t happen, they only happen to me.
While getting on the bus back to NYC from home this past weekend, I lifted my foot to get on the bus, and was greeted by a piece of metal that slashed the front of my big toe. My left big toe, on the opposite foot from my other bad toe. It was extremely painful, and I had to endure the entire bus ride with a toe that was throbbing. I only realized once I got off that it was actually bleeding… too bad that was when I had to walk to the subway and back to my apartment. I got to my 9am work shift on time, but couldn’t walk the rest of the day.
I was worried enough that I might need stitches, but three days later, it seems to be healing decently. I can’t wear sneakers because they rub too much, so any hopes of working out have been shot to hell. I even showered with a garbage bag the first day … almost fell too. Now THAT would have been unlucky, huh?
I’ve resorted to wearing Band-Aids on both my big toes daily, looking like the bad luck leper I am. I remember the summer before my eighth grade year, I continually fell and had cuts and bruises all over my knees. In August, when they had finally healed, I was walking home from Dairy Queen (mmm…Oreo Blizzards) telling my friend how I was finally free of scrapes… then I fell, again. Down went my ice cream, and down went my luck. I should’ve known then that it would only happen again.
Sigh. Here’s to ugly feet for the rest of the summer!
Lovelies, have you ever lost a toenail? What are some of the worst injuries you have gotten & chalked up to bad luck?
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orchid / 242 posts
Eurgh, taking off my shoe to see a bloody sock is one of my biggest fears! I have some feet/toe issues too — plantar fasciitis in my right foot, and I broke my right big toe last summer, and Converse sneakers eat my feet when they get too worn down. It’s gotten to the point where I stumble and my dad immediately says “broken toe??” lol.
orchid / 160 posts
Last year I was riding my first bike (a second-hand off of craig’s list) down a hill in sandals. Bad idea, and I knew my frame was a little weird. All of the sudden I’m sliding down the hill on my bare foot. I basically scraped off the outer halves of all the toes on my left foot (skin and nails), a chunk off my left heel and some off the ankle, and lost half my big toenail on my right foot. They all grew back.
Sometimes when I’m riding in cold weather, I feel like my pinky toes are going to fall off, they’re so numb.
This year I went to Taiwan and got cellulitis in my foot, to the point where I had to be hospitalized (just in case). I think I have a bad pisces in my chart somewhere.
guest
I remember when I was young sitting in my parents bed, and my dad was cutting off his toenail cause it had broken like yours. It was no big deal to him, and meanwhile I was soo weirded out. hahahah
guest
Yes, someone slammed the bathroom door into my foot and it dislodged my toe nail to the point of it becoming swollen and bruise and the pain of course was unbeareable. It unfortunately never fell of instantly. Took like 2 excruciating months for it to finally fall off and now, about one year later, the new nail is finally growing in to the point of it looking nearly normal :\