Pain afoot

Over the holidays, my blogging dropped off quite a bit. This was due in part to spending the last half of December writhing in pain.

Here's the story:

I noticed a wart or two growing on the bottom of my foot some time ago. I don't know how long, let's just say in the last three to five years. They didn't bother me. I didn't know they were there unless I looked. I knew I needed to take care of them at some point before they got bad, but I kept procrastinating not wanting to deal with the hassle of doctor appointments and the bills that come with them.

On a short trip to San Francisco in August I found myself doing a lot of walking, and that's when the warts started causing me some discomfort and I knew I had to start taking care of them.

I've been going to a podiatrist since late summer and getting treatments on my left foot. What I assume started as a single wart had grown into two large patches--one under my big toe and the other under the heel, as well as a half dozen smaller satellites on other parts of my sole. Each treatment got stronger--various acids and blistering agents were applied. Treatments were doing some work, but not knocking the warts out, so my doc decided to perform a "curettage." Otherwise known as skinning the infected patches from the bottom of my foot like a carrot. A carrot with a #$%*-load of nerves.

It turns out that feet are very sensitive, and/or I'm a total wuss. The injections of local anesthetic was some of the worst pain I've ever experienced. Imagine trying to hold your foot still as someone sticks needles into the it, holds the needle there as the pain killer is injected into it (which, somewhat ironically, you feel VERY MUCH). Imagine doing that half a dozen times in the course of a couple minutes. I've been stuck with needles before, but none were in the ballpark of this pain. Holy. Cow.

When I got home from the first treatment, the local anesthetic was still doing its thing and carried me through the first few hours. But about 12 hours after the procedure I started feeling the pain. Ladies, I know if you've delivered a baby that you'll always have pain bragging rights, but this was WAY more painful than I expected. So painful I was up all night with it. I had been prescribed Lortab, and it barely took the edge off and would wear off after only a couple of hours. Where's the Morphine when you need it!?

It's happened in two parts. In mid-December they cut out the patch under my big toe, and two weeks later my heel. I didn't get a picture of the toe treatment when it was fresh, but here is a picture a day after they cut up my heel:

You can see that the toe is healing pretty nicely 20 days after the treatment, and you can see a couple other spots they'll have to treat still. It's been about nine days since this procedure and I still can't put full weight on my heel. My foot is heavily bandaged and I'm having to wear a specially designed medical shoe that allows my heel to float with no contact.

Here's a picture taken five days later than the one above:

It's coming along and I'm glad it's progressing, but this has been a real hassle mobility-wise and and to the pocket book.

In that spirit, here is my public service announcement:
If you have a wart, get rid of it. Don't wait until it brings its friends to the party. It's much more expensive and much more painful if you wait.