Fingers crossed for easy child's toe.

gcvmom

Here we go again!
easy child inherited her dad's uber-wide feet. :( As a result, it's very hard to find shoes that fit her, much less that appeal to her, and she's had several ingrown nail infections on her right big toe over the past few years. We did get a referral to a podiatrist about a year ago, but she was nervous about going and I thought (stupidly) that if I could just get her to let go of her old shoes and get into a new pair that fit properly, we could manage the problem on our own.

Well when we got back from our trip north at the beginning of July, she had apparently started a new nail problem and didn't tell me about it for at least a week. By that time, it was really gross and infected, so I finally called the podiatrist to make an appointment. They said if it was infected, we'd need to get the toe healed up before they could do any kind of nail treatment, so we went to the pediatrician and got an anitbiotic, which helped a bit, but the toe is sitll very irritated, and this time it's on both sides of the nail.

Her appointment with the podiatrist is this morning. I hope she copes okay with this visit, especially if they end up removing part of the nail. I've tried to be very calm and non-chalant about the whole thing with her because when I was about 7 or 8, I had a similar experience, except I had a gloom-and-doom father who had me so mentally freaked out that I was hysterical and vomiting by the time I got to the doctor's office!

So please rattle some beads for a drama-free appointment!
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Oh no...I hope it goes ok. I have ingrown toenails on both big toes but I am so afraid of what they may have to do, that I wont go to the doctor...lol.
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
Ouuuuuuuuch - sending healing and calming vibes to easy child. My easy child has flipper feet and in the fall/winter months gets infections on her big toe due to scrunching her toes into the hideous shoes she wears along with dampness and sweating. It's gross but she's been able to deal with it using antibiotics and soaks thus far.

I pray your easy child does well today!
 

lmf64

New Member
difficult child has had to have both big toe nails removed due to them being ingrown and growing back repeatedly when they were cut back by the podiatrist he also has wide feet and they sweat terribly also.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
She was a real trooper -- only teared up when they numbed her toe and then she alternated with laughter! Funny girl. Doctor removed a sliver from both sides of the nail and cut away the thickened skin that had formed from the chronic irritation. He said he wouldn't remove the root this time since she's never had the procedure done before, and wants to give the nail a chance to grow back normally on its own. Maybe she'll be lucky and it will grow back without any problem and that will be that. Time will tell...

Thanks for all the good thoughts! She was such a brave girl :)
 
H

HaoZi

Guest
Tell her great job for us!

Wide feet are such a PITA. We deal with that, too. Kiddo is hooked on Croc knock-offs as her preferred shoe for the width. We've been lucky and never dealt with ingrown toenails. I recall a foot doctor telling me he'd be surprised if I ever got one because the nails are so thick they ride over everything (I have broken clippers on them, only time I can trim them is right after a shower/bath) even though the nails themselves curve down like talons. Lovely image, I know.
 

DazedandConfused

Well-Known Member
Son has had so many ingrown toenails that I've lost count. He has one toenail that just refuses to grow back normally. Of course, he doesn't tell me until it's horribly infected. He just told me today he thinks he has another one. We have discussed getting the roots burned so it stops growing, but he's so young and we keep hoping it will grow in ok. Son freaks at the idea anyway. He hates the numbing part. Many a time he cried and even yelled out when that needle went in. Our entire family has had foot issues and the Podiatrist has gotten to know the entire family. He always makes room in his schedule to get us in ASAP.

I can feel a lot of empathy regarding the wide feet. I have super wide feet too. I also happen to have a triple curse by having an ultra high arch and thick pads. I remember as a child what my Mom used to go through to get me shoes that were comfortable and that would fit. It's one of the reasons I'm so grateful for the Internet. I can find wide shoes and there's a lot of cute and stylish ones. I can almost never find anything in a regular store that will fit or that I can even get my foot into.

I'm glad that easy child is okay and hopefully she won't have to go through it again.
 
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