Saturday, June 19, 2021

war wounds

The blackened toenail is nothing. Since 2017, I've had a series of blackened toenails. The bruising, however, is disturbing. At a guess, this is thanks to overly tight socks. And sorry about the scarily long big toenail; I plan on visiting a pedicurist for the very first time. When I cut my toenails, I tend to bleed, and I'm sick of that. Now that I'm on blood thinners, a bleeding toenail is something I can't afford.

Below: the girl who drew my blood at the hospital on June 10th didn't know what she was doing. And when the needle goes in, it's too late to ask for someone else to do the blood-drawing. You just grimace manfully and take the pain.




3 comments:

Neil said...

Agreed the blackened toenail is nothing. I got twin blackened big toenails through football incidents I could not even recall following the game. Seems to be in part a function of aging. Late one night that week, I had the queer, slightly liberating and mysterious sensation of a whole toe nail separating from the toe. Should have just wrapped it and left it there but mistakenly went to the skin and balls doc the next morning. He shot needles into several parts of where my toe nail used to be and I can't remember the reason why. Think he was 'cleaning up'. There followed the absolutely obligatory (qualifying an absolute?) prescription for antibiotics, which I washed down with port and violence, just kidding. So the issue facing you is: are you going to rip it off yourself?
I'm guessing if you're on blood thinners, you bruise up like a month old nana. (I even had to stop taking baby aspirin every other day because I started getting random bruises on my thighs.) Some people are that sensitive. You could be one of them. Could it also be that you are doing a tad too much a tad too soon...?

Kevin Kim said...

Neil,

I'm not bruising anywhere but on my toe right now (unless you count what happened to my arm), and I don't think it's too much, too soon. As for the blackened toenail: in the past, all I did was wait for it to fall off of its own accord, so I'll do that this time as well. The first time it happened, it felt as if I'd discovered a new superpower: regrowth of toenails. I didn't know humans were capable of that. Now, I take it for granted. If anything, I need to stop wearing tight socks.

Neil said...

Yes, indeed. I'd actually recommend to anyone who has never had the pleasure of witnessing the slow regeneration of a body part to stamp on their own foot, and thus expedite the process of losing a toe nail. It grows back smooth and sleek and feels like at least one part of you is genuinely young. Wish I'd taken the time to appreciate all of me being that way between the ages of, say, 4 and 19(ish). Apologies I had you down as an easy bruiser, misinterpreted from your mentioning blood thinning pills and bruising in the same context. Go ahead and fill your boots!