Elijah's Toe

The other day the boys were helping bring the groceries in from the car and one of the plastic bags split and a big can fell on Elijah's big toe. His toenail got a black spot right away and it hurt a lot, but after a while he seemed ok and went out to play with his friends.

Later that evening Michael & I went to the temple, and right before we went inside, the boys called us and said Camden had accidentally stepped on Elijah's hurt toe and he was crying. I talked to him a bit and got him calmed down, and figured he'd be fine after a few minutes. So later on when we finished at the temple I called my mom to ask her about some plans for the next day, and I was really surprised when Lijah answered the phone. I guess he had been in a lot of pain from his toe, and my mom had taken him to her house while we were gone, and was watching over him for us. 

When we got home, he was in a lot of pain -- a lot more than when he broke his foot last fall -- and he wasn't calming down. My mom wondered if we would need to take him to a doctor to somehow release the pressure on his toe. We knew there wasn't much that a doctor would do even if he had broken his toe, so we gave him ibuprofen, Michael had him soak his foot in water and vinegar to reduce the swelling, and eventually he settled into a fitful sleep around midnight.

I read online that sometimes when there is bleeding under the toenail the pressure is very painful and it does need to be released either by cotterizing it, or by sticking in a large needle. But he was sleeping, so we decided to wait and see if he was better in the morning. 

At 2am he woke up in pain again, so I took him to the ER at Children's Hospital. I had to carry him from the parking lot because his foot hurt too much to walk. After a long wait, we were taken to a room, they took some X-rays, and eventually the doctor came and she used a cotterizing tool to make two small holes through the top of his nail and then push the blood out from under his nail. That was a painful process for him. But once it was over, it had released the pressure and he felt just fine again. 

(Afterward, my parents told my brother, Matthew who is studying to be a physical therapist, about it, and he said what they do for that is heat up a paper clip and stick it through the nail. I guess next time we'll know that, and maybe Uncle Matthew can take care of it and save us the $300 ER bill).   :)