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Tuesday, May 3, 2016

It's Hammer (Toe) Time!

So I'm pretty sure that my toe is broken. It's the one right next to my big toe on my left foot. I have it taped to the big toe; I've taken Advil and I'm lying down with it elevated and yet it still feels like someone took a sledgehammer to it. I'm trying to decide whether there's any point in me going to the doctor tomorrow only to likely be told, "yep, it's broken. Tape it up and use some Advil." Plus I'd be on the hook for the copay and x rays. Plus I just abhor the whole going to the doctor thing in general. For all of these reasons, making a trip to the doctor tomorrow  seems kind of pointless and unappealing.

On the other hand, Dr Google seems to think I need to have a doctor be the one to tell me to do the things I'm already doing to my painfully injured toe-  like wrapping it, icing it and elevating it. And Dr. Google is pretty persuasive, what with all his terrifying renderings of deformed toes, including hammer toe. Did you know that there's a condition even WORSE than hammer toe called...wait for it... Mallet Toe. (Well duh, it had to be Mallet Toe right?) But anyway, Dr Google suggests that unless a doctor examines my injured toe, I could end up with some sort of painful and wildly disfiguring condition of the toe.



So I'm torn. Should I stay or should I go? Have any of y'all had experiences with going to the doctor/not going to the doctor for a (possibly) broken toe? Is there really any point in it? I definitely don't want to end up with the dreaded Mallet Toe.
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3 comments:

  1. Judy ReinsmaMay 3, 2016 at 5:13 PM

    I broke my little toe years ago. Tape and ice and pain pills was the expert advice I got after going to the Dr. Pretend you're a pioneer woman on a wagon train to CA and you broke your toe. You wouldn't have any ice but you'd not have to mess with copay and xrays either. It's a long way from your heart (ha, ha).

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  2. sueMay 3, 2016 at 5:49 PM

    There is nothing a doctor can do. Tape it.

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  3. AnonymousMay 3, 2016 at 9:11 PM

    Go. Because I didn't go when I thought I had broken a little bone in that very same toe and in fact, I had torn my plantar plate. (Something I didn't even know I had.) And the fix for such an injury is to cut OFF the toe, go in through the cut off spot on top of your foot and sew up the plantar plate tear (which is actually on the bottom part of your foot)! Then they screw the toe back on and they sew up the top of your foot in a Frankenstein pattern. I was not happy that I walked around on the tear for months thinking I had a regular old broken toe! I then wore a boot for many months and cancelled the surgery a week before I was supposed to go under the knife. I still screw it up occasionally but am glad I avoided this particularly gruesome experience. Like I said, get thee to a doctor, just in case.

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