So here it is - the story you have all been waiting for - the Tale of the Toe!
A long long time ago - in a galaxy far far away - well, maybe not that far - it was Irvine and it was 20 years ago. I was playing basketball during a dorm tournament at UCI and someone ran into my foot so severely that it bent my toenail back - and injured it so badly that I could barely put my shoes on and ever since then - the nail has never grown correctly - it tends to grow thicker - thus the nickname given by some friends of The Claw! So I have a problem with ingrown toenails - I try to keep cotton under them - but sometimes they just get the best of me. So last year - after having the toe worked on three times before - the doctor took the entire nail off - well - it didn't grow back very well on one side - actually started curving in. I first sensed a problem back in May - but of course - procrastinated until about a week and a half ago.
A week ago this last Tuesday, I noticed that the toe was infected - nothing new - been there before. I called the doctor immediately to get a referral to a podiatrist to get this taken care of by a specialist - they told me I had to come in so my doctor could evaluate it - I pleaded with them to leave a message for a referral since I have a history of ingrown toenails - only to be told my doctor wasn't there today - but they would try to have another doctor look at it - I made the appointment also - but it wasn't until Thursday. I also asked if I could go into Urgent Care to get a referral and they said no - it had to come from a doctor in an office - great! Luckily I had vacation coming up and an offsite leadership seminar to go to so I didn't have to try to cram my toe into dress shoes! Wednesday afternoon - the doctor's nurse calls to tell me that I have been approved for a referral - but doesn't give me the info - I'll be getting a letter with the info - which doesn't come until Friday - so now I can't call until Monday - lovely!
Monday morning I start calling the podiatrist - 8:30am - 10:45am - 2pm - nobody answers the phone - great. Finally call one more time about 4pm - and find out that the earliest appointment he has is on September 11 - I'm thinking I'll amputate the toe myself before I get to September 11. I tell her it's infected - don't they have any earlier appointments - no. Crap. I now call my doctor back to get a referral to a different podiatrist - I leave a message with him and the receptionist also transfers me to the referral department in the office to talk to them - I leave a message with them also. I whine about the whole thing the next day at VBS and Craig offers to cut it off himself - yeah - don't think so - very pastoral of him to want to help, though! Of course, by this time - I'm really concerned about the infection - puss has been coming out of my toe for a week now.
By Tuesday afternoon - I still have heard nothing from my doctor or the referral department - so I call to see if I can make an appointment to see my doctor - if I'm in his office - he has to talk to me - his earliest appointment is a week from Friday - don't think so - screw it - I'm going to Urgent Care - at this point I need to take care of the infection. So I go to Urgent Care - expect to wait several hours - only had to wait about 30 - 45 minutes. When I get into the room - the nurse glances at my toe and says very nonchalantly - yeah it looks really bad - thanks! The doctor gets there and tells me he will prescribe antibiotics for the infection and asks if I want him to take care of the toenail - I hadn't been expecting that since I've never had a doctor offer to do that when the toe has been infected. Being fed up at this point - I told him to have at it and just do it - because it's only the fifth time I've had the toe worked on. I figure when it starts growing in wrong again - I'll get to the podiatrist sooner.
So he went ahead and took it off right there - when he was done - he offered to prescribe something for the pain in case the toe was angry later - I told him it was angry now. So he prescribed vicodin - think I mentioned that earlier in the week. It didn't really do anything for me the first night I took it - tried it a second night and it just made me dizzy - so I'm done with that. It's feeling much better than earlier in the week - and even better yet - I didn't get the secondary complimentary infection I usually get when I take antibiotics - maybe it was the yogurt I had each morning. The Urgent Care doctor reminded me to follow up with my own doctor - and all I could think was - yeah - he won't be seeing me again.
The story doesn't end there, though... so I still had these messages I had left with the doctor and referral department. On Thursday I finally got a call from the doctor's nurse that they were going to have the referral department call me to help get me an appointment - I then get a message from the referral department that they have called the podiatrist for me and can get me an appointment on September 18! I laughed out loud as I listened to the message - she also told me that if it was an emergency - I should call my doctor for an appointment - yeah! Unbelievable! HMO at work! Crazy - just crazy!
So we'll see on Monday if I can get dress shoes on - forgot to get a note from the doctor to wear open toed shoes and last year when I had the nail removed - the manager wanted a doctor's note - the huge bandage on my toe apparently wasn't enough. Anyway... it's all done now - and I've since had three people recommend doctors in this same medical group - just different offices - I'll be seeing one of them for any of my future health problems!
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