Toenails

[cjsmith]

I'm about to lose a toenail. The injury, minor as it was, occurred more than two months ago, when I was out hiking. I think the toe jammed into the end of my hiking boot repeatedly over the course of twelve to fifteen miles. It was definitely uncomfortable and soon became discolored, but it was never excruciating, nor did it gain that true deep black that real smasher-type injuries get. After a week or so there was no pain at all.

Fast forward to January. The nail's still discolored and probably isn't growing as fast as its neighbors. A few days ago I noticed there was a ridge at its very base, as if there was a deep ripple in the nail. I figured it would eventually travel to the tip of my toe, and someday get clipped off, as the nail grew over time.

The next day I noticed that there wasn't any nail behind the ridge. Behind there, that wasn't a dip in the surface, as I had guessed; the thing simply ended.

Today I noticed that nearly all of it has now separated from the bed. I clipped it, in the hopes of cleaning out the discoloration underneath (dried blood, of course), and I realized how close it was to coming off entirely. I can lift it up and peek at the dark layer. I can even see that there are two layers under there: the old blood, and a pale one that appears to be some toughened skin. The toughened skin wants to stick to the toe, and everything else will happily separate like the pages of a book.

Of course I want to finish removing it right this instant. I want to take it off and play with it. I want to see what it all looks like underneath. I can hardly contain myself. But I'm waiting -- not because I "shouldn't mess with it", but because the camera battery isn't charged. Last time I failed to take pictures of a way cool thing my body was doing (healing wisdom tooth holes) I kicked myself for weeks.

EDIT: The camera battery finished charging, I took the nail off, and underneath was a whole new nail. It's quite thin and looks a bit fragile, and it's bumpy and nearly folded, but it's entirely ready -- as long and as wide as it needs to be.

The sensation of taking off a toenail (when it's ready to go, at least) is weeeeeeeird. Not painful, but wrong. Reminiscent of removing baby teeth, the ones that needed a good tug because they still had a spike left in one corner.

Comments

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

When I was 15, I got a boil on my knee. It was huge, and (being impatient) I stuck a needle in it. It was fascinating! It was very deep, I could put the needle more than halfway in. The stuff in it came out in discrete layers. While I was squeezing it, an acquaintance phoned. I was living with my aunt, fairly new to the area, and had no real friends, this was someone I'd met at the teen "est" training. She said, "How are you?" and I said, "Great!" and launched into a description of fascinating oozing boil details.

My aunt took me aside after the phone call and explained how one didn't need to entertain people with information like that, and I've mostly accepted it, though I still fail to see how people can find information like that disgusting instead of fascinating.

I love the toenail story. :)

deyo called out, awhile ago, "Gak! Did you read about CJ's toenail!" I said, "Yes! How could anyone not love CJ? The world needs more CJs."