Weights and Toes

The same day as the Airport fieldtrip, P came home, removed his shoes, and then proceeded to try and balance my 3 lbs free weight on top of the foam roller. It toppled off and landed directly on top of his big toe. This was one of those awful parenting moments where you really want to be sympathetic - and I definitely felt bad for him because that had to have hurt like no other, but on the flip side, I have warned him SO many times about playing with my weights without shoes on. (Or playing with them period.) Thank goodness it was "only" 3 pounds, but still. It turned blue instantly.

In the pictures below Pierscen was bawling for obvious reasons. Devry was bawling because Pierscen wouldn't let her get in his space. Awe parenting. 

This was later that night. It's hard to tell, but the toe was getting quite swollen and the blue was spreading to the top of his toe too. We didn't think it was broken, but the pressure definitely needed to be release.

We explained to P that if we didn't do anything the swelling would get so bad it would cause a lot of problems including losing his nail. We told him there was a solution, but that it would hurt really bad, but that after it would feel SO much better. He decided to be brave and try it. 

If anyone has smashed their toe and had a similar problem - this is what you can do next time. (I have done this to both of my big toes after hiking and yes it hurts like crazy, but it makes all the difference in the world.)

You heat a paperclip super hot. Then you hold it on the toe nail while it melts through. It will likely take a few times of holding it over a flame. It will then "pop" through and release the fluid beneath.

None of these pictures do it justice, but wow. There was so much blood! It squirted and squirted. And no, that's not the paperclip's doing. It is simply releasing everything that it pooling beneath it. It releases the pressure and makes it feel a million times better. 

You can already see a big difference in the picture above on the right. We were very proud of Pierscen for being so brave. He screamed and cried, but even within a minute or two of the blood stopping it felt way better. 

The nail did eventually raise up and break off a little at a time as it grew out, but it was a painless process instead of his whole toe swelling to the point of splitting. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. 

Wear your shoes, kids. Wear your shoes.