5/10/16 Going Under The Knife, Losing A Toenail, Gaining Some Relief?

    My toenails suck, they always have.  I grew up with big toe on right foot always having a touch of nail fungus.  I even remember in third grade going to the swimming pool with my class during the summer, and not being able to swim.  Jerk teacher kept me out.  This was the same swimming pool we would go to regularly, yet I couldn't participate with my classmates. 
    Fast forward to college, and at some point, my right nail about cleaned up, but then my left nail got messed up.  I don't know if it is from fungus, Boy has messed up nails too, but I get ingrown toenails all the freaking time.  It hurts, I usually put off cutting my nails because I will sit there for an hour, messing with the ingrown.  I will dig way past what you would call normal with the point of these specialized scissors and feel under the skin for more nail.  I can usually find it by touch.  Nail feels hard, skin is soft.  By the time I'm done, my leg is numb from being tucked under me.  My nail is usually bleeding from all the poking and prodding, and it is generally a mess I go through every 4-6 weeks.
    A couple years ago, Wife took Boy to a doctor who took care of both big toes.  He was starting to get the same ingrown nails all the time.  The doctor used some acid to kill the nail bed so nails don't grow all the way out to the side edges anymore.  This prevents the nail from going under the skin.  The procedure starts with a shot to numb the toe, followed by a dozen other ones, for some reason.  I avoided it last time because it would have meant no hot tub for a few weeks and back then we were using it almost every weekend.  I would like to say the same for now, but honestly, we've used it once in last 6 months.  I am opting for the surgery at this time.  One, it is still awhile before summer, if we do end up using the pool and hot tub more.  Second, I don't want anything to slow me down in Florida when we go in June.  I refuse to be the weakest link.
    Boy says it has been great since he took care of his.  No more problems, so hopefully, I have the same results.  The last straw was this past Friday, we actually used the hot tub for the first time in a long time.  I didn't turn the heat all the way up, maybe it was at 98 degrees or so, but my nail felt like it was pulsing.  Wife and I were trying to be intimate, but the pulses of pain forced me out of the water.  I thought I had hurt myself somehow, but once we got out and cooled off, the pulses went away, it was an intense pain.  I took a shower and went at the stupid nail around midnight, poking at it until the pain subsided.  It felt like heaven when I pulled out this huge hunk of nail from under the skin.