The Pain, The Pain!

Last Wednesday I woke up with extreme pain in my left big toe. I could not walk on my foot because my toe hurt so much. So, I called the podiatrist and went to see him after lunch. He suggested cutting off part of my toenail that may be ingrown. "No problem, let's do it."

I am insensitive to "sharp" pain. I do not feel needles, cuts, etc. I have had needle biopsies, arterial blood gas draws, two-hour EMG test all with no pain. Even lidocaine does not burn me. But did I have a surprise in store!

The doctor did a nerve block on my toe with lots of lidocaine. No pain, no burning, no problem. He began to cut my toenail . . . wait . . . it hurts. By his third clip, I was almost screaming. He could not believe I was feeling pain--neither could I. He gave me more lidocaine and proceeded to cut and remove the "ingrown" part of my toenail. It H U R T and I cringed (actually I hollered)! Even with tons of lidocane, he could not stop the pain and it was one of the worst pains I have ever had in my life. They heard me groaning and moaning all the way to the waiting room. I know because they all stared at me when I left the office. As soon as it was over, the pain stopped and my toe has not hurt since.

What happened? After some research, I discovered that, in some cases, lidocane does not work when one's nerves are in a hyperactive mode. At times, the top of me feet and toes are super-sensitive. This must have been one of those times.

A Quick Update

My respiratory infection is better. My next Cytoxan infusion in this Friday.