This blog post starts last night rather than today shortly after I wrote the previous post. Around 10pm last night I was washing Inara's feet. Now that she's rolling everywhere she somehow manages to get her feet somewhat dirty. On her right foot there was a hair wrapped around what I thought was just one toe. I gently put my finger under it and attempted to pull it up and off. I did this slowly but was unaware it was wrapped around her three toes many different directions. As I tried to remove it she let out this scream. I immediately stopped and saw it was cutting into her three middle toes. The hair was pretty deep now and I was unsure of how I was going to get it off. I had both my parents try and they had no success. My mom had some clippers and tweezers in her purse that she tried to pull it up with. The picture below is after the whole trauma and early this morning.
I called Isaac who had gone out with our friend Nikko. He suggested I try his fine tipped tweezers to see if I could successfully pull it away from her toes. After studying more carefully I realized any direction I pulled would press the hair deeper into her toes. The only option that seemed plausible was an ER visit. My main worry was the circulation would be cut off and she would lose her toes. I was also unsure how the ER would be able to remove something so small that was deeply embedded in itty bitty baby toes. I felt like the worst mommy in the world at this point and called Isaac back to tell him she would have to be seen.
Ten minutes later Isaac was home and he wanted to see. Usually he'll try to talk me out of ER visits and try to pursue some home remedy he thinks will work. He took one look at her bound toes and agreed an ER visit was in order. Since my parents were here they stayed with the rest of the kids. When we got there I was pretty much in tears as I described to the nurse how the whole thing had unraveled into this big mess and how we had found no obvious means to free Inara's toes. The ER nurse then told me that this happens all the time and that once something so tiny is wrapped around small toes it's nearly impossible to manually try and remove it. The doctor came in and told me the reason we hadn't been able to remove the hair was it was wrapped different directions around each toe so removing one way would pull on a different toe.
The doctor repeated the words of the ER nurse don't feel bad we see this all the time. The parents are always upset and panicked but everything turns out fine. "So her toes will be ok?" I asked desperate to know her toes' fate. "Yes, they'll make a complete recovery. We're going to use Nair to dissolve the hair." They applied the Nair and then we waited. The child life specialist brought in soothies and a music toy. When the doctor came back in he looked Inara's toes over thoroughly and came to the conclusion the Nair had done it's job and the hair was gone. They wrapped her toes and gave me instructions on after care. I have to clean it and put prescription ointment on it two to three times a day and keep it bandaged for three days and then she should be on the mend.
Inara did great through the entire incident and I think mommy handled it worse. Nightmarish images of lost toes kept flashing through my head but we came out of it with very intact toes and I couldn't ask for more. Now I've filled up the entire blog with the events of last night but they transfer to today a bit. I had to go get her prescription ointment and bandages early this morning and did some grocery shopping while I was waiting for her prescription. After that we relaxed the rest of the day and the kids enjoyed a few of the treats they had made while at Grandma's.
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