tiny evil toothpicks

While I was at my first cake decorating class last Tuesday, Dave was home with the kids. Nathan was running and managed to run right into a toothpick. Half of it broke off. The other half was jammed completely into his foot. Well, actually there was the tiniest bit poking out still. Dave got tweezers and tried to pull it out. When it didn't budge, he decided he better take him to the doctor instead. He hustled the kids into the car in their pajamas, minus coats or shoes, and sped down the hill to the urgent care clinic. They gave Nathan a shot for the pain and were going to attempt to pull the toothpick out when it instead lodged deeper inside his foot. Now there was absolutely nothing still sticking out. So they sent him to the ER.

This is when I received a phone call from Dave, telling me to meet him at the ER. I was about twenty minutes away. When I got there, I came in to find all the other kids in the waiting room, jumping on couches. Dave was in the triage room with Nathan who at this point was totally calm probably as a result of the shot. I gathered up the kids and took them home. Dave returned about an hour later. They weren't able to do anything because they weren't sure where the toothpick was. They told us to follow-up with a doctor in three days. He had a rough night that night because he couldn't lie down. His foot would start hurting unless he kept it hanging down. Poor Dave had a rough night too.

note the lovely pink toenails courtesy of big sister

I called the doctor the next morning to set up an appointment. Since the doctor would be out of the office on Friday, they suggested we come in that same day (Wednesday). Dave took him in on his lunch hour. Nathan was totally wiped out after being up all night and fell asleep. The doctor recommended that we wait until Monday. He wanted the wound to fester a bit so that he could tell where the toothpick was lodged. The other alternative was to put him under general anesthesia and try to find it. We opted to wait.

He wouldn't even move for the first few days. Dave or I had to carry him everywhere. Finally by Saturday, I had had enough of that and told him to start crawling or hopping or scooting on his bottom because I couldn't carry him all the time. He didn't like that idea so much but eventually resorted to crawling around.

On Monday, we called the doctor and set up an appointment for the next morning. At his office, they gave him two majorly painful shots, sliced open his foot and retrieved the toothpick. Nathan had an inch long piece of toothpick up inside his foot for a week. Ouch.


He got stitches and is all bandaged up now. He is still crawling and hopping around. He has a little walking boot that he can use but he doesn't like how it feels. The stitches come out in ten days.

So beware of those tiny toothpicks. They seem quite harmless but can sure wreak havoc on your foot.