Sunday, June 5, 2011

Alien Toenails

Okay.  For all you people out there who have elderly parents that you think are taking good care of themselves, feast your eyes on this graphic picture of my father's toenails.



This picture was taken after he had soaked his feet for 10 minutes and after I had worked on trimming them as much as I dared and could. I couldn't tell what was actually swollen skin from what was fungus. One foot was so tender he couldn't keep from flinching. Maybe I can work at them and get them cut back some more as they become less tender.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Now I knew my Dad's toenails were getting too long. I'd had a glance from the other side of the room a few months ago.  I'd been telling him to trim them.  As you can see,  I don't think he'd trimmed them in over a year. 

The sitters and I had discussed them.  We knew they needed work. One sitter said she would trim them, and actually I thought she had.  She must have run in horror when she actually got a look at them. 

So 2 days ago, Joe finally took his socks off and showed me his feet telling me he needed help on them.  I think they were getting so painful he couldn't wear shoes. I've done the best I can, but I sure wish he hadn't let them get into this bad of a condition. About the only thing I think will help them is surgical removal, but that's not going to happen. First, he won't agree to it; second, I don't know if he could tolerate that massive a surgery, and third, there's just no money. Even after insurance, it's 20% of the cost, and I know having one toenail removed cost me $4K at a podiatrist's.

For documentation, here's a picture of both feet. Nuff said.  I'm still shuddering from the experience.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My husband cured his toenail fungus using vicks vapor rub. Slather it on before you put on socks and shoes. It takes a long time, months and months, but it works. The medication they give you takes almost as long and has horrific side effects.

Does Joe's insurance cover podiatry?

Jola Gayle said...

Cheryl, I don't think there's anything much I can do about this. I can't even get him to put on clean socks daily, much less think about applying an ointment. He's worn the same mismatched socks 3 days in a row, and thinks you're nuts if you say anything about it.

It's sad to say, but I think even if it leads to infection, gangrene and/or eventual death, I think it's beyond my ability to do anything about.