So back in early October, Alex (my 8 year old) knocked a perfume bottle off of my wife’s bureau that shattered and my wife had to clean it up but apparently missed a piece. I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and of course stepped on it. This thing was DEEP. I pulled it out and bled like a mother. At this point I just wanted to go back to bed so I threw a bunch of gauze on it and wrapped it up. Cleaned it up in the morning and went to work.
Now, it felt like there was a golf ball or something in my foot. I figured it’s just swelling but I went up to the Health and Wellness center at work to have it looked at. She actually pulled out a shard in a different spot than where the big wound was but couldn’t get anything out of that spot. So I sort of side-footed it for a few days and it eventually healed and it was fine.
So about a month later, on November 6th…I know the date because it was the day my boss had an aneurysm…I’m walking and BAM! Something in my foot sent me to my knees thriving in pain. Despite this already being horrible day, I have to go to the ER. They took an x-ray and lo and behold, the glass in my foot shows up clear as day. It must have just found a spot to settle in that didn’t hurt (I’d even played tennis on this thing) and then shifted and hit a nerve or a bone or something.
X-ray #1:
![Image](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1558/24500966260_1657254fa1.jpg)
The PA asks me if I want her to numb me up and try to go in there and pull it out. I said “Have you ever done that before?” and she said “No, but I’ve seen it done.” So whatever, I let her try. Didn’t get it. Sent me to the podiatrist up the street. This guy. Now I know a podiatrist…a guy I grew up with. Played Little League together (Padres-fo- life). She already sent the x-rays to this guy though and it’s a lot closer to my house so I just went with him.
After consulting with his partner, this guy…they decide that I definitely need surgery. So they give me crutches and a walking boot and I’m under the knife a week or so later. I wake up from the anesthesia and the podiatrist comes and tells me they were in there for an hour and glass is really hard to see on imaging so they flushed it out as best they can but never actually saw a piece of glass. This seems insane to me. We can transplant a fucking face but glass removal is a complete guessing game?
Despite the ambiguity of the outcome, I’m moving forward expecting to be out of the woods. Gave me a big jar of vikes and sent me home to recover for a few days. A couple weeks later, December 1st, I had the sutures removed and was told just to stay in the boot for a couple more days. No problem. Went without the boot 2 days later and I was fine all day. I had my Xmas party that night at the convention center and took a step out of nowhere…BAM. Down again. I’m convinced this thing is still in there.
So I texted my old middle infield partner (this guy) and let him know everything that happened up to this point. He was great but unfortunately also in Florida so I had to wait a week to see him. He looks at it. Says the surgical wound looks like it healed up fine and sent me for another x-ray. He texts me later on that night and says that he doesn’t see anything in the x-ray where my pain is but he did find another piece that they apparently never saw. It wasn’t causing me pain so we decided to leave it be.
X-ray #2
![Image](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1611/24796495065_b1fee0e248.jpg)
Stayed in the walking boot until the pain eventually subsided as we suspected it could just be that the wound didn’t heal yet and eventually the pain did subside.
![Image](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1495/24502264350_0231901867.jpg)
Fast forward to last Sunday, I get out of bed, foot hits the floor and BAM! Writhing in pain again. Like worse than it’s ever been. Now that surgical wound which had already healed up fine looks like this…
![Image](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1709/24430133239_e86e46d1f5.jpg)
I text Alan Wiggins the next day and he says we should do an MRI because if it’s in there, that’s the only way we’ll be sure to see it. Scheduled the MRI and went in to see him the next day so he could take a look and give me something for the pain. He says it looks like that piece of glass is trying to make its way out of my foot. He sticks a needle in me and numbs it, cuts the skin off and tried to get it right there in his office. He could not. The MRI wasn’t scheduled for 5 days so he sends me downstairs for one more x-ray just to see if it shows up. Lo and behold…
X-ray #3
![Image](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1492/24428837629_b4e9e1c375.jpg)
He calls me that night to inform me of this and tells me I need to go under the knife again but has assured me that he won’t sew me up until he actually has evidence of a piece of glass being removed from my foot. Second surgery set for Tuesday.
Anyway, I thought you people needed to know. I've remained silent for too long. Say a prayer or some shit.