This one's for Pearl...

She wanted to know what my scar looks like.

It's nothing much to look at. In fact, I have three on my shoulder but one was so small, it has all but disappeared. The other two are a bit more evident but the larger is barely a half inch in length. The other, even smaller. But here is a photo nonetheless.

The lower one is the one that gave me all the grief with rejecting the suture and getting all infected. Too bad I didn't think to take some photos of it wide open and draining pus! I could have grossed everyone out!! It's all healed up now, and isn't much to look at. It does feel a bit gnarly if you rub your finger on it, as there is some lumpy scar tissue under the skin.

On the other hand, I can now gross you out just a wee bit with my toe. It was crushed 20 years ago and I finally had to get the nail altered as one side was constantly causing me issues... it was ingrown. I never had an infection but it was always tender.

And if you think my toe looks swollen, that's just the way it is. It was literally crushed and had all the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) blown out, so circulation is an issue for me. In fact, when I first went to see the podiatrist, he used a temperature gun to check the temperature of my toe. It was 70F! Normal body temperature is 98F, however, digits are usually a bit cooler. But not that much! He then used a small handheld ultrasound machine to check my arterial pulses. All were normal (inside ankle just under the ankle bones, the top of the foot and the inside aspect of the base of the big toe) so blood flow is good.

He wouldn't allow me to take photos of the actual procedure (damn - the piece of toenail he cut out was a good 1/3 of an inch wide) and I had to keep the first big dressing (first photo) on for three days, so the last shot is four days after it was done. It actually doesn't hurt. What is a bit tender is the underside of my toe because he injected quite a volume of local anæsthetic and there is a bit of a bruise there. But it is only noticeable when I am going down stairs in my slippers (which I wore all weekend - that big dressing didn't allow me to wear a shoe). Today I will be trying to wear normal shoes (with lots of toe room).