You wouldn't guess my podiatry month could get any more exciting than long toenails. But it has.
This week we had an add-on emergency visit. It was hard to imagine what a podiatry emergency could possibly be. An elderly gentlemen in poor health was brought in by his caregiver wife. He weighed about 350 lbs and had portable oxygen on. The wife's story was that he had stubbed his toe this morning stumbling upstairs. She could tell it was oozing a bit, small blood there. She had him sit so she could clean it up. AS she bent closer to clean it, she was alarmed to see small white wormy things moving around under the nail.
You may have guessed it- he had maggots under his nail. Our job was to clean these guys out, one by one...ultimately taking off about half the nail to get to them all.
How could this have happened? The wife explained that with their several cats, they often leave the door open when weather is nice. This does allow a multitude of flies into the house...which they have grown accustomed to. The older gentleman likes to sleep with his feet exposed from under the covers- creating the perfect egg laying spot for a pregnant fly.
The wife understandably was a bit hysterical at her find. I felt like being hysterical assisting in plucking out the maggots.
In case you needed a reason not to let flies in your house- beware the toenails!!
P.S= was going to post a maggot pic, but just looking up the images was making me sick....will spare everyone
