The Glass In My Foot

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 1:57 pm

Let me tell you guys about the glass in my foot. Not since the skunk in my garage has anything been a greater bane of my existence.

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:

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

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.

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…

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

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.

duff · Post by **duff** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 2:05 pm

I am sending my prayers to you and your family. You know this is Gawd's way of punishing for believing in science and not fiction.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 2:19 pm

I think you meant "writhing".

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 2:25 pm

I was in a car accident when I was 20. Knee went through the passenger window. The next summer (like 8-9 months later) I got cut on my hand from a shard pushing it's way out.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 2:27 pm

Yeah, my friend is a cop whose partner hit a pole and put his head through the windshield. This was like 8 years ago and I know for years he still had little pieces coming out.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 3:00 pm

mister d wrote:I think you meant "writhing".

I think you underestimate his gumption.

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 3:34 pm

So were these so small that they didn't draw blood (or you didn't notice the wounds because there was so much blood from the once you knew about)?

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 3:46 pm

So, on at least two, maybe three occasions last year I had a pain in my heel, something like a small cut or a splinter. When it would bug me, I would look at my heel, not see anything, and forget about it until next time it hurt. Each time I finally got sick of it and sat down and twisted my leg so I could stare at the bottom of my foot, I found a small (maybe .25") hair sticking up out of my heel, perpendicular to my foot. I would have to get a pair of tweezers to remove it. I don't think there was ever a root, though I think it was in the same general spot on my right heel each time, but even with five creatures shedding hair in my house what are the odds that I manage to step on a super sharp hair at just the right angle multiple times? Are hairy heels a thing?

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 3:51 pm

Wow, that's sounds awful, Rass. Wouldn't it just be a crack in your heel that something got in?

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 3:52 pm

rass wrote:So were these so small that they didn't draw blood (or you didn't notice the wounds because there was so much blood from the once you knew about)?

I don't even know. I suspect that they broke off of the big piece that I had pulled out.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 3:58 pm

That's awful, Rass.

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 4:02 pm

Thanks guys. Appreciate it.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 4:18 pm

I had something similar to this happen when playing barefoot outside when I was probably 12 or 13, except it was a thorn from a thorn tree.

These don't show up on X-rays, so We dug around in the meat of my foot for a week, and it continued to swell and hurt and look infected. Then went to a podiatrist, who dug around in the meat of my foot and pulled out a small shard of wood, said "there's your trouble", gave me some antibiotics and crutches and sent me on my way. My foot continued to be infected and hurt, couldn't walk, couldn't put pressure on it, was soaking it in Epsom salts every night. Finally one night I just squeeze my foot as hard as I could between my thumbs while biting down on a rolled up washcloth, and lo and behold, a 3/4" piece of thorn pops out of what's now only slightly smaller than a dime-sized hole in the bottom of my foot, along with as much yellow and white pus as you'd want to imagine.

The most-painful process, but the greatest relief I have ever felt in my life.

TL;DR: shit stuck in the bottom of your foot sucks. Ow.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 4:22 pm

That is terrible BSF. Hard to imagine how that must have felt.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 4:25 pm

Yeah, BSF is now in front of Rass for most horrible story. Ouch!

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 5:59 pm

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 6:01 pm

One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along a sorry RI excuse for a beach with Jerloma.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to Jerloma.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the most mildly uncomfortable times,
there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked Jerloma about it.
"'loma, you said once I decided to hang out with you,
You'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the most sort of painful times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, when I needed you the most, you would leave me."

He answered, "Rass, you my dawg and I will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then we both fucked up our feet and were forced to hop."

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 6:54 pm

Sorry guys, those sound awful. Worse than AB being out of bourbon, even.

the human body is an amazing thing. This isn't up there with the problems of Rass, bsf, or AB, but some days I wake up and my knee is fucked up and the old hinge doesn't work properly. Then, a couple hours later, everything is fine. Weird.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 8:11 pm

Sc, I am prayin for you.

And rass that was funny as heck fire.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 8:28 pm

rass wrote:One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along a sorry RI excuse for a beach with Jerloma.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to Jerloma.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the most mildly uncomfortable times,
there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked Jerloma about it.
"'loma, you said once I decided to hang out with you,
You'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the most sort of painful times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, when I needed you the most, you would leave me."

He answered, "Rass, you my dawg and I will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then we both fucked up our feet and were forced to hop."

This is excellent swamping.

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 10:36 am

I'm OK, guys.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 10:52 am

I stepped on a giant shard of glass at a beach one day when I was about 6. No lingering effects, but my Kermit the Frog towel ended up as a prop for the pilot episode of CSI:Sesame

I also used the word perhaps in a text once. That one does still hurt.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 11:02 am

Ryan wrote:I stepped on a giant shard of glass at a beach one day when I was about 6. No lingering effects, but my Kermit the Frog towel ended up as a prop for the pilot episode of CSI:Sesame

I also used the word perhaps in a text once. That one does still hurt.

I'm so sorry to hear of the loss of your Kermit towel. That must have been quite an ordeal.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 11:20 am

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 11:24 am

Giff wrote:I'm OK, guys.

Never gets old.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 3:44 pm

And not one of you motherfuckers asked me how my surgery went.

Dead. To. Me.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 3:45 pm

Oh. I thought you meant next Tuesday. Sorry man.

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 4:41 pm

I've been too busy praying for you after your pizza debacle. My apologies.

bfj · Post by **bfj** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 6:23 pm

Jerloma wrote:And not one of you motherfuckers asked me how my surgery went.

Dead. To. Me.

Your wife didn't tell you I called?

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 7:39 pm

Rass, so sorry you had your dates mixed up. Hate when that happens.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 8:28 pm

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 8:58 pm

Giff wrote:I've been too busy praying for you after your pizza debacle. My apologies.

Are you OK?

rass · Post by **rass** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:39 pm

Good Lord, not again! I wore socks all morning, too!

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Mon Feb 22, 2016 10:27 am

Jerloma wrote:And not one of you motherfuckers asked me how my surgery went.

Dead. To. Me.

How was your surgeon doing afterwards?

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Tue May 24, 2016 10:12 am

Does anyone (Howard) with experience with surgery know how the fucking billing works? When I set up the appt, they said it was like $6000 and my insurance paid 90% so I paid $600 right up front. Then I get an anesthesia bill. How does surgery not include the fucking anesthesia?

Also, here are the line items:

2/9/2016 - Code 01470 - Anesthesia Service - $756.00
2/9/2016 - Code 01470 - Anesthesia Service - $504.00

Same code, same date, two different charges.

Shaaaaaady.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue May 24, 2016 10:17 am

As someone all too familiar with medical billing because our 2nd kid cost a looooooot more than our 1st (thanks, Mitt Romney!), I'm guessing that's for the main person then the assistant, or something like that.

howard · Post by **howard** » Tue May 24, 2016 11:17 am

The better question is how does insurance not pay for your anesthesia, at the same 90% rate. Ask them, they will probably pay. Well, at least they'll probably pay part of it. The rest, most patients just tell me to pound sand. (More and more, I am collecting money up front.)

The two charges, I'm not sure, could be one for surgery, one for recovery room. Or, if you got something fancy for pain control, like an epidural that would be a separate charge.

It is getting really bad, not compared to some golden age 20 years ago, but compared to two or three years ago.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Tue May 24, 2016 11:20 am

Jerloma wrote:Does anyone (Howard) with experience with surgery know how the fucking billing works? When I set up the appt, they said it was like $6000 and my insurance paid 90% so I paid $600 right up front. Then I get an anesthesia bill. How does surgery not include the fucking anesthesia?

Also, here are the line items:

2/9/2016 - Code 01470 - Anesthesia Service - $756.00
2/9/2016 - Code 01470 - Anesthesia Service - $504.00

Same code, same date, two different charges.

Shaaaaaady.

Everyone involved bills separately, except the nurses. And you pay for every item used - a ridiculous amount. So basically, you just keep paying until you hit your max.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Tue May 24, 2016 11:30 am

howard wrote:The better question is how does insurance not pay for your anesthesia, at the same 90% rate. Ask them, they will probably pay. Well, at least they'll probably pay part of it. The rest, most patients just tell me to pound sand. (More and more, I am collecting money up front.)

The two charges, I'm not sure, could be one for surgery, one for recovery room. Or, if you got something fancy for pain control, like an epidural that would be a separate charge.

It is getting really bad, not compared to some golden age 20 years ago, but compared to two or three years ago.

Well, my bill is $373 so some of it is covered.

Shouldn't they use different codes? Recovery room is probably on the surgical center. I was thinking the two charges might be for the two seds that went into the cocktail.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Tue May 24, 2016 11:34 am

howard wrote: The two charges, I'm not sure, could be one for surgery, one for recovery room.

One to go to sleep, one to wake up? You definitely want to pay that second one in advance. You can probably negotiate some of that down, but if 90% is covered, not sure how much luck you will have. When my sister had twins, one of the boys had to stay in the hospital for a couple of weeks. The bill was astronomical, but mostly covered by insurance. My father went through item by item, and went to the hospital because he was so pissed off at the overcharges. There were charges for drugs he researched and found were not given to infants, multiple charges for tablets of aspirin of aspirin at $300/pill, shit like that. He got them to knock off a huge chunk. He had good leverage with the whole "either you fraudulently charged for administering drugs that would kill an infant, or your doctors committed numerous, horrific acts of malpractice."