Needles and feet don't mix

So I won't gross you out too much but can I just tell you that having a needle stuck into your foot, or both feet even, numerous times isn't fun?

For those of you who are a little queasy about pain, I suggest you move onto another post, or better yet, another blog. If not, here are the gory details.

I had 2 plantar's warts, one on the ball of each foot, that were ugly, but didn't really bother me until recently. One got tender after a few rides this year so I decided that I needed to do something about it before RAGBRAI, otherwise it would be a long week.

So I was able to get in with my family doctor pretty quickly last Tuesday once the decision was made, which worked out perfect with timing. My aunt was coming to town for the weekend so I'd be healed enough to enjoy the weekend and because she was here, I would've missed out on workouts anyway.

I went in Tuesday afternoon with a fresh pedicure and flip flops, because of course, it'll be another week or two before I can get my toes looking good again. I talked to my doc who is an old, former flight surgeon about doing at least one, but preferably both feet. He warned me that it would hurt to have both feet down for a few days, but I told him that it was like pulling wisdom teeth; I might as well get them done at the same time and only endure the pain once. He tried to tell me.

He left for a few minutes, leaving me with the nurse and a good footsoak to soften things up a bit. Sadly, it wasn't as nice at some footsoaks I've had at the spa; this one had iodine or betadine (something freakishly orange) in the water and it didn't smell like lavender.

He came back in and asked again if I really wanted to do both. With no change in the answer, he grabbed a needle and filled it up with a numbing agent very much like the novocane you get at the dentist. And much like the novocane needle you get in your gums before getting a filling, this needle hurt like hell! He's a smart man and started with the foot that I was least concerned about, probably to make sure I went through with both of them.

I about came unglued on the table as he pierced the area around the ball of my foot over and over. Holy mother of God, I can't even describe the sharp pain, but it's enough to make your hair stand up on end, your palms to sweat, and even let a little tear go. Okay so I did more than let a tear go, I called him a few choice words that probably shouldn't be repeated. His nurse laughed. In his deadpan tone, he just said he'd been called these things before and started in on the other foot, not missing a beat.

For those of you with contacts, have you ever come back from one of those evenings after eating a bunch of hot wings and taken your contacts out? The first one is bad as your chili finger hits your eye, but the second one coming out is generally worse because you know what's coming. Well this second foot piercing was just like that. The nurse held my leg down as I hollered into a pillow to muffle the bellowing.

And with that, in a matter of a few minutes, I couldn't feel anything around the area. And I sighed. And asked for some paper towels for my sweat-soaked hands.

Thankfully, the lancing of the warts only took about 10 minutes and he was done with both. They were bandaged up with great purple gauze and dressings, but this was so big I couldn't get my shoes back on. Do you know how hard it is to just walk on the sides of your foot or on your heels? Not easy. And I have to tell you, you get some strange looks in Walgreen's as you hobble through the store because you missed a tactical error in getting large band-aids and antibiotic gels to clean it up later.

So a week later, I'm nearly healed, just in time to start riding again. The spots that were operated on are still tender and running isn't fun, but they'll be ready to go once RAGBRAI starts in a few weeks. I think and hope it was the right move at the right time.