Friday, March 14, 2014

Beware of nail salons!

Ok, so picture this.. I am in KC, I want to take my daughter to do something special, so I take her to the nail place to get her nails painted, and me a manicure.

She grins with joy the whole time we are there, excited to pick out her colors. She choose golden (more of a neon yellow if you ask me), and hot pink. Two of her favorite colors right now.

I had them cut my cuticles, and paint my nails a soft pink. We left feeling a little pampered and grateful for the time we spent together doing something "girly". Fun right?

Well, little did I know, this innocent nail outing would turn into me on antibiotics for 10 days, and a COMPLETE LOSS OF MY FINGER NAIL!!

Yeah so probably a few days after our manicures, the cuticle on one of my fingers started getting a little red. Didn't think much of it. It got more and more red, so I looked online and tried some at home remedies such as soaking it in Epsom Salt, applying topical antibiotic cream, and maybe a few other things. Nothing was working. It was getting more sore and the redness was spreading up my finger.

I called the nail salon to ask them what the hell was going on with my nail and what I should do. At this point I knew what it was, but just wanted to see what they would say. The man on the phone didn't skip a beat in telling me "go to the doctor and then call me back and I will give you my insurance information".. I asked if this happens often and he said it sometimes does, but not often.

Mind you, this place did not appear dirty, or run down. It is a very busy nail salon in the middle of a upper class neighborhood. Im just saying, this place was probably one of the nicer ones out there and this can happen anywhere!

I told the man I was not looking to have them pay any medical bills or anything like that, but I wanted him to know it happened at his salon and he needed to have a more sanitary cleaning process in place. He assured me he would speak with all his employees about the importance of cleaning all instruments. I was satisfied with that knowing it was all I could do at the time. (although I did have some random thoughts of picketing his place of business, going in and passing out flyer's with a picture of my nail to all the customers getting theirs done, and other more anger driven responses~lol)

After that I put a call in to my Uncle Don, he's a podiatrist and I knew he would be able to call me in a script. He knew exactly what I was talking about. There is a medical name for it, and can happen for various reasons to finger and toe cuticles. Basically a cuticle infection...One way it can happen is from dirty instruments at a nail salon.

Moral of the story….

*Take you own instruments when you go get a manicure or pedicure. Or don't go at all and just do it yourself at home*

I am hoping it grows in normal, but if it doesn't I'm OK with it ..shit happens I guess. I'm just thankful the infection didn't go systemic and that my daughter didn't experience it.








Tuesday, March 4, 2014

march 2014 update

So, I haven't been here in a while and I have been thinking about checking in for a few days now. I keep having the thoughts "oohh I should blog about this, or that".. So, here I am and I just want to give an update on us. Joe is going on a motorcycle trip through Central America here soon, and so it will be just the kids and I for a while. At first I was a little nervous to be with the kids by myself for so many weeks without the help of family, but Im good with it now and know it will be all good. My kids are awesome and I love being with them everyday so that helps:)

The weather here has been a little rainy and cold(er) lately. I like waking up and wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts. Its all nice and cozy. I get my tea going, breakfast for the little girl and we snuggle under covers for a while before starting our day. We do miss going to the beach in the hot sun, but I am appreciative of the milder weather and loving every minute of it. I did stop at a great beach today for kids and we swam for a bit. The sun was shining and it felt great to get in the ocean. I feel so blessed to live where I do and encourage anyone who has ever contemplated moving some place tropical, to do so. Its not for everyone, but it sure is for me!!

I have been doing something new which I absolutely love and don't ever want to go without again…every night I go into my room and for like 30-45 minutes I do some yoga stretches and then I meditate. At first I just did some short guided meditations on you tube, and now Im up to doing 20-30 min ones. I really love it and feel it has helped me to be more relaxed and trusting of my life. I don't let things get me stressed or let the fears and anxiety take over anymore like I used to. When that starts to happen I am now able to stop the negative thoughts and ground myself back to that peaceful, loving state. Its amazing!

~~I guess thats all for now~~