I know. I know. I've written about this problem before. Can't remember when, but I'm sure I've complained about this in another post.
When mom stubbed her toe which caused 95% of her nail to lift up, I needed to protect her toe from losing that 5% of nail tissue that was left to keep it on. The doctor thought it could reattach itself.
I therefore had this idea to let her use one of my bigger shoes when walking outside instead of her usual slippers. She's only 4 feet 9 inches tall so I figured my slip-on shoes which is about a half size larger than hers would be good.
When she started walking though, I noticed that slide-scraping sound as she shuffled off.
Doggone it!
It has black soles and they had completely hardened making it slippery to walk in. Good grief! I looked at my other pair and they were black soled and slippery too.
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On the other hand, the white or gray soled shoes were still flexible and supple. I don't know the words to describe it. It just wasn't slippery like the black soled shoes and worked out to be much better for mom's toe that I kept bandaged for what felt like months.
Whatever the case, I just want to show you that eventually, after all my worry over her toenail, it just fell off a couple of weeks... (maybe more) later.
And there was another toenail under it.
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And speaking of black rubber in Hawaii. We got this free T-Mobile umbrella a while ago and when we picked it up to use, the black rubber handle was gooey. Yuck!
Sooo... I had this bright idea to paint it with polyurethane. And guess what! It worked! No kidding. The stickiness is contained.
Too bad there wasn't a way to fix the black rubber soles on my shoes.
Once on a tough hike out of the mountains, I ended up bruising my feet so bad I could only walk on the outside edges of my feet looking like an extremely bow legged cowboy for a week or so. My younger brother, one upped me and lost all the toe nails on one of his feet. They did grow back though so I'm sure your mom's will grow back too.
ReplyDeleteNeat solution for the umbrella handle.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your mother's toe has healed.
I don't know if it works on rubber, specifically, but I've heard of roughing up a sole with sandpaper. Certainly no harm in giving it a try. Yes...it is interesting how the new toenail grows right under the damaged toenail. It looks like it was pretty painful though.
ReplyDeleteThis may sound really silly, but ...! I was 8 and it was my birthday and we were travelling. My mother took me to a department store in Cleveland on the day and I was allowed to choose a doll. I picked out a rubber dolly with dark skin; I named her Black Dolly, of course. I loved that doll for years and years. So, when I grew up and left home and started my own home, I received a box of things I had left at my parents' house and in the box was my dolly. And she was so sticky and crumbly that I had to have a small, very private funeral in the back corner of our yard. Wish I had known about the polyurethane.
ReplyDeleteSo glad the toe healed itself. Whew! Feet issues in parents feet is not fun.
ReplyDeleteThe 500-mile limit is a rule of thumb to keep in mind when it comes to active footwear. Most athletic shoes, whether they're for walking or they're an all-purpose type of sneaker, need to be replaced when they have 500 miles of use.
ReplyDeleteYay for a new toenail! That first photo is gruesome. :( There are so many things that you have to deal with in Hawaii that I don't even think of and vice-versa here. Like I just stowed my hoses and put on the outside bib protectors in case of freezing weather.
ReplyDeletebrilliant idea!! toenails always grow back, good that your moms did....they entire process is so hard to look at!!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that the toenail took care of itself, with your help. Yay!
ReplyDeleteOh gosh. So many problems to solve as a caregiver. You are amazing.
ReplyDeleteGlad her toenail grew back.
ReplyDeleteOur bodies are amazing. Glad Mom's toenail is coming along! Regarding black soles, I think it is the hot pavements that ruin them. I had a favorite pair of Taryn Rose shoes that I traveled with and walking in Vegas ruined the black soles. So sad.
ReplyDeleteAnd great tip about polyurethane for sticky rubber! I used acetone to take away the stickiness but it was mostly temporary.
So good Mom got her toenail back.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the new toenail will be like. In my experience, nails once flawed stay flawed for life, but others may not be like that.
ReplyDeleteMy toe nail came off of my big toe just this week. I don't recall damaging it. That was probably months and months ago. But as with your mom there's a new nail underneath. It isn't very pretty but it's there.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I understand why black plastic decays like that.
Good to know that your mom’s toe is healing. Interesting about the black rubber sole, and a clever fix for your umbrella handle.
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