Gel toes vs. Keens

So, since school had just got out, Liv decided to run a little experiment. She decided to see if Keen brand sandals or her "gel toes" were tougher. The experiment ran like this; Liv and Harris would both attempt to kick a soccer ball at the same time, Harris wearing the aforementioned sandals and Liv barefoot, once contact was made the sandals were to hook onto the big toe nail covered in the "gel" substance and significant force would be applied in the form of a kicking motion. At this point in the experiment we collect the ensuing data...

Ah, science...

Switching now to a narrative of what happened; Liv came into the house screaming and bleeding everywhere. I had one of those weird moments as a father where I just had absolutely no idea what to do, none. Jaime looked at me to ask what we should do about all the bleeding and the screaming and I drew a blank. My brain went through all it's learning and stored info and could not come up with a way to fix the situation. I think part of this was the new surroundings and not having a primary care physician. Anyway, after my brain reboot, I decided to take Liv to the nearest urgent care. I called them on the way over to make sure they were still open (this was about 7 at night) and headed over. What followed will haunt me the rest of my days.

When I got her there, I'm pretty sure she had gone into shock because she was loopy. She had stopped with the screaming and sobbing and had settled into a weird delirium, laughing at funny things and making odd observations. When we got in to see the doctor, the poor Dr. wasn't able to evaluate the injury because just getting near Liv's toe sent her into hysterics. The Dr. determined that shots in the toes were the only way she would get to perform an evaluation. Speaking of hysterics...Liv pretty much freaked out at this point. Now, I can absolutely understand. I had shots in the toes when I had some ingrown toes taken out and it was awful!

Anyway, after the shots in the toes (and much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth) the Dr. showed me that the nail had ripped off and was still half attached at the cuticle and would need to be removed the rest of the way. I then did my best to distract my still hysterical daughter as the Dr. took a scalpel and proceeded to cut the rest of the toenail off at the cuticle. Halfway through the procedure, Liv could still feel the pain so the Dr. decided to give her another shot. Liv overheard and started thrashing around trying to bargain with Dr. for some sort of alternative option. Again, it fell upon me to distract her and the Dr. was able to give the shot without Liv even noticing. After that the Dr. finished up and Liv was thoroughly bandaged, given a special boot to a wear and a pair of crutches.

All in all, a harrowing experience for both father and daughter. Luckily, Liv is on the mend and is only 6 months or so away from a shiny new big toe nail.

Here is some picture evidence:

This is at the hospital.  This was the site I saw that drove me to take her there instead of just trying to deal with it at home.

Liv was excited when the Dr. told her that she would get crutches.  After a whole day of walking around on them, she seemed slightly less excited...

They put this gross but cool surgical foam on her big toe to cover where the nail usually goes.  This is the site we get to deal with every 12 hours when we wash and re-bandage her up.  I'm sure it's much worse for Liv...