Take THAT, Lamisil!

My dog-sitter and friend extraordinaire, Amy, was married in October of 2005. At her wedding shower in mid-September, I wore open-toed sandals, and was horrified to notice that the nail on my little toe was gross. I tried some anti-fungal nail polish treatment, but all it did was turn bright yellow on the nail. I wonder if Mike would still have been my date for the wedding if he'd known about my disgusting toenail?

Because fall and winter don't call for open-toed shoes, I kind of put it out of my mind, sort of promising myself I'd deal with it in the spring. In April of 2006, when I had to see my doctor anyway, I mentioned the toenail problem and asked for Lamisil, since I'd seen nine thousand commercials and print ads. He told me that A. Lamisil screws up your liver function and B. It only works if you catch the fungus in the first six weeks. Oops. He also said that the only thing to do was keep everything incredibly clean, and possibly remove the toenail. Ewww.

One of our wards has a nurse's aide who does his finger- and toenails because he's diabetic. She recommended trying an OTC anti-fungal cream applied directly to the nail once or twice daily. I've been doing that since May of last year, and while it took forever and a tube and a half of cream, by golly it worked. Cost me about $10 and an extra two minutes in my morning routine, but this summer, I can wear sandals and toenail polish, and not be the object of scorn.