The past few days have been something of a mixed bag. We didn't do much on Friday, but on Saturday I got up early to head off to the doctor. As I had in April for my other foot, I had to go in for a matricectomy on my left foot. A matricectomy is removal of an ingrown toenail. At least this time I didn't wait until it got infected, so that should help the healing along a bit. Anyway, I got there and the doctor looked at my foot and said, "You know, we should probably go ahead and remove both sides of this nail, or you'll just be back here in a few months getting this done again." Hey, there was no additional cost, so let's do it. The procedure involves cutting the edge of nail off completely, then treating the area with phenol to inhibit future growth. The good thing is that it's a very quick procedure; he numbed the area with enough anesthetic to blow my toe up like a balloon, then once he set to it the procedure took less than five minutes. One nice thing this time around: last time I had this done I had to soak my foot twice a day. No, I just have what is essentially a medicated Band-Aid I put on the toe after showering each day. Much easier!

So anyway, I got back from the doctor's office at about noon and pretty much sat and stayed on the sofa. Poor takaza was a whirlwind through the house, cleaning the place up single-handedly in preparation for his family coming over to celebrate his mom's birthday. After a bit we went out to run some errands, though I pretty much stayed in the car with my foot propped up. We did go into Tony's Butcher Shop in Grayslake, since it took less time than going all the way up to Antioch Packing House. This was the second time we've gone there, and we won't be going back. Between the surly service ("What kind of hot dogs are these?" "The best ones."), high prices, and low quality (bones in the ground beef, cartilage in the brats). We got home just in time for Dan's mom to show up, then after a while his sister and brother (and his brother's sister-in-law) arrived. Dan busied himself playing host and grilling up dinner, and was pretty much consigned to the sofa. Since the anesthetic had worn off by then, I was quite OK with this, though I felt kind of useless. We played some games later in the evening, which was quite fun, though by 10 or so everyone was worn out. After we saw everyone off, I popped a Tylenol 3 and we went to bed. I slept quite poorly, waking up every time I moved my foot.

And on Sunday? On Sunday we didn't do diddly, and it was great. We watched a whole lot of Tivo and relaxed, and didn't even leave the house.

So here we are at Monday. My foot isn't hurting too badly, though I'm propping it up at every opportunity. The boss is out this week, so there's a corresponding lack of immediacy pervading the office. Dan is going to be off in Indiana for a few days this week, so I'll be on my own for at least one night. Then this weekend there's Indian food on Friday (om nom nom!) and LAFF Softball on Saturday (yes, I intend to be there, though not play). But for now, back to work!