Good ideas on the frostbite archives but I could not find any expected recovery from the nasty condition. So here is what happened and maybe some of you on the really cold East side can give me an idea of possible recovery:
Had a pulled calf muscle and have been crosstraining on the bike outdoors in the Midwest. It has been as low as 20 with a windchill of 10 and I have been riding the mountain bike for at least 2 hours 3-4 times a week for 6 weeks and never really had a case of frostbite or even cold feet with running shoes and 2 pairs of thermal socks. So on New Year's there was an afternoon race about 27 miles from my house and I thought it would be a good day to get in a long ride (25 degrees) the ride went great but then about an hour in I had to take a detour around a flooded frozen road and ended up stepping through the ice and getting my right foot wet after riding for another 3 hours I didn't think much of the cold on my foot since I was stamping the pedals and not really having any real unbearable discomfort. When I arrived home I took off the left shoe and left foot was fine then when I tried to take the right off the sock was stuck to the insole and I still didn't feel any real discomfort so I went to the faucet with luke warm to cold water and released the ice from the sock and ran my foot under the water for a couple of minutes 20 minutes later as I was eating I noticed the toe getting really red and swelled and there was a blister in the center. That night the toe was throbbing and I could not walk without a limp. Two days later the limping and pins and needles pain didn't just unthaw like I thought so I went to the doctor and he just looked at it and said it was good the skin is swelled and you have fluid that means it is on the healing path. So his instructions were to take it easy for a couple days and don't really back off the exercise too much because that promotes circulation.
Anyway it has been going on 6 days and the swelling has gone down a little making my tip toeing and walking a little more nimble. The pain type is pins and needles and kind of like I broke my toe nail with periods of numbness. I have been soaking it in 100 degree water for 30minutes each night and I was going to massage the toe but I guess there was mixed reviews on that. Wouldn't massaging be good to break up the ice crystals that are settled in your skin? The skin appears to be more purple than red and seems kind of baggy after I soak it. Any suggestions? Natural Remedies? Recovery time? Thank You!