Thank you all for your quick and informed opinions/advice/experiences. Actually, my wife had mentioned going in via a small drill bit, but I wanted to run it across the boards to see if this was common practice. Since basically all of you mentioned it as an option (pushing a pin through seems to be about the same thing.. by the way thanks for the info about the lack of nerve endings in the nail... wheh.. jk), I decided to go for it. Of course, I was initially hesititant... something doesn't quite seem right when you are going at your two with a drill, but the results were excellent. The fluid did a very good job of telling me when to stop, and when I did hit paydirt, I felt as though I might as well have struck oil due to the immediate relief. So, going forward, I would advise the procedure, but 1) I can nopt stress how important it is that the afflicted person be the one to handle the drill (I had horrific visions of my spouse drilling to the floor, asking if that was deep enough); 2) I did the epsom salt thing before the procedure and I think it helped soften things up.
Another day, another success story on the Letsrun boards. Thanks again from me and my toe.