What In The Hell Is This?

When I was picking up Azey from School yesterday, I stepped on one of these evil little thistles. Yes, we figured out that it is a thistle, just what kind?

My toe looks a little better after soaking it in Epson Salt, but as you can see it is still a little swollen and red. It itches like crazy today.

Now, let me just tell you of my experience starting from the beginning...

I had just picked Azelin up from school and we were cutting thru the lawn to get to the car when I stepped on this "thing". It felt, at first, like I had stepped on a bee and was being stung. I kicked my flip flop off and pulled out a tiny soft prickly thing. Definitely not a bee stinger. By this time the pain had spread thru my whole foot and into my ankle. I could barely finish the walk to the car while holding back tears. Now, I consider myself not to be a wuss. I like to bitch and complain, but I can handle pain until it becomes excruciating. And it most definitely was excruciating. After an hour or so the pain had gone from my foot and ankle. However my toe was and still is a completely different story. It hurts. So, that was all part one! Part two of the story goes like this... Last night at about 11:00 I started getting flu like symptoms. I had the cold chills, headache, was nauseous, and my body was sore. I just went to bed in hopes that when I woke up I would feel better. And I did, thank Heavens. Except for my toe.

If anybody has any insight on what this evil thistle is, please let me know...