Why didn't you just immediately rip the nail the rest of the way off? Could it have hurt anymore?
I was (stupidly) drilling out the end of a battery cable for my tractor. I thought I could just hold onto the cable and drill it (Vise? We doen need no steenkin vise!) but alas, the drill bit into it and proceeded to wrap my thumb around the bit, ripping my thumbnail about halfway off.
Knowing that it was going to catch on everything and hurt every time I touched it, I got a pair or pliers. I grabbed hold of it and thought, "OK, on 3".
So I started counting...1.....2 RIP!.
Ya see, I was thinking it was coming off on 3, so it was totally unexpected.