Don’t try this at home (or anywhere else)!

On the way to lunch with my coworkers this afternoon, I somehow managed to slam the tip of my left middle finger in the car door. It happened so quickly and hurt so much that I can’t recall the details of how I managed to do it. It severed most of the fingernail and left a deep laceration in the finger.

We were able to get some gauze and tape from a nearby business. It wasn’t bleeding too much, and I thought that with pressure applied the bleeding would stop, but after lunch I realized that it wasn’t stopping, so I went to an urgent care clinic.

Since I was bleeding, they treated me right away rather than making me sit in the waiting room for a long time. The finger was such a mess that the doctor had a hard time telling how much of the fingernail was left, so I had to describe it. After getting it cleaned up a bit, he explained that he was going to cut away most of the remaining exposed nail in order to be able to suture the laceration and because it would help the nail grow back more evenly. Although he wasn’t actually sure that it would grow back, and said that if it does, the result may not be all that great.

He asked his assistant for a particular instrument to cut the nail, and it turned out that they didn’t have one. He discussed it with another doctor and it was decided to not remove any of the nail, but to stitch the suture through the remaining portion of the nail.

I was given four or five shots of lidocaine (aka Xylocaine) anaesthetic to numb the finger, then the doctor stitched it up. It required six stitches. He sent me for an x-ray to determine whether I’d broken the bone; it turns out that I do have a fracture. Since it’s an open wound, there is risk of a bone infection, which is really nasty and can necessitate amputation, so he prescribed an antibiotic.

The nurse put a dressing on it, and I’m instructed to return tomorrow to have it examined and the dressing replaced, and in seven to ten days to have the stitches removed. In the mean time I’m supposed to keep it elevated to minimize bleeding. I think it is still bleeding slowly, as the dressing is starting to show blood. But it’s not fast enough to cause any problems from loss of blood.

The lidocaine wore off after an hour or so, and as expected it hurts quite a bit now. Not as bad as when it first occurred, but worse than it felt before treatment. I’ve been given a prescription for painkillers too, but I’m reluctant to use narcotics any more than absolutely necessary, so I haven’t taken any yet, and probably won’t tonight unless it keeps me from sleeping.

Parents always warn their children about being careful not to slam their fingers in doors. My mother says that she doesn’t recall my ever having done that as a child. It surprises me a bit that after nearly forty years of safely entering and exiting cars that I’d manage to do this to myself now, but I suppose accidents will happen. Familiarity breeds contempt. But you can bet that I’ll be more careful henceforth. I suppose I’m lucky that I didn’t catch more of the finger in the door, or multiple fingers.

This makes it a bit difficult to touch type; my left ring finger is having to do double duty. It’s not great, but I’ve gotten somewhat used to it, and it’s still better than hunt-and-peck. Anyhow, I’ve still got seven others to use (nine if you count thumbs), so as long as I don’t lose more than one every forty years or so I suppose it won’t be too big a problem.

Too bad I forgot that my cell phone has a camera. Usually I’m pissed off that they don’t make phones that work better as phones, rather than adding all these ridiculous features to them, but today it would have been useful. Maybe I can get a photo tomorrow when they remove the dressing.

My regular doctor, cardiologist, and the other doctors who have treated me lately all are really great people, but I’d still like to see less of them in the future than I have lately.