Total Weight Loss

Thursday, July 22, 2010

My Very Serious Injury

Yesterday I went to the restroom at work as I do many, many times per day.  Only this time I somehow managed to close my thumb in the stall door.  It immediately brought tears to my eyes.  Even though the pain was incredible, I thought it would subside in time.  It did not.  I tried putting ice on it and that only made it hurt worse.  In a very short time, a blue mark began to develop under the nail.  The pain continued.


I had my annual mammogram yesterday afternoon.  I wore a blouse with buttons up the front so that I could take it off quickly for the scan.  It was all I could do to unbutton it.  The tech apologized repeatedly for hurting me.  I thought that there was no way this little vise grip was hurting any more than my thumb.  When it came time to redress, I only button two buttons for modesty's sake and drove home.  J-boy had to unbutton them.


As the evening continued so did the pain.  I tried more ice, but once again it increased the pain.  I finally called my sister who is an ER nurse.  I felt certain there was little that could be done for me there, but I wanted to confirm it.  I was in such pain I had to do something.  She confirmed that all they would do would determine if it was broken or not, and refer me to an orthopedist.  She suggested splinting it.  She thought that the pain was caused by the movement.


J-boy and I set out to make a splint out of craft sticks, only they were more than twice as long as my thumb.  We tried with layers of gauze, then soft weight cardboard.  Finally, we gave up and went to the store for a real splint.  The pharmacist was so nice to look at my thumb and diagnose it as 'crushed.'  He agreed, however, that the only and best thing to do was splint it.


Since J-boy was with me, we left the store with two splints (it was actually cheaper for a two pack), two bottles of shampoo and a frozen pizza.  J-boy had not had supper.  I had, so I did not partake.


As soon as we got home, J-boy put the splint on and within 10 minutes I felt much better.  I called my sister to let her know that she had given good advice.  She recommended a couple of 'PM' pills before bed to help me sleep since the strongest thing I had in the house was naproxen.  I took two advil pm's and had a nice snooze.


I wore the splint all day and it feels much better, but I'm already weary of working around the splint.  I failed to mention that it is my right hand.  It is hard to do anything, even type!  I'm also a little tired of telling everyone that I closed my finger in the restroom stall door.  How embarrassing!!!


I know this has nothing to do with weight loss, but it is part of life, and a pretty funny one at that!


7 comments:

  1. I am so sorry about your injury! Hope it feels better soon. How great to have a sister who is a nurse.

    I am SO glad that you added your gorgeous pictures to the site!!!!

    See you soon.

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  2. It is much better tonight than this time last night. If it improves this much tomorrow, Ill go without the splint on Saturday.

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  3. Hi!
    Just wanted to let you know, I tagged you in a blog award. You can pick it up at my blog:
    http://stupidwlb.blogspot.com/
    -CN

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  4. I know what you're going through. My husband jammed his pinkie finger 2 1/2 weeks ago and it swelled up so bad, when he went to urgent care to do something about the pain, they took an X-ray and told him it was broken in the joints, but because it was Friday, they splinted it and told him to call an orthopedic specialist on Monday and make an appointment.

    Well on Sunday, he was having shooting pains up his arm, and didn't want to wait, so we went to the ER where we found out it wasn't actually broken, but was a really bad sprain. And it's his right hand too, so he's been having a tough time adjusting to that.

    I hope you feel better soon. :)

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  5. Hope you are feeling better Lori! That is totally something I would do...hehe. You have a great way with words :) Have a great weekend.

    Jennifer
    http://wecanlosethepounds.blogspot.com/

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  6. Lori! When you get tired of telling everyone what REALLY happened...make up a story! :)
    It sucks! I've bent back, slammed, sprained my fingers and hand (also right) so many times that I have a whole collection of splints...came in handy this past year when my daughter pulled the ligaments in her fingers although I had to explain why I have a whole drawer of splints. :)

    Hope you're feeling better soon!

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  7. So sorry for your injury! I hope you get better soon. Bummer it's on your right hand.

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