All The King's Horses And All The King's Men

Well I've done it now. I finally went in to see the doctor about my finger yesterday. His first words, after the formalities, were "Why didn't you come in earlier"? Well Doc about that,

With a slightly scolding look he examined my finger for pain zones and said, ok let's see what the X-ray shows. He sent me into the room next door and took two x-rays. The results that came in were not good.

Sorry, wrong x-ray. Here is the right one.

It turns out my broken finger is pretty bad. The middle phalange is shattered into 3 pieces. I honestly though it was just a crack and maybe a dislocation this whole time, because while it was painful, it wasn't near as bad as the time I broke my other finger, which was just a crack.

Trying to make light of the situation I told my wife I could just join the ranks of the Yakuza.

Her disapproving look let me know I was seconds from being in the doghouse.

The doctor said he could try and reset the mess if I wanted to. I said ya, let's do it. So they gave me a shit load of a local anesthetic in my palm just below my pinky as my wife distracted me with conversation. Her eyes told me everything as he probed the needle through my carpus in all directions pushing the drug in. He put quite a bit of anesthetic in, about a third of a syringe full. Can't have a gaijin crying out in pain now.

Within a minute the tingling began and numbness set in. The doc took me back into the x-ray room and had me lay down on the examination bed. He pulled up a seat, a computer and put on his lead jacket. It made me feel a bit uncomfortable because I wasn't given the same protection. I tried to relax and close my eyes hoping to not see those flashes of light astronauts see out in space. Instead my life started flashing before me so I opened my eyes back up to stare at the flower patterned wall paper. Bob Ross save me.

The doctor would squeeze my finger about 5-6 times trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, each time taking new x-rays and making disappointing, grunting sounds. Alas, it was no use. So we went back into the exam office. There he told me I'd need to go see a hand specialist to see what could be done. He also said no matter what I will need surgery and a metal pin or 3 to fix the mess. He referred me to a Dr. a few miles away and so we are headed over there today, probably to go through the same process. Hopefully this hand specialist will have a trick up his sleeve though because I am not looking forward to surgery.

Fear, this fear I'm feeling, fear shouldn't be here
My ego trips and falls, I hear my conscience call
Lock the door and throw away the key - Reason To Believe.

Cross your pinky for me!

Thanks for reading!