If you are squeamish and do not like pictures of fingers stitched up, now would be the time to close this post and come back another day!
I put this picture of my struggling get up for my shower first so that no one has to see the stitches if they don't want to. Call me kind :) Also, this get up did not work at keeping my finger dry.
So last night i was opening a box of books, and accidentally opened my knuckle as well. It's funny, it didn't really hurt at the moment. I felt it of course, but it wasn't horrible pain. Blood started gushing and I ran for the bathroom to get some tp on it and bandaids. I do NOT do well with blood and seeing all of it made me a tad bit light headed. I managed to find some gauze and tape and after looking at my finger and noticing that i could see INSIDE my finger and the knuckle skin was WIDE open, I almost passed out. hahahaha.. it was GROSS! I dr'd up my finger and tried to decide if it would heal on it's on or if i needed stitches. Clearly I was in denial, if you can see inside your body, you need stitches! I gave it about 10 mins, and put pressure on it the whole time. After 10 mins I opened up the wrappings, saw the grossness again, got dizzy :) and decided I needed to high tail it to Urgent care.
Thankfully there is an uc just a few minutes away from my house. it was a little after 7 pm and they closed at 8 pm. I got there and got checked in and was actually seen pretty quickly. I texted my close friends for prayer because i was really really nervous at this point. Texting with one hand, awkward. but i made it work. :) The nurse saw me , took a look at my finger and affirmed that i did need several stitches. I felt better then strangely enough. I was worried i was being overly dramatic and that it could have healed on it's own. He took me into a special room for stitches ect and then left me alone for what felt like a really long time. I didn't have my watch on, so i felt super naked. The dr finally came in and got to work. I think he might have needed some sewing lessons. Some of his stitches are so good you can barely seem them in these pics. and then there were the middle ones....
Oh well, as long as it holds my knuckle in place I am good! He stitched me up, which felt like it took forever. Everytime i thought he was done and would relax he would put another stitch in and a "ye-ouch" would escape from my lips. It wasn't the worst pain i've ever been in by far, but it wasn't pleasant. (Ear tubes beat stitches by a MILE)
As I was laying on the bed while he stitched me up, he pulled this big round light over us and I had a flashback to when I was 4 years old and cut my head open. I had to have stitches and it's my first early memory. That big round light is what I remember being on top of me, with Dr. F on my right side stitching me, and my parents on my left side, Mom holding my hand, crying, and Dad patting her back. I had to smother a laugh as I laid there last night because i thought NO WONDER I SCREAMED BLOODY MURDER! This Hurts!!
He finished up with me and left me laying there waiting on a nurse. She came in and i guess thought i had passed out or something because she kept asking me if i was ok, and i told her yes ( I was fine as soon as the blood, ect was gone!) and she obviously did not believe me. I finally told convinced her i was ok and she let me get up and leave.
So the bad thing about this is that i have to have the stitches for 10 days, and i cannot get my finger wet. Showering, Washing your hands, putting your contacts in, putting hair gunk in, doing dishes. You don't think about all of the things you do with your hands that get them wet! it is definitely an awkward adjustment, and i'm struggling a bit, but hey it's only the first day of ten. i can get better at stuff, right? Right?! I am so thankful it is on my left hand and that i did not cut a tendon. When the nurse asked me if i coudl bend it (and i did) he said oh that's good you didn't sever your tendon. I almost passed out just from the fear of that! As a Pianist and a piano teacher that thought was TERRIFYING to me! I am thankful that as awkward as it is, it could have been much much worse.
Comments