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| The Story of the Thumb! |
How Did This Happen?
I didn't really go into the details in my last blog, because as I stated before, despite being melodramatic as my mom would say, I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. The night before, I made fudge for my students for Valentine's Day. Being in a rush, I was careless and really didn't think about pouring the fudge directly into the pan without greasing it or lining it with anything. So, of course the fudge stuck! As I woke up to a glorious snow day, I started cleaning the mess, and seeing if I could recover any of the fudge. I cut it into squares, then stabilizing the pan with my left hand, I tried to scoop a piece out with the knife in my right hand (Careless, dumb, stupid, yes I know I was all of that and more!). The fudge wasn't moving, but the knife did... right at the bottom of my left thumb. As I talked to the doctor's later on, they asked about how I injured myself. I told them "I stabbed myself." I immediately got a concerned look and comment, "On purpose?!"
So A Stab Wound Results in Surgery?
Mom came to check out the wound, she cleaned me up, bandaged me and put me on my way. After all I had movement in my thumb. The cut was just not in a great location. I took part in normal activities and went to work the next day. My students laughed at my story, and were sad they didn't get any fudge... Overall, the thumb really didn't bother me until I went to leave for work. I was gathering my things and a shooting pain immediately shot through my thumb. I tried to tough it out, and planned on going to jazzy.. but my thumb was still hurting really bad. I just tried to shrug it off. I ended up going to jazzy just to class manage because it was still hurting (and maybe still being a little overdramatic). I met mom at Kohl's and started to notice that it was getting harder and harder to do things with my thumb. After dinner, I started to look at my thumb and noticed I was unable to straighten my thumb. I immediately called mom concerned. She was very confused, and didn't know what to tell me. It's very scary when you notice something on your body isn't quite working right... even if it's something as simple as your thumb. Michael was trying to give me advice and diagnose me, but it's hard to take medical advice from your husband... so I did the only thing I could think of and contacted my doctor's wife (who also happens to be a good friend as well). This was something I still feel bad about doing, because I can only imagine being a doctor, I sometimes get frustrated when I get phone calls/ e-mails about school after hours, so I'm imagining he probably doesn't want to hear from me... nor does Jenny want to ask him. At that point I didn't know if he would be able to do anything if I made an appointment with him the next day... Jenny made me take pictures of my thumb and send it to her, he took a look and told me he was going to try to get me an appointment with a hand specialist. He hoped that it was only swelling from the cut, but couldn't be sure. Thank goodness he did that (and I'm still hoping to get a bill from him :))! I was going out of town over the weekend and wanted to at least know what was wrong with me (there will be a later blog about Minnesota :)).
Mom came with me to the hand specialist. She wanted to make sure I was okay, and I know she felt bad thinking she may have misdiagnosed me or done something wrong. After getting X-rays done of my hand, nothing was wrong with the bones. The PA walked in and asked what was wrong, I attempted to give him a thumbs up, and without even touching my hand he said "You've torn a tendon, and will need surgery." He then preceded to send the doctor in, and he again did and said the same exact thing. When questioning why my thumb was 'fine' on Tuesday and not on Wednesday, he said most likely I cut it Tuesday, and it completely broke on Wednesday (hence the story of shooting pain at school).
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| Enjoyin' the Concert, Crooked Thumb and All! |
Now, here I sit taking a break from Sub plans (oh how I hate sub plans), telling my story. Fortunately, I was able to make the trip to Minnesota... and as said before that's my next big blog. I am set to have surgery Wednesday. The doctor tells me I won't be able to drive until Friday probably... that makes this independent girl very nervous, but feeling lucky I have great family and friends that will help me. I will keep you posted through the process, and try not to be so 'melodramatic' and complain about not being able to use my left hand at all...
I will say over the weekend I've become better at not using my left hand (although it's amazing how much I do do with it!)
Until I get all healed and better, I know texting won't get any easier.. and well.. I won't be having any thumb wars... maybe I can invest in some thumb socks:
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