Something so dumb hurts so much

[silvercamaro]

You are probably just bruised to the dickens, but sometimes the amount of pain in the thumb, especially can develop from:

Bleeding UNDER the nail. Easy to diagnose, big blue glob visible through the nail, and it hurts like the dickens when you touch it.

This is important because it is easily improved by draining the blood.

Thanks, Doc (and everybody else.) While you were typing this, I was on the phone and managed to snag an appointment for this afternoon. I most definitely have blood under the nail. In addition, a red band has formed underneath the cuticle, which may indicate the beginning of an infection. I expect to leave the doctor's office today on the way to a rapid recovery.

[ghostjmf]

Sorry about that thumb.

I had a window come crashing down on my whole left hand once, & of course I'm left handed.

I tried but couldn't get the window up with my right hand (a window problem, not a dexterity problem, as I'm pretty right-dextrous) so I had to stand there & holler 'til a neighbor heard me.

Fortunately, I was living on the ground floor at the time, & I holler good.

(Strangely enough, smashing the window didn't even occur to me, since I was renting & didn't own the window, but it wouldn't have done any good; it was the frame that was stuck. If the neighbor hadn't been able to lift it with 2 good hands, they (or the fire dept) would have had to saw through it.)

[minimetoo26]

I saw the header, and wondered how Judy knew about my 4-day headache!

I'm glad you're getting that thumb to the doctor. That's not something you want to live without.

[Bob Juch]

Sorry about that thumb.

I had a window come crashing down on my whole left hand once, & of course I'm left handed.

I tried but couldn't get the window up with my right hand (a window problem, not a dexterity problem, as I'm pretty right-dextrous) so I had to stand there & holler 'til a neighbor heard me.

Fortunately, I was living on the ground floor at the time, & I holler good.

(Strangely enough, smashing the window didn't even occur to me, since I was renting & didn't own the window, but it wouldn't have done any good; it was the frame that was stuck. If the neighbor hadn't been able to lift it with 2 good hands, they (or the fire dept) would have had to saw through it.)

Did gnawing it off cross your mind?

Seriously though, that must have been pretty traumatic psychologically too.

[sunflower]

Good luck at the doctor, let us know how it goes!

[ghostjmf]

BobJ says:

Did gnawing it off cross your mind? (smiley)

Uh, no. I was not at the bottom of a cravasse on a big glacier on K2 (or whatever). I was in a small, ground floor apartment in a highly populated part of Tempe, Arizona. I figured someone would hear me yelling through the other (open!) windows before I starved to death or my hand turned green (or both). Which (the hearing-of-me-yelling) did happen.

Seriously though, that must have been pretty traumatic psychologically too.

It wasn't at the time. I just felt stupid I hadn't prepared for this possibility by leaving something at the bottom to hold the window open. I have a window nowadays with the same tendencies, but I always have it propped up, have stuff wedged in the frame to keep it up, etc. I was also glad that except for being black-&-blue for a while, my hand wasn't maimed in any serious way.

Hey, as a very, very young kid I mistook one of my thumbs for a hot dog in the hot dog bun, & bit it; that hurt too!

[mellytu74]

Oowwie!

I hope you get better ASAP.

[secondchance]

Ouch! Hope to hear that the doctor helped.

[silvercamaro]

Update: I came home with a tetanus booster; a bottle of Cipro, three DVDs, and a new spray bottle for ironing (all from Target, where I had the prescription filled); and a pizza.

I must be on the mend.

The doctor said she'd drill the nail if I insisted, but noted that I probably would find the procedure painful. I didn't insist.

[sunflower]

So glad you are on the road to recovery!! I would have opted for pills over having my nail drilled too, I think!! But you should still take it easy, relax, eat pizza, watch dvds...and let someone else do the ironing!

[T_Bone0806]

Update: I came home with a tetanus booster; a bottle of Cipro, three DVDs, and a new spray bottle for ironing (all from Target, where I had the prescription filled); and a pizza.

SOME of that sounds good. Guess which parts.

Hope you're "digitally" sound in rapid time!

[MarleysGh0st]

The doctor said she'd drill the nail if I insisted, but noted that I probably would find the procedure painful. I didn't insist.

I thought the hot paperclip trick was supposed to be painless?

Did Annie and Lizbit get some pizza bones?

[silvercamaro]

The doctor said she'd drill the nail if I insisted, but noted that I probably would find the procedure painful. I didn't insist.

I thought the hot paperclip trick was supposed to be painless?

When she said that, my immediate thought was "Maybe her technique is not as polished as that of Etaoin and other Canadian physicians." If she was telling me that she personally has heard too many close-up screams, I would spare her -- and me -- the additional misery.

Did Annie and Lizbit get some pizza bones?

They did, although not as many as they would have liked, as it was only a small pizza. I confess that I ate two of the crusts myself before I remembered they were waiting patiently.

[ulysses5019]

Well I'm glad or not to hear about the "painless paperclip". I know that after my fingers were sewn back together the nails fell off. Yuck!

[littlebeast13]

I busted open a knuckle on my right hand trying to get a soda out of the Coke machine for someone at work last night. Didn't even realize it was bleeding until about 5 minutes later...

Our Coke machine is evil, and is constantly getting sodas jammed in it or having them hit something jagged on the way out and bust open. But the Pepsi vendor can't keep his machine filled, so we must put up with it.....

lb13

[earendel]

I busted open a knuckle on my right hand trying to get a soda out of the Coke machine for someone at work last night. Didn't even realize it was bleeding until about 5 minutes later...

Our Coke machine is evil, and is constantly getting sodas jammed in it or having them hit something jagged on the way out and bust open. But the Pepsi vendor can't keep his machine filled, so we must put up with it.....

lb13

The machine isn't evil - it just resents the fact that you are a Pepsi-head.

[tlynn78]

Glad you're okay, Shiny.

t.

[sunflower]

How is the thumb feeling today? Better now that the antibiotics have kicked in?

[ne1410s]

Jujey!! What a bummer! Get well soon and try hitchhiking with the other hand...

[ToLiveIsToFly]

I busted open a knuckle on my right hand trying to get a soda out of the Coke machine for someone at work last night. Didn't even realize it was bleeding until about 5 minutes later...

Our Coke machine is evil, and is constantly getting sodas jammed in it or having them hit something jagged on the way out and bust open. But the Pepsi vendor can't keep his machine filled, so we must put up with it.....

lb13

There was one soda machine in my freshman dorm. (This must have been a long time ago; I think it dispensed both Coke AND Pepsi products. Also, a can was something like 65 cents.)

It would eat your money with every third can or so. Why we kept trying I don't know, but it probably had something to do with being the only source of pop without going outside.

The failure rate got steadily higher and higher. We would complain to the vendor when he was re-filling it and he would assure us that it was fixed. It never was.

One day a couple of chem majors (this was an engineering school) stole some acid from the lab, poured it into a paper cup and left it on top of the soda machine.

The next day, it started giving out free soda. I missed out on all of that.

A few days later, I had a pretty eventful day. My first Neil Young concert, and my first time smoking pot. I spent my last however-much change trying to buy a pop, and failing. (I think all the soda was gone, but I had forgotten.) I started to walk away, when I heard a coin clink. I checked and it had given me a nickel back. Well, whatever. Again, I started to walk away, and another clink - a dime this time. For quite some time it gave up another coin, almost always another nickel or dime, every 5-10 seconds. My pockets ended up so full my pants were falling down, and I ended up with about $20.

I'm not proud of it now, but I definitely remember thinking they had it coming at the time.

A couple days later there was a guy wheeling the soda machine out on a dolley saying we were NEVER getting another one.

[etaoin22]

I busted open a knuckle on my right hand trying to get a soda out of the Coke machine for someone at work last night. Didn't even realize it was bleeding until about 5 minutes later...

Our Coke machine is evil, and is constantly getting sodas jammed in it or having them hit something jagged on the way out and bust open. But the Pepsi vendor can't keep his machine filled, so we must put up with it.....

lb13

There was one soda machine in my freshman dorm. (This must have been a long time ago; I think it dispensed both Coke AND Pepsi products. Also, a can was something like 65 cents.)

It would eat your money with every third can or so. Why we kept trying I don't know, but it probably had something to do with being the only source of pop without going outside.

The failure rate got steadily higher and higher. We would complain to the vendor when he was re-filling it and he would assure us that it was fixed. It never was.

One day a couple of chem majors (this was an engineering school) stole some acid from the lab, poured it into a paper cup and left it on top of the soda machine.

The next day, it started giving out free soda. I missed out on all of that.

A few days later, I had a pretty eventful day. My first Neil Young concert, and my first time smoking pot. I spent my last however-much change trying to buy a pop, and failing. (I think all the soda was gone, but I had forgotten.) I started to walk away, when I heard a coin clink. I checked and it had given me a nickel back. Well, whatever. Again, I started to walk away, and another clink - a dime this time. For quite some time it gave up another coin, almost always another nickel or dime, every 5-10 seconds. My pockets ended up so full my pants were falling down, and I ended up with about $20.

I'm not proud of it now, but I definitely remember thinking they had it coming at the time.

A couple days later there was a guy wheeling the soda machine out on a dolley saying we were NEVER getting another one.

showing that you cant take $20, from a sugar fountain....

[MarleysGh0st]

I busted open a knuckle on my right hand trying to get a soda out of the Coke machine for someone at work last night. Didn't even realize it was bleeding until about 5 minutes later...

Our Coke machine is evil, and is constantly getting sodas jammed in it or having them hit something jagged on the way out and bust open. But the Pepsi vendor can't keep his machine filled, so we must put up with it.....

lb13

There was one soda machine in my freshman dorm. (This must have been a long time ago; I think it dispensed both Coke AND Pepsi products. Also, a can was something like 65 cents.)

It would eat your money with every third can or so. Why we kept trying I don't know, but it probably had something to do with being the only source of pop without going outside.

The failure rate got steadily higher and higher. We would complain to the vendor when he was re-filling it and he would assure us that it was fixed. It never was.

One day a couple of chem majors (this was an engineering school) stole some acid from the lab, poured it into a paper cup and left it on top of the soda machine.

The next day, it started giving out free soda. I missed out on all of that.

A few days later, I had a pretty eventful day. My first Neil Young concert, and my first time smoking pot. I spent my last however-much change trying to buy a pop, and failing. (I think all the soda was gone, but I had forgotten.) I started to walk away, when I heard a coin clink. I checked and it had given me a nickel back. Well, whatever. Again, I started to walk away, and another clink - a dime this time. For quite some time it gave up another coin, almost always another nickel or dime, every 5-10 seconds. My pockets ended up so full my pants were falling down, and I ended up with about $20.

I'm not proud of it now, but I definitely remember thinking they had it coming at the time.

A couple days later there was a guy wheeling the soda machine out on a dolley saying we were NEVER getting another one.

showing that you cant take $20, from a sugar fountain....

The hole burnt through the machine by the acid might have had a little to do with it, too.