Most people's fingers get hurt once in their lives. Cuts and scars are normal because we all have to go through getting our fingers caught in a cheese grater, touching a hot stove, etc., to learn about the way that life works.
At the young age of 25, my right hand ring finger has endured 2 traumatic injuries. The first took place at the age of 18 months. I wanted to cut something (an apple or cheese depending on who the story comes from) and when I couldn't get help, I picked up the knife just behind the handle and went to take care of things myself. Upon entering the kitchen, one of my older sisters knew of the danger I was in and she swiftly grabbed the handle and removed the knife from my hand. The nerves on two of my fingers were severed but with plastic surgery and some attentive parents, I have full feeling in all the fingers on my right hand.
On 10-10-10, I was hiking Mt. Timpanogas with my good friend, Melissa, and my dog, Hendrix, when we came across another couple hiking with their four dogs that were all off the leash. Because a dog has no defense against other dogs on the leash and we had already had an encounter with one of the dogs in the parking lot, I let Hendrix off the leash to go and meet the other dogs. While being sniffed and smelled by four dogs at once, Hendrix got defensive and started to bark. Then one of the other dogs started to bark at him and they started to fight a little. When it went on longer than it should have, the owner of one of the dogs jumped on his dog and and ran over and jumped on Hendrix, my left arm around his body and my right hand tucked into his collar. When one of the dogs persisted in prodding him while he was being held
down, Hendrix jumped away from me and I heard a loud pop. I thought his collar had broken but when I stood up and saw that his collar was steadfastly in place and then I realized I couldn't move my finger, I looked down to see that my finger was hanging the wrong way. I told my Melissa that I had broken my finger and that we had to leave and she ran down to get Hendrix on the leash and then put the leash around her waist. As we started to hike out, the owner of the other dogs asked if there was anything that she could do, I replied by asking her to keep her dogs under control.
Hendrix and Ash at the top of Mt. Ibapah
Luckily, the morning was very cold and my hands were nearly numb because I didn't have gloves on. This kept any pain I may have had at bay. Melissa drove us out of the canyon after which we called Ashley. It was decided that instead of visiting the closest emergency roo
m, driving back up to Salt Lake to visit our closest Instacare would be a better idea. A couple of hours later, we made it there and had x-rays. That was when I received the bad news. My finger was broken so badly that it was not treatable at the Instacare and I would have to go to a hand specialist. I had a spiral fracture (the bone was broken like a slinky) and would likely have to be set with hardware in surgery.
Shortly thereafter, I came to terms with the fact that this was not your normal finger break and that I would likely be out of commission for quite sometime. My appointment with the hand doctor took place on the Wednesday following the accident and without looking at much other than the x-ray, I was scheduled for surgery the following day. What a bummer!
In my surgery prep, the Doc came in to tell me that he felt- based on the x-ray- that he would be able to fix the break with three screws and wanted to prevent putting a plate in to reduce the chance for hardware removal later on. When I woke up, the first question I asked was for water, the second question I asked was how much hardware I had. I was told, "six screws and a plate." My husband informed me later that the break was much more complex than the x-ray showed meriting much more hardware. In my follow-up appointment with the Dr., I was told that if I promised to never wear any rings on my 3rd, 4th, or 5th fingers, I would not have to have the hardware removed. Considering that I rarely wear jewelry anyway, I considered this a fair trade!
I was given a custom splint for my hand and physical therapy to do at home and sent on my way. Nearly three weeks after the surgery, I am making progress on the movement of my ring finger but still have a very limited range of motion. Other than extreme tendinitis, I have very little pain in the finger but the stiffness makes my brain want to reject it as a broken piece and never use it. I have to be very conscious of the use of the finger to make sure that I don't neglect.
After it all, I have learned how mortal I am and how just one split second can change my life. One second I am healthy and active and proud; the next moment I am being humbled and scheduled for surgery. I am battling this thing psychologically as much as I am physically but I am sure that everything will turn out fine in the end. As long as I can get my hand in a glove and wrapped around a pole for ski season in a couple of weeks, I should be happy, right? Oh, and I want my
good handwriting back. I never realized how much you need all of your fingers to write with good penmanship. I guess it is the same as a singer never getting braces for fear that it will change his/her acoustics. Do you want to know the worst part? Melissa didn't get to summit Timp, something that was on her list of things to do this year, all because of my dumb 'ol finger!
Signing off...
