I have been absent from posting for a few weeks mostly for one reason. I broke my hand. I know, I know it is possible to type with one hand...but I found it incredibly frustrating to do so, I can't stand hunting and pecking! Especially with my left hand.
How did I injure my hand? I am glad you asked, since I have only told the story about 1000 times in the last two weeks, so you are lucky number 1001. I was in Pinawa at some natural waterslides close to the old Pinawa Dam(n!). I was there with a bunch of youth leaders as part of a leadership retreat that we were doing. We were having a great time going down the rapids on the (relatively?!) smooth
rocks for about 45 minutes. My friend Jason and I decided that it would be a great idea to go down on a tube, together. My friend Matt held the tube for us as we got on and released us down the rapids (I mention names here because there is a pending lawsuit, and I am still not sure who is at fault...Jason for rolling off the tube onto me...or Matt for releasing us into the wrong part of the river...I will not consider the option that I may be at fault in any way shape or form). As we went over a drop-off (just on the right out of sight behind the tree), we began to rollover and Jason landed on top of me with my hand holding the weight of both of us as it got dragged over some "smooth" rocks. When I came out of the water I could almost see around a bone just below the knuckle on my right hand. Since I had said (as we came to the waterslides), "we won't leave until someone gets injured." We decided that this was the time to leave. We went to the hospital where my hand got stitched up and I was given an antibiotic in case of infection. This happened on Saturday...the next few nights (at the retreat and later at home) I couldn't sleep because the pain was so bad, so I went to the Doctor on Monday. That Doctor said, "oh, the Doctor in Pinawa gave you the wrong antibiotic, you have a serious infection, take this antibiotic and come see me on Wednesday." Oh, yeah he also did x-rays and found I had two broken fingers. I spent the next two days in even more pain then before and went back on Wednesday. At which point he looked at my hand and said, "oooh, that is not good...we are going to have to take out your stitches and let the infection out." So he did, then he took a knife, dug it into my hand to open the wound up more, then he began pushing on my hand with both his hands and what seemed like all his weight. This beautiful(?!) orange puss started coming out by the tablespoonful (I would guess about 5 tablespoons). Then he took a long Q-tip type thing and sticks it into the wound on my finger and starts sliding it in about an inch and a half under my skin to loosen up the infection. I don't think I have ever experienced that much pain before. As he is doing this he says, "we are going to need to do this every day for a while." I looked at him, between my heavy breathing, sweating and silent screams and said, "you expect me to come back every day to go through this?"
Since that day my hand has improved a lot though and I am now typing with it (they decided not to cast the broken fingers). I am doing physio and gaining motion in the middle and ring finger of my right hand.
One of the great things about me is that I have this disease (syndrome?) that is called urticharia, which is a latin word that means "unexplained swelling," (now that is a great diagnosis if I've ever heard one!). The thing is when I get sick, or my immune system is busy with something else, I always get really swollen. It makes for some enjoyable pictures, here is what I looked like during the worst of the infection, my eyes, mouth chin and cheeks were nicely swollen:
How did I injure my hand? I am glad you asked, since I have only told the story about 1000 times in the last two weeks, so you are lucky number 1001. I was in Pinawa at some natural waterslides close to the old Pinawa Dam(n!). I was there with a bunch of youth leaders as part of a leadership retreat that we were doing. We were having a great time going down the rapids on the (relatively?!) smooth
rocks for about 45 minutes. My friend Jason and I decided that it would be a great idea to go down on a tube, together. My friend Matt held the tube for us as we got on and released us down the rapids (I mention names here because there is a pending lawsuit, and I am still not sure who is at fault...Jason for rolling off the tube onto me...or Matt for releasing us into the wrong part of the river...I will not consider the option that I may be at fault in any way shape or form). As we went over a drop-off (just on the right out of sight behind the tree), we began to rollover and Jason landed on top of me with my hand holding the weight of both of us as it got dragged over some "smooth" rocks. When I came out of the water I could almost see around a bone just below the knuckle on my right hand. Since I had said (as we came to the waterslides), "we won't leave until someone gets injured." We decided that this was the time to leave. We went to the hospital where my hand got stitched up and I was given an antibiotic in case of infection. This happened on Saturday...the next few nights (at the retreat and later at home) I couldn't sleep because the pain was so bad, so I went to the Doctor on Monday. That Doctor said, "oh, the Doctor in Pinawa gave you the wrong antibiotic, you have a serious infection, take this antibiotic and come see me on Wednesday." Oh, yeah he also did x-rays and found I had two broken fingers. I spent the next two days in even more pain then before and went back on Wednesday. At which point he looked at my hand and said, "oooh, that is not good...we are going to have to take out your stitches and let the infection out." So he did, then he took a knife, dug it into my hand to open the wound up more, then he began pushing on my hand with both his hands and what seemed like all his weight. This beautiful(?!) orange puss started coming out by the tablespoonful (I would guess about 5 tablespoons). Then he took a long Q-tip type thing and sticks it into the wound on my finger and starts sliding it in about an inch and a half under my skin to loosen up the infection. I don't think I have ever experienced that much pain before. As he is doing this he says, "we are going to need to do this every day for a while." I looked at him, between my heavy breathing, sweating and silent screams and said, "you expect me to come back every day to go through this?"Since that day my hand has improved a lot though and I am now typing with it (they decided not to cast the broken fingers). I am doing physio and gaining motion in the middle and ring finger of my right hand.
One of the great things about me is that I have this disease (syndrome?) that is called urticharia, which is a latin word that means "unexplained swelling," (now that is a great diagnosis if I've ever heard one!). The thing is when I get sick, or my immune system is busy with something else, I always get really swollen. It makes for some enjoyable pictures, here is what I looked like during the worst of the infection, my eyes, mouth chin and cheeks were nicely swollen:
Comments
But seriously, that sucks. At least you've got a great story! I love a good story! And the swelling part took me right back to Cambodia!! Hahaha!!
clarey