Dislocated left ring finger, mine.
At least the swelling is down. But it’s hard to type. Anyway this is dog story number one.
My son and I drove from Maine to California because he has an eighty pound dog-she’s a very nice dog, a Coonhound Walker/GSD mix with eyeliner. She looks like a Disney cartoon character.
Puppy Hastur.
So we were in Nebraska… maybe Wyoming. I don’t know. All the days ran together and a river ran through it. Anywhooo, we stopped to get gas and let Hastur out for a potty break. I was holding onto her collar - me in the front passenger seat, her in the backseat - and when my son opened the back door she flew out taking my finger with her because my wedding ring caught in the latch on her collar.
Uh… talk about hurting like a sonofabitch. Damn thing swelled up so fast I knew if I didn’t get my wedding ring off I would lose the finger. So I’m cussing and sticking my finger in my mouth to try to pull the ring off with my teeth while my son and the dog are hovering and the Dead Heads, yeah, literally Dead Heads in the old Volkswagon Van next to us are shrugging, like, you know, ain’t no big thing. I’m sure they’d seen worse.
Anyway, got the ring off but then we couldn’t find any first aid tape. The last thing I wanted to do was spend six hours in an ER so they could buddy tape my finger and charge me $2000.00 and we’d lose an entire day of driving. Popped it back in myself. Ouch! Oh Ouch! You do what you gotta do. We found tape the next day at a convenience store/Taco Time in Evanston, Wyoming. They served up a decent grilled chicken mango salsa burrito too.
Have to keep the finger buddy taped for 3-4 weeks.
Just to be clear this was my own fault. The dog is not to blame.
Dog story number two.
Jake popped his favorite ancient basketball on Monday. It was such a tragedy that he’s been in mourning ever since. Stood over it, carried it around, dropped it at my feet and then walked over to the basketball pump, eyes pleading with me to pump up his old basketball. Tonight is the first night he’s been willing to play with his new ball. Probably because I finally decided to hide the old ball.
Jake understands the concept of object permanence so he is a challenge.
Old ball next to the new ball - before it popped.
Poor dead ball.
Next post - a photo essay of crazy Jake at the beach. We had it all to ourselves!
Eeewww, Julia! I hope you crumbled some painkillers in the mango salsa burrito! Lots of painkillers.
My husband played high school and college basketball and tennis (and then coached, too), and he has broken or dislocated most of his fingers at sometime or another. When I showed him the picture and read the part about you popping it back in yourself, he muttered, “Been there, done that,” but he also gulped, cringed, and kind of shuddered.
Oh Marylin… tell him I appreciate the sentiment. I shuddered too. It hurt so bad I was sort of in shock. Blew up like a balloon in less than 30 seconds. We were in the middle of nowhere so I figured the best thing to do was put the distal section back into the joint and then hold it there. Tied it with string until we found tape- It was my turn to drive!
Hastur is adorable. I hope your finger heals quickly, thats sounds awful. My god you’re tough!
Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch! You’re a brave woman. I’m too chicken to do that without painkillers.
Poor Jake. I hope he gets used to the new one quickly.
I’ll bet the Dead Heads would have had some “medicinal” anesthetic items for you. You should have asked them.
Hope your finger feels better, and I hope Jakey adjusts to his new basketball!
Miss you!
Poor Jake. I get attached to things, too. My husband dislocated his toe once when he was riding bareback horses. It’s a painful injury. Take care.
He does get attached to his basketballs and some of his squishy babies, Stephanie. He’s never torn up a toy. Did the horse step on his toe?
Yeah, Penny, thought about that after we drove away.
I don’t know how brave I am, Amber. I didn’t have many options at that moment.
Thanks, Kat. It’s kind of more pragmatism than it is toughness. However I do have this philosophy - it’s only pain. For instance, in comparison to bad migraines natural childbirth is a walk in the park.
OUCH. OUCH. OUCH.
Can’t begin yo imagine. All I can compare it to is a severe herniated disc. Tat was so terrible I feel for you and the finger.
You bandaged it so well. Only thing I would have added is color. If I had to be in that cound-founded thing I would have made it colorful - like chartreuse and turquoise or something.
Or the other thing I woulda done was make that middle finger stick out more so people REALLY knew how I felt.
Such a cute dog to cause such pain.
Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Poor finger. Poor Julia. You are a true McGuyver.
Sandra! LOL! More like Quantum Leap!
Oh Roberta, a disc would be way worse and take much longer to feel better! However the way the dog leaped out and twisted I’m lucky this is all that happened to the finger! She is cute!
I leave for a few days and you go ahead and fuck up your finger. We just can’t take you anywhere. And I know how your dog feels. I hate it when anything I have breaks. (including my fingers)
Yeah, can’t take me anywhere, Ray. Just got a new doctor cuz my other doctor is retiring and I told her I get injured a lot.
Ick, It must be Finger-time. I cut my index finger pretty bad Sunday - had to get stitches. It took five hours.
Sadness.
Hey, still not getting email posts.
I’m so sorry about your finger, Steph. Ouch! That’s why I didn’t want to go to an ER - takes too long. Sorry you’re not getting my feed. Will try to figure it out.
Yowsah! Now you can only flip people the bird with one hand. Too bad, that.
Yes, Tim, you are correct as always!