The Metacarpal Abacus

Just a quick post here to say I have been in Plymouth, being nurse to my daughter and her poor finger. Finger sounds so innocuous, but this particular finger has been anything but that. What followed a simple slamming door incident has ended up in the Plastics department of a very big hospital. The damage was so extreme that she has had to have the bones threaded onto a wire (think abacus); the wire is still poking out the end of the finger now. First we had the metal cage; yesterday she was in again for a plastic version. (I have to Google this amazing stuff they used for the moulding; it could be very useful in the pottery). Today she has better pain killers but they still are not great. The conclusion is three months away they say, but that there will be two years of intolerance to hot and cold and that will be painful every time she changes ambient temperatures.

Do you want to know about the nail? Look away if you don’t. It was removed and the nail bed, then it was reattached. She said the surgeon had crazy magnifying glasses on like something out of a Tim Burton movie. I hear you asking…how the hell she knew. Well this is the worst part; there were not enough staff for a general aesthetic so she had it done under local! The Tim Burton guy asked her what she wanted to listen to while he drilled and sewed. Like she cared, but she did care enough to say, not anything I like please. Tim Burton said is Wet Wet Wet ok, (she is not keen on them)? So album was put in (this is sounding like a medical drama here) glasses on, local aesthetic working….opening bars….”I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes” Was the love all around her at this point? Yes it was, but this is VERY DARK.

Picture;Tim Burton