I prefer “gracefully challenged.”

You would think that since part of my livelihood (not to mention a great source of enjoyment for me) is playing the flute, I would take better care of my fingers.

Back in June I smashed my left ring finger in my car door. I was at Walmart with the kids and after I got my crying under control, we quickly went straight in to the frozen section where I got a bag of frozen peas and held it to my finger the whole time. It was excruciatingly painful, and I don’t even know how I got through the shopping trip.  The bruising went away after a couple of weeks, then the black swollen nail grew out and fell off, then new nail grew in. It’s a little lumpy but it looks pretty much normal. Because the pain was virtually nonexistent so soon I knew it hadn’t been broken. Total recovery time: 4 months.

That morning, I had played my flute at a funeral. I said a thank-you prayer that this accident didn’t happen the day before because there’s NO WAY I could have played my flute. Then I only had to play at flute lessons, and I was able to avoid most playing while it was still in pain.

 

Fast forward to last week. I was trying to close my garage door (the outside automatic one) and it kept bouncing up after coming down. I was out in the car about to drive to exercise class with my two littler ones in their car seats. I decided to pull the red cord to be able to close it manually (can you see where this is going?). Went outside and put my fingers in the highest gap between panels that I could reach to get it to roll down. Sure enough, I didn’t get my left middle finger out in time and it got squished between panels. It HURT. SO. BAD!! I can’t even describe it. I panicked for a split second after a quick tug would not release it, but then kept my wits about me. I reached down with my right hand and rolled upward two feet or so until the crack opened and I was able to pull it out. Then I proceeded to cry and cry. My poor kids had no idea what was going on. I could not even speak. After a few minutes somehow I drove the car back into the garage and got the kids out. Plopped them in front of the TV and went to lie down in my bed because I was feeling weak and nauseous from the pain. After it subsided a little (ice made it feel worse) I tried to rinse it off with the tiniest trickle of water (it was dusty from the garage door). That small amount of water caused so much pain I started crying all over again. I remembered that lavender oil helps with bruising so I dripped some on my finger and the pain lessened quite a bit. Took some ibuprofen and basically had a “sick” day because I wasn’t able to do pretty much anything. The worst was trying to change Em’s diapers. She hates it and rolls and kicks and it is impossible to do it with one hand so I had to use my left hand. Oh, it hurt.

 

Anyway, I know there are worse pains to be had and I’m just having a pity party over here, but I wanted to record it. The finger doesn’t have as much pain as it did a week ago but it is swollen and the nail is black. There was obviously some nerve damage and I have no sensation in the tip of my finger. It was squashed as flat as a pancake when I got it out and some blood blisters formed instantly. The nail is black but I am anticipating the return of a regular nail by Valentine’s Day 2013. Thankfully I don’t have orchestra rehearsal until a week from Saturday. I’m hoping to have a little sensation back by then so I can tell if I’m covering the hole of my flute key. If not I’ll have to borrow a plug from one of  my students.

 

May the rest of my fingers stay whole and uninjured!