Happy Anniversary!

Happy Valentine's Day to one and all.

I am proud to say I was very good to my bride this year.
Just last evening, when we were shopping, as we went
past the greeting card aisle, I stopped her, pointed
to the cards, and asked her to pick out whatever card
she wanted. You really can't get more considerate than
that. No wonder she loves me so much.

Holidays always bring back memories for me. Some good, and
some not so good. This Valentine's day makes me harken back
to three years ago...Tuesday, February 13, 2007:

I had arrived home from work, and was preparing dinner for my
loving family. My bride and I have a pact, that whoever gets
home from work first gets to start making dinner.

We have found that the hardest part about making dinner is not
MAKING dinner, but figuring out WHAT to make for dinner. So I
thought I would start out by chopping lettuce for a salad. We
had just gotten some new knives, and I was anxious to try them
out:



So here I am, chopping chopping chopping. The new knife is
excellent, solid one-piece aluminum, easy to handle. I can
barely get my fingers out of the way fast enough when I start
chopping really fast. In fact, too fast...

Turned my head and looked away for a moment, and it was too
late. Next thing I know, I am running water over my finger, and
the blood wouldn't stop coming out. Luckily, my helpful Daughter
was home, and didn't freak out too badly, as she was only ten
years old at the time.

It's funny how your mind works. My first thought (and the one
that continued long after) was that I was pissed at myself for
being so stupid. Then, as I was rinsing my finger in water, and
realized I had sliced through the nail, that this was going to
be a hassle.

There was no pain at all, but when the stream of water was
hitting the wound, I could feel the flap of skin bouncing
around. That sensation is worse than pain.

I hailed The Daughter and asked her if she could run and get me
a band-aid. Loving child that she is, she complied and helped me
put it on. However, it became obvious that the band-aid was not
going to quite do the job:



So I went online and started searching for the Urgent Care URL
to make an appointment with them. We are very lucky that we
happen to have one just a block or two from the house, but I
figure rather than showing up and waiting, we could make an
appointment on the internet, and they could call us on the phone
when they are ready.

Just then, my bride got home, and she said "No, we are going
down there right now". So off we went.

I was expecting to have to wait the normal hour or two, but
quickly discovered that if you are bleeding pretty good, they
put you on top of the list. I hope nobody there got mad at me
for 'bumping' them.

Saw the doctor, and he had some concerns about 'vascular
damage'. Apparently, I had nearly circumcised the tip of my
finger, had I completed the circle, a whole cap of flesh from the
tip of my finger would have come off, leaving nothing underneath
but exposed inner tissue, which would have been complicated. As
it was, there was enough left where he was able to stitch it all
down and hope that enough blood would be able to get into the
detached portion to allow healing.

So, just for you, I documented the healing procedure.
I hope these are not too graphic for you...

My finger at Day 5, the first time I was able to get a look at
it, since this was the day the doctor removed the covering
bandage:


Day 7:


Day 15 and Day 21, the biggest problem now is keeping me from
snagging the up-lifted nail on something...this would not be
pleasant, I can assure you. So I just kept a small band-aid on
it to protect the nail:

Day 24 and Day 32, and now we are making some real progress.
The dead nail AND the scab have fallen away, leaving pink puffy
skin that is well-supplied with life-giving blood!

Day 42...you can hardly even see scar now:


To this day, The Daughter will only allow me use a knife if I
promise to be careful.

Peace be with you.