Thursday, June 27, 2024

One of These Fingers is Not Like the Others

If you get queasy looking at photos of injuries, this is one blog post you need to skip.

The construction gods have demanded payment. And naturally, they exacted their price on the same night I was in charge of a Relief Society activity. That makes four times that's happened now. Once in about 2009 I was running the activity on the same night that Troy was driving to Roosevelt, Utah to pick up elk meat from a butcher there after his family's annual elk hunt/camping trip. Our little Eagle Summit died on the way there and Troy had to be rescued by one of our dads. There was the year our brand new plumbing under our brand new bathroom floor sprung a leak. And the year that our water heater went out. All on Relief Society dinner nights. I think I need to boycott Relief Society dinners. 

Last Thursday was our annual Garden Party - dinner and dessert in the lovely garden of my friend Debbie, who has been hosting for years. She did most of the work but I prepared the main dishes for the dinner. It was a long day - the last day of my Child Life internship, which of course was in Lehi that day. I was so tired! The dinner went well, and then just as we were cleaning up and getting ready to head out, my phone rang. It was Troy. Truthfully, I almost didn't answer because I was right in the middle of a conversation, but I felt a nudge telling me to pick up. Troy said, "You need to come home right now. I just broke my finger." 

OH CRAP.

I zoomed home, left all the food and dishes in the car, and Troy and I walked across the street to the conveniently-near emergency room. He was in surprisingly good spirits, making jokes, even though he was in a lot of pain. 

Ok brace yourself. I am now putting in the photos, which I still have a hard time looking at. 



 

I about fainted when I saw it. In fact I'm trying to type with my eyes closed right now. Doesn't it look just awful? While I was helping get him checked in I had to shield my eyes from the sight of it. It's hilarious that I work in health care. 

Here's the good news. I thought his little bone in there was snapped right in half. But instead, the break was a little bone fragment, and the main damage was that his finger was dislocated. I'm not happy about the bone fragment of course, but it could have been so much worse. They took a few x-rays and then the doctor let Troy choose if wanted numbing meds or just to get the finger popped back in place in a hurry. Troy picked the former. I tried to leave the room and got about 3 steps out before they let me know it was done. Oh. So...that was quick. Painful, I know, but I heard no cursing, so that's something. He got a brace and they sent us on our way.


I had been worried about Troy's finger, and also that the work on the room was going come to a standstill for possibly weeks. But nope, sweet Troy just went right back to work the next day. A little gingerly of course, but the progress goes on.

He has some lovely bruises too ~

 

 

Oh goodness! I didn't mention how this catastrophe even happened. It involved a drill press, the steel shelf brackets, and a glove. Troy knew that wearing gloves wasn't a great idea when using a drill press, but the steel was cutting up his hands quite a bit. And when he brushed his hand a little too near the spinning drill bit, it grabbed on to the fabric and yanked his finger off to the side and around the bit. Just imagine if Troy had the big fancy drill press of his dreams! Bye, pinkie finger. What a blessing it wasn't worse. Ok, construction gods, are you happy? Can that be it please?

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