The Dangers of Multitasking

I had been up and was back to bed, sound asleep when the phone woke me. It was my daughter calling to ask if I needed anything from the store.

As I have not been out of the house for more than a week, suffering with a change of season cold, my shopping list was long. I decided I needed to go myself and made plans to have her pick me up.

You know how when you wake up, the first thing you have to do is go to the bathroom. That urge hit and I carried the phone into the bathroom to continue our conversation. We are family.

I thought the plus to wearing sleep pants is the lack of buttons and zippers, and figured I could manage to get my pants down with ease. I did, on the right side, but not the other because I was holding the phone, still talking.

I hunched up my left shoulder to hold the phone next to my ear and reached to pull my pants all the way down when...somehow...I caught my little finger, twisted it, bent it, whatever, and felt a sharp jab of pain.

When I looked at it the last joint of my finger was fixed at a 90 degree angle, and I couldn’t straighten it. We continued to make our plans, I continued to pee, and an hour later she picked me up.

The normal and the abnormal (left) little fingers..

I showed her my finger, still bent like a royal about to sip her tea, and we all laughed. I showed her how I could manually straighten it, but it would return back to the bent position. I could move it, with some pain, but not like I figured I’d have felt if it was broken.

Later,we were in the check-out line, laughing about my weird finger when my daughter decided maybe it was just jammed, a great medical term, and she...we...should just yank on it, another good word for the medical treatment she performed on me...in Walmart.

We laughed and laughed, because it was funny, and luckily for me, it didn’t really hurt. I said we should make our own Walmart video, or at least take a picture, so she did.

By the time we left the store my finger was starting to hurt, and to swell...stupid me for letting her pull on it. I could still straighten it, but it would bend again. And damn I need that finger when I crochet.

So I went to the ER, talked to the nurse who gave me a splint, as we agreed I must have injured the ligament or something.

So, now I’m wearing a splint, awkward as hell. Last time I looked at it, it’s still bent, still swollen with a large bump at the joint. I’ll see how it looks in the morning; I may still need some medical attention.

Right now, it aches. I feel stupid and don’t want to explain again today how I managed to hurt my finger. Somehow, I don’t think saying I did it talking on the phone will be believed.