Did you ever stop to think about how difficult life would be without opposable thumbs? This thought had never crossed my mind until I injured the thumb on my right hand this week. I struggled to:
-blow dry my hair
-hold the flat iron for my hair
-button my pants
-tie my shoes
-do the dishes (this one was a heart-breaker, let me tell you!)
-sweep the floor
-open my bottle of Vitamin water
-turn the steering wheel
-dress the girls
-open the tab on the girls' diapers
-hold any kind of instrument at work
-type
-adjust the overhead light on my patients
-etc, etc, the list is never-ending....
As I was cleaning up after my last patient on Wednesday night, I inadvertantly stuck my thumb with a used, dirty needle. Now, when I say stuck, I actually mean stabbed-with-a-ridiculous-amount-of-force-penetrating-to-the-bone.
Yes, it was bad. I hit it on the side of my thumb, almost in the thumb-pad and directly over the knuckle. It happened so fast, I still don't know exactly how it happened.
The result of this thumb-prick was two-fold. First, I had to file an Incident Report for the accident and the exposure. I also had to see a doctor, who promptly put me on antibiotics and took blood for a work-up. I will have to do that every three months for the next year. These were annoying, but not exactly worth writing home over.
The worst part was when I woke up the next morning to a thumb that was so swollen and sore I couldn't touch or move it. It didn't appear to be infected, just traumatized. The doctor suspected I had traumatized the capsule that surrounds the knuckle, causing swelling and pain.
Thursday was pretty miserable, muddling through work with a gimp hand. I couldn't believe how vital my thumb is. I couldn't do anything without it. By Friday, after mega-doses of anti-inflammatories, the swelling had decreased some, and now today it is just a little sore.
I can even type.
I have never been so grateful to do a thumbs-up in my life!
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