You might be wondering why I haven’t blogged in almost two weeks. Again. Obviously, something happened that prevented me from writing – and still kind of does. That something was last week on Friday. It was just before lunchtime, I could already feel the weekend approaching. I was still at work and I had to cut some paper. So I used the big manual paper cutting machine (the ones that look like a guillotine) when I suddenly noticed that there was a lot of blood. I then realized that the blood was dripping from my right index finger. This took only milliseconds, but it felt like ages. The next thing I remember is that my colleague sat me down on a chair while another ran for the nurse.

Later on I learned that I had cut off my finger tip. Fortunately, it was only a little piece. But even chopping off a little piece is extremely painful. I am lucky that my school has a wonderful nurse and I’ve got amazing colleagues. After our nurse had cleaned the wound and put a pressure bandage on my finger, another teacher drove me in my car to an urgent care unit. The doctor injected a liquid to stop the bleeding and bandaged my finger once more. My colleague then drove me home because I was utterly exhausted.

By now, the pain has decreased tremendously and the wound is only covered by a big band-aid. This morning I looked at my finger tip – or rather the part that is left – for the first time. At least the nail polish from two weeks ago is still impeccable. The doctor said that the finger tip will eventually grow back, it only takes time. And so I am sitting here, still pity myself a little, and wait …

Canavar’s paws are flawless … and he was very cute and took care of me when during the first few days I only wanted to hide under a blanket

By the way,

• everybody said I was brave for not fainting, but I felt quite small and miserable and way too attention seeking. I also couldn’t laugh at any jokes about fingers for a few days because the wound was very painful despite a larger amount of pain killers.
• in the U.S. primary care physicians don’t treat injuries, not even small ones. But you have to call them to get an appointment for another doctor. Mine didn’t want to refer me in the beginning even though the nurse explained everything to them. Twice. I wasn’t even capable of making a call. Eventually, I was allowed to go to the urgent care unit in another area of the city. The doctor there told me that most PCPs don’t even know how to deal with injuries. Let’s say that I don’t think highly of the U.S. healthcare system. I would also be very interested in finding out what PCPs here actually do. Like checking blood pressure? Oh, and being responsible for referrals? In that case they would surely be a great starting point for cutting costs in this ridiculously expensive system.
• I always type with all my ten fingers so that it is almost impossible for me to type these days. But for this blogpost I have discovered and tried the voice input on Google Docs. It works.
• the paper cutter didn’t have any safeguard, but, at the same time, I wasn’t distracted. So I still don’t really know how my finger ended up under the guillotine.
• I didn’t really know up to the accident that I am an ambidexter. I always thought of myself as right-handed, but talking to our nurse made me realize that I actually use my left hand more or less as much as my right one. I cut the paper with my left hand, for instance, which is why I injured my right hand. Being an ambidexter is very useful right now. I wish I could write better with my left hand though. I kind of can, but it is not pretty.
• also, I have ordered lefty scissors because I don’t know when I can use my right index finger again properly. They are great, but pricy. Did you know that all products that are made for left-handers cost much more?

© janavar

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