I give you the finger
I've been getting a lot of emails and IMs asking about the finger and the surgery, so I'll try to wrap it all up here. Please forgive me if this doesn't make much sense. I'm on some heavy painkillers right now, and typing is a bit painful.
Tuesday the 12th was surgery. I didn't have a ride to the doctor's office to I rode Jozette (my motorcycle). After waiting in the lobby for what felt like forever while being bombarded with the overhypeness that is fox news I was escorted to a room to change... into a backless loincloth :(. After taking some anti-nausia meds, getting an IV, and meeting with the surgeon I was escorted to the O.R.
There I had the pleasure of being burned on my arm with a scolding hot clamp by an incompetent nurse. I've received a complimentary second degree burn and a "just put some ice on it when you get home". I bandaged it up myself, one handed no less, when I got home and it's not pretty. Whatever, another scar to remind me of my mistake, I digress.
Next up I was put to sleep (but not like cats or dogs). The general anesthesia had me out like a light in no time and I've got to say it was probably the best sleep I've had in a while. When I woke up Paul Tobias (Hak5 camera guy) came to pick me up. My hand was in a huge uncomfortable cast and I was in a lot of pain. The vicodin wasn't (and still isn't) doing much for me. The rest of the day pretty much consisted of seeing friends, receiving baloons, and keeping my hand elevated. Exciting times...
Until that night when my fingers had swolen up and the cast was pinching my pinky. The pain was unbearable so I called the doctors office and had the surgeon paged. After an hour of waiting without a return call I decided to go to the ER as suggested by one of the nurses. The wait to see a doctor would be about 2 hours. I slept for about an hour for the first time all day and the swelling subsided. With an important teleconference in the morning and having had no sleep all day I decided to sleep it off and reevaluate the situation in the morning.
Morning came, the teleconference was successful, and I was still in pain. This time swolen and tingling I wen't to the doctors office. The surgeon was out of town but the nurses got his concent to remove the cast and send me to hand rehab where I would be given a new splint. It took four nurses (vdot style) to remove the cast. Instant relief. Then I was wrapped up in just about the worst bandage I've ever seen. Thankfully the hand rehab place was only 2 blocks away.
This is the part where I thank Alli for driving me around between doctors offices on her birthday so that I could feel better. Thanks Alli, you rock. The physical therapy lady was very nice and took care of my hand, cleaning the wound and molding a custom splint just to fit my pinky. She was even kind enough and knowledgable enough to actually explain to me the do's and don'ts of the splint, something that the nurses over at the plastic surgeon's office didnt.
So anyway, that's my little rant. My incoherent rambling story. I guess I could have just said "ok" whenever asked about the finger but I suppose this will do better. Now if only I could get something to help with the pain. The vicodin seems to help everything *except* my pinky. The percocet was much better.
Next adventure is Thursday, the post-op visit. Wish me luck!
PS: Yes, I will try to get Wess to mod my splint with blue LEDs. :)
D
Comments
Anyway good luck dude. If I had the ability and the time, I would've come down to help you out. But I'm glad that you were taken care of.
Anyways, glad to hear you are at least somewhat better, and can't wait to see you back in your Uber Micro.
Game on D.
If you are in the humorous mood perhaps you should see the movie Tetsuo. I think the english title was called Iron Man. Its about a man who has a metal fetish and the havoc he causes.
Also, we can rebuild you, we have the technology, and we found the instructions on the internet..hopefully they are correct.