injured.

put your seat belts on kids, and get ready for this wild ride. (it's a long one)

the story starts - tuesday morning - 6am - basketball practice:
     we had 6 of our 8 guys at practice. we were learning a new defense in which we needed all 8 guys (5 for defense and 3 for offense). as the good and supportive coaches that we are we stood in for the 2 missing players on offense. lauren set up as the right wing and i took the left wing. our player kris was acting as point guard. the rest of the team set up in the new defensive layout and we got started.

now i will jump into some player background. our player, kris, is a football player. they don't offer football during the winter semester and so he decided to play basketball. however, with his football status comes the fact that, while being a shortish man, he is built like an ox. i'm talking extreme buffness and strength. now on with the story ...

     we start moving the ball so the defense can get a feel for the movement. kris passes to lauren, lauren passes to me, i pass to kris. by this point the ball has made it back to it's starting position and the team decides they have a good feel for the defense and we go into "game mode" (this is just where we pass the ball as quick [and hard] as we would in a game.) so, we begin again. kris passes to lauren, lauren passes back to kris, someone yells "pick it up", kris throws it low and fast towards me, i reach down to grab the ball, and OUCH! i take the ball straight to my left ring finger. i'm no stranger to the world of sports injuries and call upon my immediate knowledge of finger injuries. most likely scenario, i have jammed my finger, no big deal. i immediately try to pull it out (un-jam it) and i feel like nothing is really changing. i shake it off and keep playing. we don't work on the new defense too much longer and soon we begin to scrimmage the varsity team. as jv is scrimmaging i notice my finger beginning to swell and bruise up. i figure, no big deal, don't worry about it. the pain doesn't seem too bad and so i don't think much more of it.

     after practice i head home. i can tell i'm beginning to feel a little more pain than before and the bruising is starting to come in pretty nicely. i sit down and ice my finger for about 20 minutes and decide that is probably good enough. so i head off to take a nap. a few hours later i wake up and i decide to re-examine the injury. the bruising is look pretty intense and it definitely hurts more than before. but it still seems like manageable pain.

i feel another bit of background information will be helpful at this point. i have often been told that i have a high tolerance for pain. i've never really been sure if i've believed this or not. i don't think i have really encountered a lot of pain in my life, so how could anyone (including me) really know if i have a high tolerance for it or not, right?

     i try to do some bending exercises with the finger. it's pretty noticeable that my finger has very little range of motion. i can also tell that the pain is more intense when i try to bend it further than it wants to be bent. still, the pain doesn't seem that bad though. i decide however that the bruising and swelling are a bit more intense than what i have seen before for a jammed finger so i decide to get on the trusty internet to look up some symptoms of a jammed finger.

more background, i enjoy pretending to be my own doctor, mostly because i don't like real doctors. if i can figure it out myself than i don't really need them, so i will frequently check the internet (especially webMD) for what ales me or my family members.

     i am noticing that i have all the "symptoms" of a jammed finger. then, i find this really cool website on webMD where you pick a part of the body, then they give you a list of symptoms you could be having, you click on the ones you have, maybe sometimes answer a few questions about the symptoms you've picked, and then they give you a list of what could be wrong based on your choice of symptoms. so i started picking my symptoms. when i was done i clicked on my list of ailments, number one on the list, fractured finger. i decided that wasn't right, and so just checked out the next few diagnoses which included, sprained finger, dislocated finger, and jammed finger. as i read the information on the sprained and dislocated finger i saw that it said very directly on each page "seek medical attention at once." i decided that was probably unnecessary so i enlisted the help of a finger injury veteran. my younger brother, jayce. we then have the following conversation over text:

me: so ... what's the protocol when one jam's their finger? (no need to overly worry anyone)
j: pull it out and ice it.
me: what if i did my best to try and pull it out and i don't think it worked ... haha. my oh my. it hurts. and it's a lovely shade of bruise.
j: then it's sprained and just ice it.
me: ahh, a sprained finger?! that seems much more exciting. should i try and tape it or anything?
j: um if you keep trying to bend and it hurts yeah.
me: hmm, indeed it does hurt a lot when it gets accidentally bent. dang. how do i end up with the sprained finger at basketball practice? haha.
j: haha playing too hard
me: i was in for all of 3 minutes, just as fake offense! haha, have you ever dislocated your finger? as i seek my online medical advice it seems that may be my diagnosis and every online thing says: A DOCTOR SHOULD BE SEEN AT ONCE. is this true?
j: just ice and tape it.
j: send a picture
me: very good, especially since i can't afford to pay any copay at a doctor. :) just a sec on the picture.

at this point i sent him these three picture:

and the convo continued:
j: yeah um you should go to the doctor.

     so after discussing how i don't like doctors and had no money for a copay i finally gave in and called my parents. we discussed the formalities, however by this time it was about 5:45pm and the doctors offices had closed and upon talking to them it was decided that since it wasn't hurting me too much i probably didn't need to go to the ER and could just wait until the next day to go find a doctor. so i went throughout the rest of my day and did my best not to move my finger too much.

     today i got up and started doing my research for a doctor. i decided on the community care urgent care and family doctor. i walked in, filled out some paperwork and dealt with some insurance stuff. then i got called into the back. the nurse asked what i was there for and apparently my injury effected my speech because i didn't respond vocally i just held my hand up in the air for her to see. i'm pretty sure she got the picture though because she said, "OH, that looks like it hurt." and wrote something in my chart. they took my temp and blood pressure and all that fun stuff. i had to answer a few questions about when, where, and how i sustained the injury and then they left me. a few minutes later the doctor came in and asked to see my finger, looked at it for about .2 seconds and said, "we're gonna need to get an x-ray." so, i go in to get an x-ray. the guy doing the x-ray told me they would be taking 3 different angles. i have never had an x-ray before, besides for dentist stuff, so it was pretty exciting. he takes the first one and from the little room where he is i hear a "huh". he then comes out, moves my hand to a new angle and takes the second x-ray. another "huh" comes from his special x-ray room. he comes out and moves my hand for the last x-ray, as he is walking away he suddenly turns and asks, "have you ever had any surgery on this finger? metal pins or wires put in it?" i say no and he gives me a look and says, "interesting". at this point i am intrigued, what is so interesting?!? he takes the last x-ray and, you guessed it, the last "huh" comes from the special room. i stay where i am for a second and then i hear the words i've been dying to hear, "you can come back here and see this if you want." of course i want, so i am up and in the special back room in a flash. he then proceeds to show me the x-rays he took. he says, "as you can see in this first x-ray there appears to be a piece of metal wire in your finger." my response of course, "huh." he continues, "at first i thought maybe it was just a problem with the machine but you can see in the second x-ray it's still there and in the third again. then we both stare at the x-rays and after a second we both tilt our heads and in unison say "huh". i felt very doctory. haha. so, after he explains everything about the metal wire he goes, "oh yeah, and as you can see here (points at x-ray 2) and here (points at x-ray 3) your finger's broken."

     that's right folks, my finger is BROKEN!! turns out i might have a high pain tolerance after all. so, i was sent back to my examining room, the doctor came in and told me again what i had already been told. my finger's broken. he also tells me that he is going to be referring me to an orthopedic surgeon so that they can check out the phantom metal wire in my finger and see if it should be removed or not. so, i may or may not be having surgery to remove the metal wire from my finger soon. then, my finger got splinted up and i was sent on my way.

     it has definitely been an exciting two days. i'll let you know more about the phantom metal wire after i go in to meet the ortho surgeon.

scripture of the day:
Proverbs 3: 23 - 26 Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.

today i am thankful for:
* brothers who are smart enough to know when you need to go to a doctor.
* doctors.
* insurance.
* stretchy tape, a family favorite.
* x-ray machines.
* opportunities to do things you wouldn't normally do, even if it does end up with you having a broken finger.

p.s. sorry for any spelling errors and such, it is much more difficult to type with a broken finger than it may seem.

<3.