06.14.05

After 3 weeks

Posted in I wanna talk about ME at 3:41 pm by Kerri

After three weeks my fingers are doing pretty well. The wounds are healing, and they’re not too painful. In fact, they’re mostly numb, with a few spots that are quite tender. The numb parts feel very weird when I touch something. It’s almost like when your foot falls asleep and it’s waking up and tingly. The one thing I didn’t expect is the stiffness and puffiness of the rest of the fingers. The joints of those two fingers are stiff and swollen feeling. Called the doctor today, and he says that’s normal, sympathetic tissue response to trauma like this. He wants me to start physical therapy with a guy in Lewistown. Don’t know if I’m ready for this, or willing to spend the bucks.

I’m still 6 fingered typing. I tried to type with the less-injured middle finger today, but it requires more concentration and takes more time than just using the one finger. The stubby finger isn’t ready for typing yet. I haven’t driven my horse since the bandages come off. I usually drive with gloves, and I’m too chicken to put the gloves on. They’re normally tight, so I’m not sure I can get my fingers in there. Scott is trying to find derma gloves, white cotton gloves that I can use as liners to protect my fingers. Once I have them, I’ll give driving a try.

I have a rather nasty looking photo of my stubby finger on the ‘Not for the fainthearted’ page.

06.08.05

My Fingers

Posted in I wanna talk about ME at 8:05 am by Kerri

My fingers are doing very well. They’re all scabbed over and I don’t have to see the doctor again, unless I need to. My chopped off fingernail has grown about 1/16″ and is starting to pull away from the scab. I’ll need to trim it soon, I’m catching it on stuff. The doctor said not to bandage them at all anymore, unless I’m doing something that I’ll need to protect them from. He also wants me to put Vitamin E on them. It’s thick stuff and doesn’t soak in very quickly, so it gets everywhere. I’m going to get dermagloves if I can, to keep the Vitamin E from spreading, and to use as glove liners. I’m supposed to start desensitizing my fingers by tapping them on soft stuff at first, later harder stuff, and soaking them in cold water for as long as I can stand, a few seconds. Doesn’t sound like fun.