Thumbellino
 

So as part of my apparent self destruction jag I thought that smashing the living shit out of my thumb would be a good way to stay on task and move the entire project along. Or I might just be accident prone lately.

Gonna have an xray tomorrow just for fun but 99% certain the bone is broken. Definitely created a new pain baseline, worse even than cutting the tip off or the rotator cuff.

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!

.

Gorgeous color though. That looks damn painful.

Glad I saved the oxycodone from my surgery.

fucking owzch. (repeat)

I can't even muster a joke. I am sorry about ur finger.

you've been burning that candle. that's how you get to be accident prone.

get more sleep, hammer.


im sorry about you thumb.... not your finger.

Never seen a bruise so uniformly black before; you look like you could be an Iraqi voter. :)

Sweet smoking Judas, that looks horrible.

We will need regular picture updates on this

ThumbHellImInNow
 

Deserves a re-title

You know, the up side of this is that we now know you know how to swing a hammer with gusto. No choking up on the handle taking dainty taps at the nail for you. You can probably drive a framing nail with two swings after setting it. I'm impressed, and I know just how important that is to you.

Oh yes, Glatt, but this was in aid of chipping stone while practicing making blade cores.

And UT I will be sure to keep you all updated as the kaleidoscope turns

So...You're off the thumb-wrestling circuit for how long?

I need to know for my Fantasy Thumb-Wrestling League.

Lol. I have his backup. I guess I'll start him. They play a weak defensive unit this week

Ahhhhhh, ow. Ow. I'm guessing you can't flex the distal joint in your thumb? Yes, an x-ray is important. If the distal tuft is fractured there's no specific treatment other than for comfort, but if you've fractured into the joint it's a little more involved. You could need a visit to the hand surgeon, depending. So do please follow up. You may need that subungual hematoma trephinated* by tomorrow morning too; relieving the pressure will do a lot to bring your pain level down.

You did this while chipping stone ... please please tell me you were wearing eye protection?

All right, I'll stop being smothery/doctory and hope you get some sleep with the percocet. And keep that thing elevated. :thumb:

*using a small cauterizing tool to relieve the pressure of a hematoma under a fingernail.

Ortho. You sounded all Mothery until the PS. That sounded painful and scary.

It's a failing of us female docs. :o

Trephinating a hematoma scares patients, but it actually doesn't hurt at all. The trick is to hold the finger (or thumb) against a firm surface to minimize movement, hold your hand so that the patient can't see the cautery end of the trephinator (which is glowing), and tap very lightly in the center of the hematoma. It takes only one or two gentle taps and the hematoma releases. You don't touch the nail bed (that would be painful), you just go through the nail, which has no nerve endings. People get tremendous relief with it. You have to do it within 12-24 hours, though, or the hematoma starts to clot down and it doesn't help.

pop it.

you already have a beater with a sharp end, and you've bracketed the target perfectly. come on, it can't hurt any worse, right?

I'm just seconding orthodoc's opinion. trepanation...lol/ouch

Or a rusty pocket knife with a clip point blade...

... if you want a big old infection, sure ...

Ain't nuthin' wrong wit mah fumbs.

Germs are highly overrated.

At work, we used cutting tip cleaners to punch a hole in the nail. Just heat it up and punch Oh the joy.

Thumbellino
 

Didn't trephinate the nail, I've done the paper clip thing before but the blood under the nail didn't seem to be that plentiful.

I did slit the cuticle and that bled like mad and this morning was weeping blood tinged lymph.

Someone actually asked me why I hit my thumb with a hammer. With a straight face I told them my thumb owed me money.

"How can your thumb owe you money?"

I guess someone must have hit her on the head with a hammer. Attachment 45694Attachment 45695

That looks remarkably better after just two days. How's it feeling compared to before?

Much better, I'm surprised at how fast it's improving. I can bend it and touch it. I can't shuffle cards though and I've had to cancel all my hand modeling engagements.

It's trying hard to get better because it's jealous of your other hand getting all the action.

Ahhh .... hard to follow that one, Bruce. Everything is anticlimactic.

It looks fantastic, foot. For two days out, I mean. Although it's a generally fantastic-looking thumb. ;)

Or, someone needs to.

that's why they call it a climax, eh?

And then the nun fainted.

Didn't you do this to a toe as well? :thepain:
You need to stay away from all your appendages with sharp and heavy objects! ;)

Damn, you heal fast. Good protoplasm.

Truly, nice recovery.

Thumbellino
 

The amateurtoplasm wasn't cutting it, so...

Here's today's picture. The color is coming in now.

Better pictureAttachment 45796

Odds are a major break across the nail will show up as it grows out...Happy Valentines

Daily thumb:
Attachment 45806

Foot, I think your thumb may actually be a finger.

You couldn't work the word 'toe' into that post?

just going out on a limb here, but I see a melange game of phalange names.

Attachment 46059
The latest thumb news. The nail is beginning to delaminate. Thumb is still rather chubby.

The thumb looks terrible, then better, then not so good, then better, then terrible again.

You're one weird snake what with your three feet and your shedding your scales one. At. A. Time.

That's his hisssstory.

That looks about right. The new nail will be ridged and bumpy at first; it'll be spring (6 months, give or take) by the time you have a nice, smooth new nail.

I'll have a party for my new nail.

You can unveil it on Memorial Day Weekend. By then it'll be bikini-ready.

...if history doesn't repeat itself

Oh I've learned from my mistakes...
And I'm certain I can repeat them exactly.

Thumbikini. All the kids are wearing them.

Thumbellino
 

Because I know you all love this saga and want to have, like, a hundred of its babies, I'm giving you this update.
That weird ridge seems to persist and it is along the axis where I trephinated the nail. But that must be a coincidence since the growth originates further back under the cuticle, if I'm not mistaken.

Another oddity is where the nail emerges from the cuticle it is extremely thin and lifted off the bed like a blister. Out of curiosity I made a slit in the blisterish part of the nail with a fairly sterile ( ha ha) razor blade. A bunch of blood gooshed out which surprised me.

So, without further ado, here is thumbellino as of this morning. I did sand down a buch of the general gnarliness and snags with 120 grit paper. Ok I lied. There is a bit more ado, I thought about building up several dozens layers of clear nail polish, then buffing the top coat to a matte finish, as a sort of protective/ aesthetic cover. Alternatively I could sand the nail up to 1200 with wet or dry sandpaper and that would smooth it out well. The nail is a bit thin in spots so I'm not inclined to sand it much more. Finally there's always the option of just not doing anything to it at all.

The shape of my thumb has also been seriously changed its thicker, wider, and more blob shaped.

Ok now here's the photoAttachment 46298

Needs a fairy on top. angel. whatever.

Anyone have a recipe?

Perhaps it might be a good idea to see a doctor?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

you could fill it in with nail polish to look like a stained glass window. It's OK, Lola, I am a doctor :)

Keep it warm and moist.

That's what I do when I'm in the kitchen...

Curiouser and curiouser, the split has now travelled up under the cuticle. Attachment 46324

You've disrupted your nail bed and eponychium. Which is to say that it'll take a minimum of six months to grow this one out, and there's a chance it'll never be quite as it was. If not, it'll be an interesting scar with a story. ;)

Thumbellino
 

Here is an RFN nail pichttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/28/2edu4a6u.jpg

And a couple older oneshttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/28/a9ugezyz.jpg
I wonder why it still forms a bubble at the bottom of the moon

Still looking kind of mangled there, foots.