Another Life First

Life is different now that I've turned 40, in a lot of subtle little ways. It's strange that many things that have happened to me recently are remarkable not due to the fact that they are happening at this point in my life, but that I'm only now experiencing them for the first time. Case in point: at age 40, I've finally broken a bone. Never had that happen before.

On Sunday I had driven My Crazy Roommate to late afternoon mass, and was making my way back to the apartment to get ready to go downtown for Sarah's going away party. I was going through one of the residential intersections with one of those stupid roundabouts. The road was still very frozen, and my 84 Honda Civic (red) made a valiant effort, but couldn't find traction and began to swerve to the right. I was trying to overcorrect my steering, the exact way they tell you *not* to do in driver's ed, when I hit the curb at about 10 mph. The car wasn't damaged, I was OK (lap and shoulder belts, *always*), but because I was grappling with the steering wheel I jammed my right hand at a weird angle. The right middle finger was very sore, both the second and third knuckles (that being the proximal- and distal interphalangeal joints, to be specific).

Well, I have health insurance now, courtesy of my employer, and I was worried about any long-term damage that might arise--not very likely, I know, but it's my right hand, after all. Ounce of prevention and that whole bit. So Wednesday afternoon I left work a few hours early to go get checked out by my doctor, who is way cool.

Seems I have a hairline fracture in the medial middle phalanx of my right hand. For you schleps out there that never went to med school (and that would include myself), that's this:

[Although that's not my hand--I got it from Wikipedia. Reproduced here without permission...though I have to assume that the x-ray itself was performed with permission. That'd be a helluva thing, wouldn't it, x-raying without permission? Radiological paparazzi? Anyway--]

Since it's a greenstick fracture and not a clean break, no splinting or casting is necessary--I just have to make sure I don't put any stress on it. Typing isn't so bad (at least not now, four days after the fact). Writing is uncomfortable, but not too painful. I can't close my hand or squeeze anything very well, though a little Ibuprofen during the day (and Black Velvet at night) quells the dull ache. The good news is that there doesn't seem to be any damage to the joints: having a bone chip in the joint capsule could lead to arthritis, and there's a history of that in my family.

Now all I have to do is stop touching it. I have to let it heal, of course--doctor said it would be three or four weeks, but there's no reason it shouldn't heal completely and with no complications. But I keep squeezing the finger, or pressing it against something, just to see if the pain is still there, and how bad. I guess a minor, novel injury like this isn't a good mix with OCD.