Just when I think things are on track, shit happens. Friday night as I was finishing making dinner, I sliced my thumb open on the lid of a tin can. Immediately out of my mouth came “MOTHERF$*KER!” J ran up to me almost quicker than I could get my hand under the water, “MOM, that is an unusable word!” “Yeah, sorry kiddo, it really hurt.” At first I was in denial that I needed stitches, well, mainly because I was hungry and I had carne asada and homemade pico de gallo waiting for me. But. It. Would. Not. Stop. Bleeding. Nate told me right away that it needed stitches and as hard as it was for me to give in, to the urgent care we went. I found out that I have an incredibly high tolerance for Lidocaine. The PA gave me 3 ml in 2 shots; I told the him that I could still feel pain. He was skeptical, but gave me another shot, waited a few minutes and then started the first stitch. Let’s just say that Nate heard me scream from the waiting room. So after 4 shots and 6 ml of Lidocaine to numb my thumb, I now have 4 stitches. And the shots itself are no joke. You would think I would be used to them by now, but apparently not. They HURT!
Trying to do anything with giant gauze wrapped around your dominant hand thumb is a challenge. The wrapping got stuck on my brush and came off. It got stuck on the pillow as I was getting in bed and came off. Ouch. It was throbbing and any direct pressure on it was a sharp pain. We wrapped it in a ziplock bag and electrical tape on Saturday so I could shower and keep it dry. Ugh. Putting on makeup is hysterical. Trying to just use the fingers on my right hand was not enough pressure to get anything on and the left was too hard and looked like clown makeup so I have given up on makeup for the time being. Somehow I managed and was able to get out the house; everything just takes sooo much longer while I adapt my hand movements to not cause any further pain. Today I had to finally give in and wash/dry my hair. This whole process with a ziploc bag around your right hand is a nightmare. My left arm has limited range of motion from the mastectomy and my right hand (the “good side”) is restricted with a giant blue thing. Nate calls is my “blue banana thumb” and sings some song that I don’t know. I am just over it. I feel so helpless. Nate is traveling this week so we went to Costco and got a bunch of pre-made dinners since the kids apparently still want to eat and the last thing I want to do is cook. Typing is also a bit of a challenge. I use my thumb was more than I would ever thought. I go back in to have the stitches checked in 4 days and hopefully they can be removed and I will just be left with a nice 1 inch scar on my thumb. From now one, I will listen to my mother and not put the tin can lids in the trash. Lesson learned.