Call OFF the wedding!!!!!

Ive broken a nail!

SERIOUSLY SERIOUSLY broken one!!! Yesterday Gabe and I headed downtown for an ordinary pregnancy driven outing to gorge ourselves on Guidos Pizza...and I did something extraordinarily STUPID! As we parked the car and headed to leave, I realized my hand wasnt following my arm. I turned around and I had SHUT (and I mean COMPLETELY shut) my left middle fingertip in the door! I was so confused...seeing as I have safely exited my vehicle many many times in the past, and never ONCE injured myself in such a way! I tried to sort of YANK it out, but alas - it was truly wedged in there! I called out to Gabe - OH NO! And he rushed over in time for me to open the car door and double (or triple!) over in EXCRUCIATING pain! When I released my finger the blood just started oozing out of my BLACK fingernail. I have never felt such a hideous throbbing pain in my life! I shouted one very LONG swear word, and immediately felt like I was going to pass out. I started to sweat and the street turned black andI couldnt hear anything. Gabe ran for some Ice at the restaurant and I sat in the car with my head down on my knees and my hand up in the air elevated over my head. When he got back to the car, the initial sting/ shock of it all had dulled a bit, but of course I kept saying over and over "I have to be put down..I cant live. This hurts SOOO BAD, cut my finger off!!!" Despite the pain I was fairly rational and calm. I sent Gabe back in for pizza to go...(injured as I was, I didnt want to leave without our goods!) And holding a wet napkin over my giant swollen finger we went home.

As a nurse, I already knew the terrible truth about such an injury. Nothing can help it. All they can do is give you pain relief and splint it. I could move all my joints so I knew I hadnt broken it, so I figured Id come home and have my Dad doctor me up, or if that didnt work, I knew I could count on Gabe to pull an 'Old Yeller' and put me out of my misery! My main worry, was that because of the dang baby, I was going to be relying on nothing but good ol' tylenol for pain relief!

So we came home, and I sat on the couch as my family members vomited on my behalf over the misery and pain that is a broken fingernail...and I sat there with a cup of ice water trying to brave up enough guts to submerge my finger in it! I finally got up enough nerve, but the shock of the cold on my damaged smashed nerves made my eyes well up with tears! Everyone finally convinced me to go to a Doc in the box and have them give me a shot of lidocaine and maybe drill a hole in the nail bed to alleviate some of the hideous pressure that had built up. So even though, the thought of a doctor touching my finger made me want to die - the thought of having to just live with it in its current state was UNBEARABLE!

So at the Doc's we talked it over and he suggested we drill the nailbed, and load up on some pregnancy safe narcotics! I agreed this was an excellent plan, but before they could do it they insisted on an x-ray to rule out that anything was broken. They didnt want to drill a hole creating another portal of infection so close to the bone in case it had been damaged. So I dripped blood all over the x-ray pad and they took 3 quick pictures. And wouldnt you know it - I had BROKEN the tip of my bone OFF! GROSS!!! So now, I had to live with the burning nerve pain radiating down my wrist and other fingers, and the throbbing that made me want to die. The doc said the best he could do was give me some Percoset and a splint. Oh yes, and he told me to go home and put it in ice water.

So I came home and have been awake in misery ever since. Its now 6 am, and I have typed this with one hand in the darkness...mainly because if i had to lay there in pain next to my snoring husband for ONE more SECOND I was seriously going to O.D. on the 20 miracle pills the Doctor gave me.

My fingernail is going to fall off. I seriously dont know if i can live. These pictures were taken after hours of soaking in ice water. The swelling is pretty much gone and it had quit bleeding, but its still disgusting.