I am no exception

Well my friends, I have officially claimed the worst accidental injury of the year award. I might as well go ahead and accept the stupidest woman of the year award with it.


Let me explain...


Monday I was washing dishes (our dishwasher is out of service, so I'm doing it the old fashioned way... and let me tell you, I have a new found respect for all the women who did this before dishwashers were around... I SO took advantage of the "luxuries" in life before now) and as I always do, I start with the glasses. I grabbed one (without looking, because this has become habit by now) and started to clean the rim of it. Well, little did I know it was cracked. Of course it is.... so what do ya know, it breaks in the process of taking out a chunk of skin so deep you can see my muscle and small veins. Yes people, I'm serious, my right thumb is missing almost a dime sized chunk (not a slice, a whole chunk, for lack of better description words) of skin! How it happened, I have not a clue... all I know is I felt something stab me, I looked down to see a missing part of my thumb knuckle (sort of) and yet, no blood.... until about a split second later! Yeah then there was nothing BUT blood. Getting a visual yet? Good.... cuz you deserve to be grossed out too. =)


So I screamed and used a few words I'm not going to repeat and carefully grabbed a towel, wrapped my hand, picked up Jace and walked out the front door to my neighbors house across the street(let me explain to you what I was wearing...or lack of... I have on a tank top that I wore to take Hank to school in and shorts i wear around the house INSIDE only and yeah, no bra...did I care? At that moment...not so much!) She used to be a nurse, so of course, she would know what to do. This was deep.... it was something I've never seen before. All I knew was I saw small red/purple looking lines (veins) and knew that couldn't be good. She thankfully was able to help bandage it up for me to get to the store to get the needed supplies to bandage it better.


It took two days for it to stop bleeding, each time removing the bandage it would sting so bad it made me cry. I've never felt pain like that (and I've had two kids!) It was truly the worst thing I've felt in a long time, if not ever!! Thankfully, it has stopped bleeding and I can actually use my thumb more than I have been able to since monday. But sadly, my right hand is out of commission at the moment. I can not get it wet or grip many things. Brushing my hair and my teeth is a task and putting my hair in a pony tail is somewhat of a challenge. Try going to the bathroom and unbuttoning and rebuttoning your jeans/pants with your non-dominant hand. It's not enjoyable what so ever. Or chasing down a naked baby to put his diaper on and doing that one handed.


So my blog readers (all 3 of you) I have a challenge for you. Use your non dominant hand ONLY and try those things. Brushing your teeth and your hair. Using your straightner and blowdryer while using a round brush. Try washing your face or washing your hair without getting the other hand wet. Let me know how bad it sucks! Give me your pointers on what works best, because this hand is gonna be of no use for quite some time I'm afraid. I'm offically, ONE handed!


I now have much more respect for those that are truly missing a hand or arm or foot or leg. I can not imagine the challenges those people have to face on a daily basis. What takes us 5 minutes to do can take 30 minutes for others. It's really sad to think about what all we (at least I) take for granted because it's just "here" and normal. I guess in a way, I've taken my good health for granted as well. That scares me. It scares me because it makes me feel "selfish" and undeserving of it. I now realize and understand that I should treat myself better. Yes, this was an accident, but look how easily something this "simple" can happen. I am so thankful to have two hands and two feet. To have my legs that I can walk on and hands that I can write with. How blessed am I to have these "conviences" in life? I will never take my life for granted anymore. I know, especially all thats happened to people I know in the past year, 2 weeks even, that life is short and bad things happen to good people, and I am no exception.


As for my hand.... It will recover, but for now, I'm learning how to do things differently for once.