I should have probably written this sometime last week when I still had some use of my "second hand," which is the term I have decided to use for the hand I don't write with, a.k.a. my left hand, but who knew I'd end up to be such a complete cripple. Here's what happened.

Last monday I was driving along in my little Miata with the top down and I entered an intersection on a green light which had been green for some time. Just as I entered the intersection I saw a full size Toyota truck coming toward me at quite a clip, obviosly blissfully unaware that it was about to run a red light and smash me to bits. Had I hit the brakes I probably would have been a dead man, so I punched the gas and swerved to the left to try to get out of the way. The truck hit the back corner of the passenger side of my car and sent me flying into the curb, where I abruptly stopped. I was shaken, naturally, but the airbag didn't go off and there was no blood. Maybe it wasn't so bad. The only problem was that the ring finger of my left hand was now pointing conspicuously toward my pinkie. The girl driving the truck pulled off to the side and we asked each other if we were okay (she was fine, I had the whole finger thing) and surveyed the damage to our vehicles. She had a little damage to the bottom of her bumper, my car was a little smashed up on the back corner where she hit me and a bunch smashed up on the front drivers side corner where my wheel hit the curb. The wheel was cracked and bent up into the fender. I called the cops and they said if neither of us were seriously hurt then cops wouldn't come out, we'd just have to exchange info and fill out accident reports on our own and turn them into the dmv. So we exchanged information and I called my insurance company to give them the report. Then I called a towing company and waited about an hour for a truck to show up and drag my car to a shop. About three hours after the accident happened I finally made it to my apartment, my car dropped off outside some body shop, and my finger swollen to about the size of my thumb.

The next day I went to an immediate care clinic to have the finger looked at, and after several hours of waiting around the took some x-rays and told me it was broken, and gave me a list of hand surgeons to call. The next morning, Wednesday, I got a call from the insurance company of the girl who hit me and they asked what happened. I told her, and she said, "Well that's the same thing our insured told us, so we're going to take full liability for this." So that's a piece of good news. They also paid to get ne a rental car. I then started calling all the hand surgeons on my list and was finally able to get an appointment for friday. I had a splint on my finger from the immediate care place, so I just made do with that and worked a couple of short shifts at work. Friday I went to the doctor and he decided I would need surgery on my finger to have a pin put in it. He put the splint back on, but this time taped the broken finger to my middle finger, which felt much more stable. The surgery was scheduled for monday afternoon. I worked my saturday and sunday shifts the best I could.

Yesterday I went to the hospital, nervous as hell because the last time I went to a doctor, other than the dentist, was when I was in middle school, and I had never had surgery or a broken bone before. They put me in a room and gave me a gown to change into, even though I was all like, "Hey, it's just my finger!" I thought I'd be sneaky and leave my underwear on, but the jig was up when the nurse said she was going to give me a shot of morphine in my butt. The morphine made me fell much better about all of this, I must say, and then she got an IV in me. I'm glad I'm not terribly afraid of needles. When it's time for surgery, needles are your best friend! The started filling me up with fabulous chemicals and wheeled me down to the surgery room, and then I want to sleep. I woke up an hour or so later and thought maybe I was waking up early or something, but it was all as it was supposed to be. They dragged me to a recovery room and Jenn came in and I was damn happy to see her. The anesthesia was wearing off and I was getting my brain back. My hand was completely numb, and totally wrapped up past my fingertips, save for half of my thumb. The bottom of my hand has a hard plaster cast to keep things in line and it's all wrapped very thick in gauze and that tan bandage shit. After a while I was able to get dressed and get ready to get out of there, and they gave me a sling and prescriptions for vicodin, celebrex, and cephlexa. I had jenn pick me up a mocha at the hospital coffee shop on her way to get the car because I felt I deserved it, and they wheeled me ou the front door.

After the numbness wore off pretty late last night it felt like my fingers were in a vice. Pretty awful pain. And the size of my cast, which goes about halfway up my forearm, made it pretty apparent I'd be out of work for a while. Called the doc today, I've got an appointment for next monday, but I'm probably going to be one handed for at least three weeks. Hopefully I'll be being compensated for my lost wages and then some. I called the insurance company today and left a message but haven't heard back. I still don't know if my car is going to be totaled, which is really pissing me off, but it has $4800 worth of damage and I'm hoping that means it will be. I don't want the fucking thing back.

Here's a short list of things that are a fucking bitch to do or that I can't do right now because of my hand:

type

shower

wash my hair (had to have jenn wash it in the sink last week)

take a leak

pull up my pants

cook

open the coke bottle

crack an ice cube tray

drive a stick shift (one more reason I don't want my car back)

put the dog on her leash

play the new keyboard jenn bought me for my birthday (which was two days before the accident, oddly enough)

pick up or carry anything

work on the furniture I'm trying to refinish

go to work

talk on the phone and write at the same time

I'm sure the list would be much longer, but I've been typing this shit for about an hour and twenty minutes.

I'm bored off my fucking ass.

Those insurance fucks better call tomorrow.

It's hot in here.

I'd better get some money for this.