I am old and am starting to fall apart
Sunday, Dec. 07, 2003 - 17:04

At the risk of sounding like a hypochondriac, let me tell you about my finger: I think it's going to fall off! It's all bruised for no reason! It's numb, too! I didn't do anything to it! It just started hurting last night like there was a sliver or a bee sting or a muscle spasm that needed to be rubbed out, and then it got all swollen, and then this morning I looked at it and it was all black and blue! It looked like what I imagine a dead finger would look like! (I've never seen a dead finger, so I can only imagine what one looks like. And that's exactly how mine looked!) And then a few hours later it got all numb! And then I got home from work at 1:00 because I left work early because 1. there was nothing to do, 2. I was tired, and 3. they think I'm sick (I sort of am sick) because I called in sick yesterday (I sort of was sick), and so I went home early and I put my finger in hot water and the numbness stopped and the bruise turned slightly purple, but now the numbness is back!

The prospect of losing the pointer finger on my right hand is terrifying. What do you do with an appendage that falls off? Throw it away? Bury it? Burn it? Take it to the hospital? Give it to the dog? I need to know, because this really might happen to me.