1989

The Finger

Recreation of the finger

It was nice having a car again although we only had the Volvo and had to share it, sometimes with Anne who now had her driver’s license.  Being handy and knowledgeable about cars I had always done the basic maintenance on the Volvo like changing the oil, doing tune ups so when the Volvo started making a squealing noise from under the hood, I investigated it and found it was coming from the fan belt.  After examining it closer, it appeared the belt looked a bit slick on the sides so I took a piece of sandpaper and sanded the sides of the belt and it seemed to help but I couldn’t get to the entire belt.  So I start the engine, then using a piece of sandpaper, I press it against the belt while the engine was running and the noise was reduce.  Good, I thought, so I do the same thing to the other side of the belt when middle finger on my left hand gets caught in the belt which crushes the end of my finger.   I was in shock at first, unsure of what happened then I see my mangled finger with blood dripping from it.  I run into the house, calling Julie, showing her my finger, and telling her I need to go to the emergency room.  She gets a towel to wrap my finger in, we get in the car, and she drives me to the emergency room. 

Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait long, a good thing for blood was dripping on the floor and I was starting to feel faint.  A nurse takes me to a room and the doctor showed up shortly.  After unwrapping my finger, he cleaned it well, and took x-rays. I had broken the last bone of my middle finger and mangled the fingernail bed.  After several shots in the finger, it no longer hurt and was totally numb as the doctor proceeded to stitch the fingernail base back in place and the end of my finger back together.  He tells me I might lose the fingernail, but he thinks it might be okay. After a dozen or so stitches he puts a splint on my finger and bandages it up with gauze making my finger the size of a banana and he tells me to keep it elevated so as I walk out the door to meet Julie my left hand with bandaged finger is raised up like I’m shooting a bird.

Having my finger in such a state was awkward to say the least, making what is simple tasks for two hands difficult, especially the computer keyboard.  It also was somewhat embarrassing to meet people with my finger raised up shooting a bird.  This was particularly awkward when I went to a computer show in San Franscico which CCI had a booth to show their products.  I was scheduled to go to demonstrate and answer questions about PowerWindows which was almost ready to be released.  Cynthia asked if I still wanted to go with my finger the way it was, but I assured her I was fine.  Several of us flew out the day before and help set up the booth although I wasn’t much help because of my finger. The following day we arrive early, people start to arrive and by ten o’clock there are thousands of people.  There wasn’t a lot of interest in CCI’s booth, but I stood by ready to demonstrate or explain PowerWindows with my middle finger raised up in the air shooting a bird at who ever walked by.  Ok, that was awkward.

Grandma's Birthday