Project Splinter Finger: RESOLVED
4/18/10 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wobblerlorriI've been on Bactrim for a week now, but the finger was still sore, and hurt when I squeezed it to try to get something -- anything -- out. No go, just the same little tiny entry hole, a big white area to the left, and a bump on the opposite side of my finger.
I've been keeping it bandaged, with twice daily cleanings using peroxide, coating with polysporin, and putting on a band-aid. When I've been working on the house, I've worn a nitrile glove on that hand. The finger, while no worse, was certainly no better.
So tonight, after my shower, I decided to do some home surgery. Specifically on the large white area to the left of the tiny hole. I'd either be showered with foul, reeking pus, or I'd get rid of a big hunk of dead skin. Either way, I Was Ready.
I prepared the home surgery kit: needle, cuticle clippers (chosen because they have small, slanted blades that come to a nice point), peroxide, kleenexes. I started with the needle; after disinfecting it with peroxide, I ran it into the white area. A tiny twinge, but no pain. No pus or serum, either. I tried several approaches, but decided it was just dead skin, which I should clip off.
So I put the needle down, disinfected the clippers, and began clipping. Oh, the blood. There was no pain, but LOTS of claret. So I clipped and swabbed, clipped and swabbed. Finally I had the tiny entry hole enlarged to about 1/4" across, and it was running with blood. Faster than an ooze, slower than a stream. I poured some peroxide on it, and it foamed pleasingly.
But I wasn't happy; I knew I wasn't done. I pushed on the other side of the finger, where I'd originally told the ER doc that part of the splinter was coming out. When I did this, the entry point bulged slightly, and there seemed to be something there. Hm.
So I pushed again, noted where the something was, trimmed another little bit of skin away, then gently grasped the something with the cuticle clippers, and pulled. It slid gently and silkily out, no pain at all. And this is what I got:
Note the quarter for reference. This, o my droogies, is the Splinter That Wasn't In My Finger. Now it's out, my finger feels a LOT better, I don't have the mysterious hard thing under my skin, and I do believe it's going to heal up now. I must save this to show my doctor, and I'm tempted to take it up to the ER doc and tell him not to believe x-rays when the patient says there's something in there...
I love doing home surgery.
I've been keeping it bandaged, with twice daily cleanings using peroxide, coating with polysporin, and putting on a band-aid. When I've been working on the house, I've worn a nitrile glove on that hand. The finger, while no worse, was certainly no better.
So tonight, after my shower, I decided to do some home surgery. Specifically on the large white area to the left of the tiny hole. I'd either be showered with foul, reeking pus, or I'd get rid of a big hunk of dead skin. Either way, I Was Ready.
I prepared the home surgery kit: needle, cuticle clippers (chosen because they have small, slanted blades that come to a nice point), peroxide, kleenexes. I started with the needle; after disinfecting it with peroxide, I ran it into the white area. A tiny twinge, but no pain. No pus or serum, either. I tried several approaches, but decided it was just dead skin, which I should clip off.
So I put the needle down, disinfected the clippers, and began clipping. Oh, the blood. There was no pain, but LOTS of claret. So I clipped and swabbed, clipped and swabbed. Finally I had the tiny entry hole enlarged to about 1/4" across, and it was running with blood. Faster than an ooze, slower than a stream. I poured some peroxide on it, and it foamed pleasingly.
But I wasn't happy; I knew I wasn't done. I pushed on the other side of the finger, where I'd originally told the ER doc that part of the splinter was coming out. When I did this, the entry point bulged slightly, and there seemed to be something there. Hm.
So I pushed again, noted where the something was, trimmed another little bit of skin away, then gently grasped the something with the cuticle clippers, and pulled. It slid gently and silkily out, no pain at all. And this is what I got:
Note the quarter for reference. This, o my droogies, is the Splinter That Wasn't In My Finger. Now it's out, my finger feels a LOT better, I don't have the mysterious hard thing under my skin, and I do believe it's going to heal up now. I must save this to show my doctor, and I'm tempted to take it up to the ER doc and tell him not to believe x-rays when the patient says there's something in there...
I love doing home surgery.
