Well, I never thought I would be writing my next blog post personally! Week 6 was pretty much the longest and most emotional week of my life. Everything was exactly how you'd imagine the last week of the MTC to be... double the excitement, double the emotions, and double the work efforts.
Wednesday marked the almost-there-point of the week. It was also the second to last gym time, which for our district meant second to last time to play our favorite, volleyball.
We all raced to our favorite court after the amen. I remember a voice in the back of my head say, "Maybe you should start out with stairs today..." I pushed the thought out of my head as quickly as it had come in. There was no way that I was missing volleyball with my district! :)
Five minutes later, it was my second hit of the game... and again the thought came to me, "Maybe don't hit that one."
I hit it. The crunch sound was sickening, loud enough that almost the entire court heard it. I looked down, my whole hand throbbing in pain. My thumb was bent inside out- I could easily see that it was probably broken. From the tip of my thumb down to my wrist I was swollen and red.
Sister Martinez was the first to reach me. "Are you okay?"
"I think so... Actually, I think I broke my thumb. Should I stay here... or see the nurse?" I asked.
"See the nurse!" She said immediately. She led me to the stand by nurse in the gym. The nurse probably sees hundreds of jammed fingers and I had a hard time convincing her that this was more than a few hours of pain.
"What do you rate your pain?" She asked me.
I gripped the table to keep from crying. "Uh... 10."
"Okay, well if 10 is child-birth, what do you rate your pain?" She asked, turning my thumb to see it better.
I didn't hesitate. "10."
She raised her eyebrows at me.
"Okay... maybe 9, 9 1/2-ish."
"So, you feel a lot of pain?"
"Yes!"
After prodding me and moving my thumb around, I could tell she came to the conclusion that it wasn't broken. She had me ice it for the remainder of gym, and then wrapped it very loosely. The pain was really bad, but if she didn't think it was broken, I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. That night, an Elder in my district wrapped it more securely for me, which was so painful, but I'm grateful he did. Because of the way he wrapped it, my thumb was protected from further injury.
We decided to go to the doctor first thing in the morning. After waiting almost an hour to go back, the doctor only spent 5 minutes looking at it before he sent us for x-rays. The x-rays took about an hour and then we had to wait another hour before we could see the doctor again. He told me a broke it in a t-shape down the first knuckle and then around the back of my knuckle. The joint was also pushed back a little, which is why my thumb looked inside out. He set up another appointment for me, this time at a hand-specialist.
I knew that my thumb was broken pretty bad, but I had the innocent hope that in 4 days, I would be boarding a plane heading for the Philippines.
Wednesday marked the almost-there-point of the week. It was also the second to last gym time, which for our district meant second to last time to play our favorite, volleyball.
We all raced to our favorite court after the amen. I remember a voice in the back of my head say, "Maybe you should start out with stairs today..." I pushed the thought out of my head as quickly as it had come in. There was no way that I was missing volleyball with my district! :)
Five minutes later, it was my second hit of the game... and again the thought came to me, "Maybe don't hit that one."
I hit it. The crunch sound was sickening, loud enough that almost the entire court heard it. I looked down, my whole hand throbbing in pain. My thumb was bent inside out- I could easily see that it was probably broken. From the tip of my thumb down to my wrist I was swollen and red.
Sister Martinez was the first to reach me. "Are you okay?"
"I think so... Actually, I think I broke my thumb. Should I stay here... or see the nurse?" I asked.
"See the nurse!" She said immediately. She led me to the stand by nurse in the gym. The nurse probably sees hundreds of jammed fingers and I had a hard time convincing her that this was more than a few hours of pain.
"What do you rate your pain?" She asked me.
I gripped the table to keep from crying. "Uh... 10."
"Okay, well if 10 is child-birth, what do you rate your pain?" She asked, turning my thumb to see it better.
I didn't hesitate. "10."
She raised her eyebrows at me.
"Okay... maybe 9, 9 1/2-ish."
"So, you feel a lot of pain?"
"Yes!"
After prodding me and moving my thumb around, I could tell she came to the conclusion that it wasn't broken. She had me ice it for the remainder of gym, and then wrapped it very loosely. The pain was really bad, but if she didn't think it was broken, I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. That night, an Elder in my district wrapped it more securely for me, which was so painful, but I'm grateful he did. Because of the way he wrapped it, my thumb was protected from further injury.
We decided to go to the doctor first thing in the morning. After waiting almost an hour to go back, the doctor only spent 5 minutes looking at it before he sent us for x-rays. The x-rays took about an hour and then we had to wait another hour before we could see the doctor again. He told me a broke it in a t-shape down the first knuckle and then around the back of my knuckle. The joint was also pushed back a little, which is why my thumb looked inside out. He set up another appointment for me, this time at a hand-specialist.
I knew that my thumb was broken pretty bad, but I had the innocent hope that in 4 days, I would be boarding a plane heading for the Philippines.
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| My cast! |
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| My shower proof system! |
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