The Aftermath

After blogging enthusiastically about my dinner party and making you all wild with jealousy, I hit a major snafu. It turns out those plantains were A LOT more trouble than I thought. While peeling them with my bare hands, the tips of my thumbs started to get sore underneath the fingernail. I figured I had just separated the skin from the nail a little bit and went on working. Then I had the party, blah, blah, blah, but the next day the thumbs were a little more tender. I put band-aids on them and went about my day.

Sunday night, however, I kept waking up because my left thumb was throbbing. When I finally got up for good and took off the band-aid, it was not a pretty sight. My left thumb was hot, red, swollen, and still throbbing with every heartbeat. As soon as I touched the tip (close your eyes if you don't want to read this), it started oozing. Immediately I knew that I was in danger of losing my thumb and maybe my entire arm if I didn't fix this STAT. So I called Mom, who told me to put neosporin on it or see the doctor if it would make me feel better.

I assumed the doctor would just give me some antibiotics, tell me to take an advil and send me on my way, but she took one look and said,

"You're not going to want to hear this, but I'm going to have to refer you to a hand surgeon."

WHAT?!

She pointed out the dark spots deep underneath my nail that were actually pieces of debris (from the plantain) that had to come out, and informed me that general practitioners don't usually like to deal with hands because they are so complex, and what on earth was I doing to have this happen? When I explained about the plantain, she remained stoic, but I'm sure she was thinking, how did this girl ever make it through the natural selection process from our primate ancestors? Our primate ancestors who survived, I might add, by peeling and eating bananas and plantains. That's what our disposable, I mean opposable, thumbs evolved to DO! And here I am, about to be killed by one!!

Thankfully, she offered to give it a try herself if I was game to avoid me having to try to get in to see a hand surgeon and pay the extra cost. She numbed up my thumb by injecting anesthetic into the ball of my thumb and then went to work, digging and sweeping. I'll spare you the details, but mention that half-way through the numbness wore off, and it was NOT a pleasant experience.

Despite it all, my thumb is making a full recovery, though I might be swearing off green plantains for a good while.