Just Call Us Patches

I have two band-aided fingers. My Darling Wife remembers now that her hand hurts because she smashed her arm into a wall (AFTER a 2-hour doctor visit with x-rays) and she took the splint off her hand. #1 has a couple of fingers buddy-taped together because she jammed her finger on the monkey bars. #2 has a big green toe wrapping because he dragged his (bare) toe on the sidewalk bad enough to rip the skin down in a 1/8" wide strip along the width of the nail on his great toe. #3 has a finger wrapped up because he wanted a "banday" when he saw #1 getting one.

The clinic people were favorably impressed with the splint I made up for my Darling Wife's hand, causing me unreasonably excessive pride in my work. They also said not to splint it, because it puts pressure in the wrong spot for her not-broken bones. Upside: no broken bones.

#1 said her finger was getting numb an hour or less after I heard her finger was hurting and swollen, then inspected and taped it up. I checked the tips poking out of the tape: reperfusion normal. Color good. I asked what she meant by numb . . . the pain was going away, she said. I reminded her that was the point of the tape.

#2 made a huge fuss about dunking his toe in hydrogen peroxide for fear of the pain it would cause him. I finally got him to do it, and set him to count 200 Mississippies. By 89 he was getting bored and by 180 it was clear his toe no longer hurt. Bonus points on this adventure, the peroxide served its purpose. There were several grains of dirt in the bottom of the bath, formerly embedded in his skin and debrided by the bubbly bath.