Feeling dumb: displaced fracture

[breakingtime91]

So about 3 weeks ago I fell and caught myself weird on my right hand. My pinky felt really stiff at the joint near the finger nail. Being the type of person I am shrugged it off and thought I jammed it really bad. After almost two weeks of it being swollen I figured out something was wrong, I wasn't sure what but assumed a bad sprain or mallet finger. Called the VA and about 3 days later got an xray.

Today I found out I found out I have a displaced fraction at that joint/portion of bone that has been left untreated for 3 weeks. I've lifted with it, slept with it not buddy wrapped, and basically been a complete dumbass with it. I am pretty worried I am going to need surgery and over all just feel like an idiot that I thought I had a badly jammed finger for a few weeks when it was a displaced fracture.

[Clusterfrack]

Ugh. That sucks. Hope you can get it taken care of.

I lost a tooth and spent $5k on dental surgery by toughing it out when I should have known better.

[blues]

I had a somewhat similar injury...


I was on a cross-country motorcycle trip in 1997 and was at a buddy's place in Shreveport, LA getting dressed to head out for west TX that day, when I jammed the middle finger of my left hand while tucking in my shirt. Had the classic dropped tip and when I stopped in Breckenridge, TX to have it looked at in the ER, (I was literally the only one in the ER, had to wake up a sleeping doc to have a look and order an x-ray), he said it would probably need surgery, taped it up and sent me on my way.

Got back to Miami three weeks later and went to an orthopedic surgeon. He said it looked like the tendon or ligament, (I don't remember which), had torn and probably needed a surgical solution...but for shits and grins, he taped it up for three weeks and told me to avoid fucking with it.

Wouldn't you know, it healed on its own. I couldn't bend it for a while due to atrophy or some such, but it was right as rain again...with no issues in the 25 years since.

Go figure. Pretty nice for a surgeon to find a non-invasive solution.

[breakingtime91]

Ugh. That sucks. Hope you can get it taken care of.

I lost a tooth and spent $5k on dental surgery by toughing it out when I should have known better.

Same here. Using the VA so it should cost nothing but we will see. My doctor was not happy with me and asked why I didn't get it looked at sooner and I just answered, "I'm stupid sometimes." While the truth is we can barely get substitute teachers and I just burned through 35 hours of sick time when I had covid

[mmc45414]

while tucking in my shirt

If in the history of bullshit story enhancement did a story ever need to be enhanced:
There I was, now this is no shit, tucking in my shirt...


ETA: I am a guy that has only ever broken a single bone:
Crashed a motorcycle? Nope
Wrecked a bicycle? Nope
Crash a snowmobile? Nah
Fall off a ladder painting my house? I wouldn't do that!
Break my finger farting around on a hardwood floor in stocking feet when I was a little kid? Yep!

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Get better. Been there, take it easy.

[WDR]

6th grade dodgeball. Went to catch the ball and ended up with my right pinky finger taking the brunt of the blow basically right in line with the finger. Thought I had jammed it, it hurt, but not terribly... and kept aching for a couple weeks. Never mentioned it to my folks.

One night a month or so later, my brother and I were goofing around, fighting and roughhousing, and he kicked me. Right on the edge of my right hand and pinky finger. Not hard, mind you, but I dropped to the ground screaming. Mom hauls me to doc in a box, they x-ray it, and say it's broken... but already healing. The kick didn't break anything, just jostled the old injury. Bones shattered from first joint all the way up into the hand. Seems the dodgeball really wrecked me. Doc said if it was fresh, I would have went to an ortho for surgery, but since it was old and already healing the gave me a splint, buddy taped it up, and sent me home, with instructions to stop picking on my little brother.

I have a slightly wider reach with my right hand these days. It's a little crooked. Finger was stiff for a long time, but I have full function.

Listen to the doc. You'll probably be fine.

[blues]

If you ever see my left hand pinky finger in person, you'll see the masterful job I did of "fixing it" after a basketball or football game when I was in my teens.

I can bend it back 90 degrees from my hand, bend the finger back from the middle joint, and pop it in and out of getting stuck in various attitudes.
It's a sure way to identify me...so there's that...and it's never interfered with the use of the hand despite its, um, peculiarities.

I guess that's why we get ten fingers.

[Joe in PNG]

About 10 years ago, right before I moved from the coast of PNG up to the Highlands, I went to an oceanside resort with some friends for a post packing swim and lunch.

There was a rope swing on one of the mangrove trees, and I decided to have a go- and wound up with a nice spiral fracture of my middle finger on my right hand. Just the perfect thing the day before a major move.

Happily, I was able to manage unpacking without problems. But, it's still a bit twisted.

[CraigS]

What is the docs idea to fix it? My wife did almost the same thing catching herself w/ her hand after slipping on ice. The doc said needed surgery. So he did that. Put two huge sewing pins in it w/ 3/8 plastic balls on the ends sticking out maybe 1/2 inch from the end of the finger. The balls were to be able to wrap it up w/o the pins poking through the gause. The first time she unwrapped it at home I nearly lost my lunch. I don't know why but dang that grossed me out. Anyway after 6 weeks of dealing w/ a finger an inch longer than it should be and at least an inch in diameter from the gause (ever try taking a shower while keeping a finger 100% dry?), they pulled the pins. Dang finger was just a little bit straighter than it had been and still bent more than the one on the other hand. She says if it ever happens again she will just tape it to the next finger and live w/ it. I hope yours will turn out better than hers did.