The Adventures of Mom's Middle Finger

My mom had minor surgery on her middle finger today.  This is the second surgery she's had to have on a digit, and she'll probably have to keep having them as she ages.  It's because of her Sjogren's Syndrome.  I don't claim to fully understand all of the details, but it has to do with her fingers getting really stiff, locking up, and causing her a lot of pain.  She can get this treated with cortisone shots, but that's only a temporary measure.  The doctor goes in and cuts some tendons so she can bend her fingers but still have controlled use of them.

The last time this happened, it was her thumb, and she didn't realise that as she waited and continued with the cortisone shots, the pain would increase to the point where she would suddenly yelp at random times.  So this time, she only tried two cortisone shots before opting for the surgery.

As you can probably imagine, there were many jokes leading up to today since it was her middle finger being operated on (and locking up!).  Especially since, for Christmas, I had given her bowling team prints of a picture of Mom "accidentally" flipping the bird to her favourite driver - behind his back!  We were at on pit road, and she caught him as he was walking to his car to qualify.  He grabbed her hat and started walking, so she was behind him.  I took a pic just then and the way Mom is holding her hand is... suspect, to say the least.  What's really funny is there's a guy in the background who happens to have a really frowny face as if to say "I see you, lady, and I disapprove!"  So there have been many jokes about "Well, if you didn't use that finger so much..."

Her bowling buddies has asked me to send the picture in to the driver and tell him to watch his back.  "This is your fan.  Just imagine what people who DON'T like you are like!"  They've also asked me to make this picture next year's Christmas card.  Mom has asked me not to publish the picture, because "you might stop me from getting a job someday!"  Uh, okay, Mom.

Even her anaesthesiologist got in on the act today.  Just before he put her under, she asked how her finger would be bandaged.  He told her she'd have her choice of pink, green, or blue Ace bandages, and they'd wrap it sticking out for her.  She told him she wanted the pink.  But when she came to, she was disappointed to see that only her palm, part of her thumb and just a tiny wrap over her middle finger had been wrapped.  She looked for the anaesthesiologist, but he wasn't in the recovery room.

Tonight, I called her to see how she's doing, and she said her finger is swelling up and she can't move it.  She doesn't remember this happening with her thumb, so she's going to call her doctor tomorrow if it doesn't improve overnight.  Although I hope she's okay, the fact that her finger is getting fat and stiff kind of makes me giggle.