My Break-versary

This is the story of a girl (me), a birthday (my roommate's), and a garage door.

Today marks a very special anniversary today. Today is the one year mark of when I crushed my finger. And since, apparently, it is such a hilarious (and a bit graphic) story, I will share it. :)

Once upon a time, in the not-so-far-away-land of Lincoln, it was my roommate Brittney's birthday. The big 25! Ooooooo! We decided that as roommates we would take Brittney out to dinner to celebrate. Well we celebrated, but not in the typical fashion--we ended up in the ER. Okay, I ended up in the ER. (I seem to end up there a lot...hmmm...I think I need to revise my health insurance plan...)

My brother wanted to borrow a movie and I didn't want to wait around for him to come pick it up so I told him that I would put it on the ground just inside the garage door (it wasn't automatic and it didn't lock--good thing people didn't know that!) and leave it there for him. I quickly pushed the door up, tossed the moved on the ground, and thenI grabbed the door between two sections (there was no handle) and pulled down. Then everything happened in slow motion. ...are you cringing yet??...

I knew as soon as I put my fingers there, it was a bad idea. But I can distinctly remember thinking, "This isn't good. I need to move my fingers. I should probably move them now. Ok, I really need to move them." I didn't move them. Actually I tried, but I was too slow. Case in point of sometimes I think too much.

As I was spending what precious miliseconds I had to move my fingers, I could hear my roommates (who were all sitting in the car waiting for me to hurry up) yelling for me to move my fingers. All four of them. I'm pretty sure even a neighbor who was in her yard was yalso yelling at me to move my hand. Obviously I ignored them. "I am so smart. S.M.R.T."

The fortunate part is that I was able to get two of the three fingers out before it closed. My middle finger on my right hand was crushed in the door. It shut so hard that there was a dent in the door where my finger was. I pulled out my hand and instantly it started throbbing. I'd never felt pain like that before. And it was bleeding everywhere. I felt bad because I got blood all over Brittney's car. My roommates instantly rushed to my side and walked me inside. I was sobbing. I tried to wash my hand off to see how bad it was but in the 45 seconds since I had crushed it, it had swelled up really huge. There was a crack along the entire nail and it wouldn't stop bleeding. My finger is aching right now as I think about it. Blech!

My roommates instantly started trying to convince me to go to the ER. I figured it was pointless because even if it was broken (which I highly doubted), there wasn't anything they could do about it. I got really nauseous and dizzy and thought I was going to pass out. I was pushed to the couch and instantly had a towel and ice on my hand. It was seemingly like magic. :)

My roommates were so sweet and tried calling practically every guy in the ward to come over and give me a blessing. Nobody was home or available. My brother showed up to get his movie, saw that we were still home and came in. And saw me on the couch with my middle finger in the air (with an ice pack on it) and was so sweet and went to the store to get me a splint and peppermint (I was in shock and very nauseous still). And once Dessert, er, Jared got to the house, Steven gave me a blessing. It was sweet and his first one! :)

Anyway to make a long story only slightly shorter, at about 11pm, my finger still hadn't stopped bleeding and so Birthday Girl Brittney and Kelly took me to the ER. I was only there for a couple of hours and found out that I indeed had broken the very tip of my finger and that yes, there was not really anything they could do about it. I didn't even get a cast for the effort. Such a waste. :) Though, they did give me vicodin so I could sleep. We finally got home about 2am. I'm such a thoughtful person, I gave my roommate an adventure for her birthday. :) Look at me go. :)

I was going to post some pictures, but I figured that might be too gross.

So I had to keep the splint on for about a month and now my finger is slightly twisted and deformed. I love it. It has character.

And that, my friends, is a true story.