Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Stitches and Skin

Jeff cut his hand today while building a closet for our friends Danny and Jennifer.  Jennifer drove Jeff to the hospital where he got three stitches between the knuckles of his forefinger and middle finger on his right hand (his dominant hand). The doctor said the cut is in such an awkward spot that neither glue nor stitches would stay very well but stitches seemed to be the better solution.  Jennifer had a busy day planned but she spent a couple of hours in the ER with Jeff.

Jeff called me at work to tell me about his injury, describe the bandage and splint and added that he planned to take the splint off tomorrow so he can continue to work on the closet.  I asked him whether the doctor said he was supposed to leave the splint on until the stitches come out in a week or until it heals.  “Ach!” he said.  I reminded him how long it took for his scraped shin to heal - weeks!  And the shin doesn’t move all that much.  Isn’t it possible his hand would heal even more slowly?

It seems to be taking a looooong time for this closet to be built.  Danny and Jennifer have been very patient.  The closet is on the second floor and requires many trips up and down the stairs.  Jeff tires by early afternoon, especially since he is still recovering from the cold he caught two weeks ago. 

We emailed Dr. Porter to let him and the dermatologist know that Jeff’s face rash is now tender and some of the pustules are filling with pus.  He has some in his ears.  Jeff was reluctant to report this change to his doctors because he figures it will mean another trip to Penn.  Nevertheless, it was the right thing to do.

On Friday we went to Longwood Gardens to hear Jeff’s brother and sister-in-law, Greg and Palmer, perform.  They were playing for Contra dancers and sang some duets between numbers.  We stayed to see the fountain and light show afterward and were able to enjoy the light installations of British artist Bruce Munro in the dark.

Between that little adventure, my niece Sarah’s graduation party and various other goings on, Jeff hadn’t been able to get a nap in three days.  By Sunday morning we were both exhausted.  We skipped church and stayed in bed until 10:30 a.m. watching nostalgia TV.  We reluctantly rolled out of bed and went out for brunch.  Then Jeff announced it was naptime!  We had a nice, relaxing day.  Life in the slow lane…   

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