OUCH!

The smiley face on my finger in the photo below was not put there by me … and certainly did not reflect how I felt a few weeks ago!

Nope, that was taken on surgery day, after I had gotten home from having an operation on my hand for a condition known as trigger finger. For several months, I had a lot of pain in that hand -- centered in the middle finger. OK, stop laughing.
My finger was stiff and painful, I could not bend it very far and when I did bend it, it would become "stuck" and then sort of pop when I straightened it. After some tests and X-rays, I was sent to a hand specialist. The first course of action was steroid injections, but when that offered no relief, surgery came next.

Luckily it is done on an outpatient basis, so after a pleasant "nap" during surgery and taking some painkillers, I was back at home for several days to recuperate.
The smiley face on my finger was the doctor's way of marking the finger in question for the surgery.
So of course I couldn't resist documenting the event.

All the wrapping was allowed to be removed after a day, but yuck -- who wants to see stitches? Avert your eyes if that might be you...

There, that's better. Cover it up!

The stitches are out now. The swelling has gone down a lot and I'm still working on the hand exercises. Can't wait until the stiffness and pain are totally gone. Fingers crossed that will be soon!