In 2023, I had two falls close together (two bouts tumbling down the stairs in two weeks) and in general, I tend to fall more in winter (and not even outoor falls due to weather and ice). These two factors and my hospitalization with AFib after my falls in 2023 led me to go to the emergency room yesterday because of my fall at lunch time on Wednesday.

(For more info on my hospitalization in 2023, click here.)

I just wanted to make sure that this fall didn’t lead to a sequence of falls.

In similar cautiousness, today I visited my old ortho practice from when I broke my ankle in 2016. That’s the infamous “I broke my ankle and went to the Chinese buffet before heading to urgent care for an x-ray” incident. Read more about that here.

I felt silly, because my injury is pretty minor compared to other orthopedic cases. The ER told me that if it didn’t feel better in two weeks to follow up with ortho.

But I know from past breaks that the first two weeks is when the healing really solidifies and if it heals wrong, I would have more problems. And I wanted better direction on how to splint it, a better splint, and confirmation it was broken.

It is. In two places in the knuckle.

This is my right hand. At this point only one finger of my right hand has not been screwed up in some capacity.

And the doctor seemed to agree with my fastidiousness. He gave me a better splint and some first aid tape and told me to come back in four weeks for a follow up and new x-rays. His assistant gave me some Coban tape and some buddy strips for the splint.

I have a high-deductible insurance plan and I do not have an HSA, so I know I will pay more than I want to for this, but it’s my dominant hand and I need it to work.