So Then I Fell...

[CraigSca]

Went to a birthday party that my 4 year old was invited to. One of those bowling parties, with 10 other kids running around screaming, and 10-15 parents trying to make sure no one drops a bowling ball on their foot.

Anyway...as is the modus operandi with 4 year olds, about half of them lost interest in bowling after their second ball or two. So, my wife asks me to take our two year old up to one of the lanes to see if she'd like to try a crack at it. I carry her up there and bring her right up to the foul line (or whatever the official term in bowling is). I'm getting ready to put the ball between her legs, so we can both give it a proper push, when she kind of kicks at the ball. She succeeds in only giving it a partial blow (taps at it, essentially), causing the bowling ball to roll at about a quarter mile an hour. Seeing this, I know it's going to stop, at best, a quarter way down the lane, so I decide to retrieve it so we can have a "do over" . I'm wearing the usual "it's autumn, and it's cold out" hiking boots....

Now...I know there were signs posted everywhere ("WARNING, slippery surface!), but since when are bowling alleys the equivalent of ice skating rinks?! I take ONE step onto the lane (past the foul line) and I go FLYING. I land completely horizontal to the ground, on my back and head. I hear a collective "gasp!" from the peanut gallery behind me (including a male voice distinctively saying "That had to hurt!") and then a little girl's crying. I get up on my hands and knees and turn around (ego bruised, but I'm feeling ok physically at this point) and see my daughter sitting down, a little past the foul line, crying. I ask one of the other fathers if she was crying because she saw me fall, or did she fall herself? The guy told me she fell too...but only on her rear-end. So...I slowly CRAWL my way towards her, pick her up and bring her to my wife (who is engrossed in conversation with another mother and didn't see any of this). At this point, I begin to realize my left ring finger "hurts".

And now we can bottom line the story.

1) Beware of bowling alleys. I can remember as a kid being able to turn on a dime and basically run all over the things. Now, however, they apparently coat these things with teflon and other space-age materials. Beware

2) How can you tell if your finger's broken? I looked online, but I can't tell whether it's a sprain or a fracture. It doesn't "look" broken (out of alignment), but it's bruised and very swollen. If I touch it in anyway, my central nervous system makes me very aware of it . I CAN bend it, but only ever so slightly, as it looks like someone stuffed a breast implant between my hand and first joint. Should i just let it go, or do i definitely need to have it x-rayed? Quite frankly, I'd rather not bother with it unless it's one of those - "If you don't do it, it'll become infected and your finger will rot off" type of things.

Any doctor in the house that can give some advice with no risk of being sued ?

[Pacersfan46]

Me ... personally I'd just let it go. Of course, I haven't gone to a doctor in several years. Quite an accompishment for someone who plays basketball regularly.

I dislocated my finger a couple months ago, and luckily my buddies wife is an athletic trainer, and she helped me with it.

I'm not there though, and can't see exactly how bad it is. So, I think any advice given here shouldn't be taken as something to be taken extremely seriously.

[Ben E Lou]

Put some duct tape on it and get back out on the field, ya wuss.

[CraigSca]

Originally posted by SkyDog
Put some duct tape on it and get back out on the field, ya wuss.

Bah, who needs duct tape?! I've been going "raw" so far!

[RPI-Fan]

(including a male voice distinctively saying "That had to hurt!")

What insight!

[ScottVib]

I tended to dislocate my fingers frequently during football; aside from the time that the top half of my left index finger dislocated and slid down the bottom half (leaving a twice as wide, half as long index finger), I just grabbed the end pulled real hard and grabbed some athletic tape to "buddy" tape it to the other finger. Worked well enough for me.

Personally unless the pain is unbearable, I'd probably just let it go... but then again my degree is in Meteorology and we're allowed to be wrong half the time

[Bee]

Originally posted by CraigSca
2) How can you tell if your finger's broken?

In my experience, if the bone is sticking out the side of your finger it's broken.

[The_herd]

Originally posted by Bee
In my experience, if the bone is sticking out the side of your finger it's broken.

What insight!

[WSUCougar]

Originally posted by ScottVib
... but then again my degree is in Meteorology and we're allowed to be wrong half the time

So what are the chances of a white Christmas in St. Louis this year?

[sachmo71]

Originally posted by CraigSca
(including a male voice distinctively saying "That had to hurt!")

Sorry about that, but it sure looked painful.


Oh, and go get an x-ray. That way you can officially join the broken bone club. Also, walk down the alley next time. It's not nearly as slick as the lane.

[Eaglesfan27]

From your description, it sounds likely that it is broken. However, it is really impossible for any doctor to tell for sure (unless a bone is sticking out of the skin) without an X-ray. That being said, it's not likely to fall off if you don't get it treated, but it could cause future pain. I've had a few fingers I broke in football and never got treated and I occasionally get arthritic pain in them even though I'm still under 30. So, I recommend going to get it checked out if you can afford to do so.

[JeeberD]

Since Eaglesfan is once again dispensing free medical advice, I have a quick question.

Last Tuesday I started getting body aches and a fever. I started popping vitamin C, echinacea, and Advil and by Wednesday afternoon the fever was gone and the body aches were fading. However, by Thursday my throat started hurting. It felt like I had a marble stuck in there. Over the weekend my throat got worse and worse, so I decided to look up tonsillites on WebMD. It sounds like that is possibly what I have (my throat is still hurting, though I think it might be feeling slightly better today). I can see a spot or two on my throat where my tonsils should be.

WebMD says that tonsillitis usually just goes away. Should I in fact just wait for it to go away, or should I go get it checked out? The fever is long gone, so I doubt that it's strep or anything like that....

Thanks!

[vtbub]

Get the tonsil's checked, tonsilitis spreads very welland can reoccur.

[Eaglesfan27]

Even though the fever is gone, Strep Thorat is still a possibility as are the other bacterial infections which can infect your tonsils. If you think, you see spots on your tonsils I would definitely go get that checked out as you only usually see exudates with infections and you will likely need antibiotics. Although these infections usually eventually go away on their own, they can have potential sequalae (consequences) which antibiotics can prevent. So, if you have see some spots on your tonsils or in the area around the tonsils.. go to your doctor.

[JeeberD]

Dammit, that's not what I wanted to hear...

Thanks for the advice, guys...

[JeeberD]

Dola-

Hmmm...I have some Keflex left over from when I had an infected toe a while back. If I took that would I be able to weasle out of a doctors visit?

[Eaglesfan27]

Keflex is good for bacteria that cause skin infections.. it doesn't have great coverage (or even good coverage) for the bacteria which cause throat infections.. I wouldn't recommend using it for a throat infection.. Good luck!

[JeeberD]

Darn...