Cut Finger

Tried to salvage an past prime onion to make a stew.  Slightly slimy outer coating caused my good chef's knife to slip, landing onto the proximal interphalangeal surface of my left index finger.  It bled.  A few not quite soaked paper towels later, it still oozed, but within the capacity of a bandaid, which should help approximated the two edges of the gash.  Eventually it will clot.  Eventually it will heal.  In the meantime, I've lots of milchig dishes to wash so I'll need to get a set of vinyl or latex gloves like the blood drawers use.

Crock pot fully assembled, all ingredients added, seasoned, beef seared and placed atop.  On High for one hour, then Low until shabbos dinner.  Salad later.  By then my hand should return to full function, giving the chef knife a second chance.

Watching Football

Go Iggles. To the Super Bowl.  Go Andy Reid, he's still one of us.  To the Super Bowl.  An afternoon watching football's sudden death series after a season of Mizzou and Iggles, with an afternoon in the minor chill of West Chester University stadium to see the Rams live.  I'm entertained.

Perhaps, rapt in the strategy of each play, time out request, or taking best advantage of the game clock, to say nothing of the athletic talent and painstaking practice needed to express it, I've also acquired at least a small element of becoming a degenerate.  While I wish no player harm, the reality is that too many get harmed.  Each coach presents an injury list to the league and to the media every week.  There are always young guys on that list, some needing expert surgical care and most needing sophisticated diagnostics that cannot be done by the Nurse Practitioner at the bedside.  Kids get hurt doing this, though not without benefit to offset the risk.  Those who make it to the NFL get salaries that they could not otherwise attain.  The college kids, most of whom will not make it to the pros, get their education subsidized if they can take advantage of this, and have a chance at being publicly admired as a BMOC if only for a short time, public recognition that will never come their way again.  And they learn to be part of a team that distributes tasks, as well as to accept their own role, a very valuable experience adaptable to a lifetime in the workplace and in their community.  But at the risk of physical harm while still young, and if prospective data is accurate, physical harm and longevity reduction in the years that follow.

As I watch these games on TV, few quarters proceed from beginning to end without the referees having to stop the Game Clock due to an injury, one always attended by the trainer or assistant functioning as a low level EMT, then off to the Blue Tent which has become football's MASH Unit.  Rarely does the Head Coach join them.  He needs to strategize Plan B with different players whose joints and cerebrum have not yet been jolted.

Unlike Indy or NASCAR where anticipation of fiery crashes have become part of the spectator thrill, football has not yet descended to injury as part of the entertainment.  It is part of the strategy though, very much for coaches who shuffle talent, and for fans who second guess what their coaches will do without having any accountability themselves. Indeed, injuries accumulated over the season may have determined which teams had enough playable talent to make it to a victorious end.  And to our credit, we fans really want our most skilled players back on the field in top form.  So we can make it to the next Super Bowl, or at least be entertained on the Big Screen the next weekend.

Some Medical Care

Home has some hazards, more for exploring toddlers, but a few for seniors.  I've not fully healed the dorsum of my forearm which for an instant scraped a glowing oven coil  Minor nicks with kitchen knives or food processor blades are part of the adventure of making a substantial dinner.  Clutter invites falls, none causing me to seek medical care.  But a mishap with the kitchen step stool will.  I managed to put away the pan, inserting its ring into the uppermost hook, something a vertically challenged person like myself cannot do without a minor climb.  The descent did not go well, perhaps catching my foot on the lower step.  Atumbling I went, slightly stunned but not obviously injured until about a half hour later when my right ankle felt like the left one did when I fractured it not quite thirty years ago.  I could still walk on it.

Some home remedy time, naproxen, icy hot.  Minor effect.  By later in the day, I could no longer bear weight on it alone.  I could still walk.  End of the day, shoes off, to do a more formal exam.  No discoloration but some swelling.  Have no idea what the various ligaments and tarsal bones are but there was point tenderness medially.  Eversion hurt more than inversion, dorsiflexion more than plantarflexion.  Definitely a treadmill hiatus to follow.  Tossed around the idea of medical care but doubt bone fracture.  Real soft tissue injury though.  There are probably some orthopods who can figure out which ligaments have been traumatized via exam, though they are ultimately dependent on imaging.  I'm not ready for an MRI.  However, screening for fracture with an X-ray seems prudent.  

Give my doctor a call when the office opens.  Leave her the option whether to screen this herself or do the more expedient urgent care.  But medical attention seems the prudent way to go.