Mallet Finger

There was a play-time at work on Tuesday. Gary's team played kickball against another team. There were dunk-tanks and a barbecue. Gary came home with a sore finger, thinking he must have jammed it. But it didn't have the swelling of a jammed finger. On the third day he went to the doctor. He has "mallet finger" now because of torn tendons around his knuckle. The treatment is splinting it 24/7, because any bending of his finger will pull the tendons away from where they're reattaching, and they'll have to start all over with the healing.

At least he saw the doctor and found out about the treatment. The doctor said that most people will wait for about two weeks for this problem to get better on its own (thinking that it must just be a jammed finger) and then finally go see the doctor. But if you wait that long, the only way to correct the problem is with surgery, or to live with a crippled finger. The six weeks of splint is going to be majorly inconvenient, but at least that's all he's going to have to put up with. I imagine he'll get very good at using his mouse left-handedly. And he thinks he may have to buy velcro-closed shoes for the interim.

He says the splint has helped with the pain too. When we changed the bandage this evening, taking off the splint just to dry it was enough to set him grimacing again.