Nothing is simple anymore... remember the bee sting? Well, it just so happened that the pesky bee stung the one finger that was jammed back into my hand over 30 years ago. To this day, my left index finger is 1/4" shorter than my right, due to the severe jamming back in the day. Well, the bee sting made the whole area itch, so I wound up rubbing it pretty hard, and now the whole area is inflamed and swollen... not necessarily due to the bee sting, but to my aggravating the old injury. My left hand isn't quite the lobster claw it was when the original injury occurred so long ago, but it's definitely puffed up, as you'll see in a moment. Limited use of my left hand means no painting today... I don't think my left index finger could wrap around a paint roller handle anyway, it's still mighty stiff & sore. Looks like I'll be reading Westerns and watching library DVDs today... this hand will be worthless for a while. And it was all brought on by a lousy bee sting 30+ years after the original injury... jeez, my luck hasn't been so hot this month, lol. Here are pics:
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That's a shot of my right hand for reference, now here's the swollen left hand:
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See how puffed up it is? My hand looks like the Michelin Man, or maybe the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, lol.
Here's a side view of the uninjured right hand, you can see how straight and level it is at that joint:
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And here's the f/u left hand, including the uneven area where the index finger got jammed back into the hand bones so long ago:
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So THAT is what I'm dealing with today, pfffffffft. There may still be some residual bee venom in there, so I'm gonna try hot water next, I read on the web that hot water will neutralize bee venom, same way hot water will neutralize stingray venom. Let me post this so I can get started on that regimen... ice isn't working, so it's time for hot water, maybe I'll even add some Epsom salts, I see that's used in poultices for sprains & strains in horses, lol. Somehow, this bee sting has morphed into a resurrection of the old finger & hand injury sustained over 30 years ago. Nothing is simple anymore!!!
Edit: Good news is that I have heaps of beer in the fridge, plenty of leftover beef tri-tip barbacoa for burritos, and a good stack of library books & DVDs, WOOHOO!!! Never did watch 'CROSS OF IRON' yesterday, I read a good Western instead, one of the 'John Hawk' Westerns by Charles G. West. Gotta like the 'John Hawk' series, he's a pretty funny character, lol. In a way, he reminds me of 'Will Tanner, U.S. Deputy Marshal'---but Hawk is an Army scout, not a lawman. Anyway, it's time to give the hot water & Epsom salts a try, so I'm off... "CHEERS!!!"