Losing my Thumb

Blog everyday in May – Day 18: Tell a story from your childhood. Dig deep and try to be descriptive about what you remember and how you felt.

The screaming was wild and piercing. There was blood everywhere.

As they were holding me down trying to reattach my thumb, I can still remember my Dad’s shirt, saturated with my blood – brown and white checks. To this day I have an aversion to brown shirts. Perhaps that is why?

This is the earliest memory I have. I was 4 years old.

We were in town. I was with my mom while my dad had gone to the hardware store. We were waiting to cross the street when I saw my dad on the other side.

I pulled my hand out of my mom’s hand and I ran across the street. A car knocked me over.

I went spinning around the wheel. I always dream about this part.

The driver was only going about 60km/hour when he hit me. Lucky for me. The damage was done to my right hand. My thumb had broken off and was attached only by a small piece of skin.

I can still remember the pain as the doctor was trying to flush out the dirt and pieces of the tar from the road.

The thumb was re-attached but developed gangrene. The doctors wanted to remove it. My parents refused.

My dad used to sell a range of cleaning products called Golden Products. They had a disinfectant called “Care” It was supposed to be diluted in water. My mom poured it indiluted into a spray bottle and started irrigating the infected thumb.

Apparently all sorts of disgusting stuff came out of my thumb, but it healed.

I still have pieces of the tar left, but my thumb is in full working order.

I learnt to do a lot of things with my left hand while my right hand was in a cast and I still use my left hand a lot. Maybe that is the reason that when I taught myself to play the guitar, I only discovered later on that I was playing with the wrong hand!?

Challenges Remaining:
Day 19, Sunday: Five of your favorite blogs and what you love about them
Day 20, Monday: Get real. Share something you’re struggling with right now.
Day 21, Tuesday: A list of links to your favorite posts in your archives
Day 22, Wednesday: Rant about something. Get up on your soapbox and tell us how you really feel. (a pet peeve, a current event, a controversial topic, something your husband or roommate or neighbor or boss does that really ticks you off)
Day 23, Thursday: Things you’ve learned that school won’t teach you
Day 24, Friday: Your top 3 worst traits
Day 25, Saturday: Something someone told you about yourself that you’ll never forget (good or bad)
Day 26, Sunday: Something you read online. Leave a link and discuss, if you’d like.
Day 27, Monday: A letter to your readers
Day 28, Tuesday: Only pictures
Day 29, Wednesday: Five songs or pieces of music that speak to you or bring back memories. UseGrooveshark or YouTube to include them in the post
Day 30, Thursday: React to this term: Letting Go
Day 31, Friday: A vivid memory