Ouch

A small wart on my index finger has been frozen three times since December. A couple of weeks ago I talked with the doc and he said that he would cut if off this time. Today was the day. Here is how it went.

Walked right in (no waiting… none!). The usually terse nurse was almost friendly. She laid out all sorts of bandages, utensils, and in walked the doc with a needle of numb and the sterile scrub. They left me alone for just a few minutes while the finger went to sleep. Nothing creepy about those few moments. They came back in and started hacking away. I'll admit he cut much more skin than I thought necessary. He made two cuts like this () (resembles a small football) and then had a tweezer shaped tool to try to lift the skin up so he could cut the underside. The doc is a really nice man but he appears a little older than I and he was having some difficulty keeping the skin held up and then trying to cut underneath. I exchanged a glance with the nurse and I think we both realized that either of us would have had better dexterity and would have been able to cut it out much quicker. The nurse appears to be a little younger than I and expect that she handles more difficult tasks with her children before breakfast. In any case, he eventually removed the skin and I had a nice little divit in my finger. I would have cut a little deeper to make sure I got the stubborn rascal but then, that is why he is the doc and I am not. Then he gets his needle that looks like a fish hook and pulls the football divit together with three neat little stitches. The nurse cleaned me up and was out of regular bandaids and so she gave me a shiny one like you would put on a kid. I was in and out of there in about a half an hour. I really have to tip my hat to these two for doing a super job today. Thanks.

It is October, was there any blood? Oh yes… but I've not seen a drop since the nurse cleaned me up. How about pain? Nope, sorry. I even asked the doc about tomorrow and he said no, it shouldn’t be painful. Expensive? Well now, that is a frightful story whose time hasn’t come just yet. Stay tuned.