Finger Splint

I got into two bike accidents yesterday, and only one was my fault. The one that wasn’t, though, turned out to be more injurious than I thought. This idiot pulled out into the traffic, deciding to merge as slowly as possible while I was barreling down the road (with, I may add, the right of way). Well, I braked and in a split second decision decided to brake so that I’d hit the ground instead of the car, for fear of broken glass and so on. I was thrown from the bike and landed on my left knee and right hand, scraping the former badly and slamming a couple of fingers into the pavement.

I went to band practice thinking the pain was just bruising and hurt, and then met up with Lime. She said I should go to the hospital, and I should have listened—she’s studying medicine after all—but I had other things in mind for our Thursday night. The next day, I came with Myoung and Mer to Seoul to do my recording for the CD but, worried that the swelling hadn’t gone down, asked that we stop in a hospital on the way to the studio. I was sure the swelling was just swelling. But no… it was due to a fracture in the tip of the middle finger of my right hand.

I toyed with the idea of just going ahead and playing anyway, despite the risk that it could necessitate an operation, but decided in end to get a splint. Which means no playing studio tracks till next month, and no playing in at least one and probably both of our upcoming gigs. It means great difficulty eating with chopsticks, as I learned today, and so on. What a pain in the ass!

So as you may well imagine, my posts here will be shorter and less often. Ah well, I’ll get a lot of reading done, in the next month, I guess. Maybe it’ll be good for me. I’m trying to see this as a relatively easy lesson to learn about how much carefulness is necessary when cycling in Korea. Luckily I had my helmet on at the time (as I always do). But while I was really disappointed in the guy who caused the accident—he didn’t even stop to check if I was okay, but just drove away—a nice pack of students picked up both my bike and me and dusted me off after the accident, restoring some of my faith in human decency. Something else that restores that fait the supportiveness of friends: Myoung helped me at the hospital, and the guys at the recording studio advised against risk of further injury, re-scheduling my recordings and encouraging me to get a splint as soon as possible. And of course Lime’s kind support and concern is heart-warming.

I need to get some cola… I’m in caffeine withdrawal and off coffee for a while… but that’s another story…

***UPDATE***

Well, I went to the Protestant Hospital and I got the dressing on my knee re-done (the doctor was appalled at the mess the nurse in Seoul had made of it and told me it might begin seeping pus again because of the way it’d been badly dressed) and then once again X-rayed my hand. He said the Seoul doctor’s chatter about the need for an operation was nonsense and that it’d just need 3 or 4 weeks in a splint to be healed. He set me up with a proper, big, protective splint (pain in the ass but better for my hand) and gave me a prescrption (a bloody expensive one, by Korean standards, because the drugs were not insured) of things to lessen the swelling and to prevent infection in my knee, and I’m to return to the hospital again tomorrow morning before 11:30am.

One comfort is, I shall be able to have coffee again tomorrow, with my sweetie. I think I shall pass tonight watching episodes of sopranos.jpgThe Sopranos that were loaned to me by Nick via my neighbour Michael. (Funny… the show is about gangsters… maybe a good way for me to get rid of my sudden desire to track down the guy who cut me off in traffic and caused this accident so that I can break his kneecaps. I don’t want to do that to him, as angry as a I feel, but seeing a real gangster do it onscreen in a ridiculous manner, now that might make me feel better.) When I finish a few I may either read, or, if I’m feeling really hardy, try one of the Hindi movies that I got in India. But seeing as I dozed off earlier, it might not happen. Well, off I go to meet my friend Heather for dinner.

5 thoughts on “Finger Splint

  1. Gord,
    This didn’t happen right by noksapyung station on thursday night, did it? I saw a bike accident when I was coming home from guard duty….

    Charlie,
    The KimcheeGI

  2. Nope! It happened on Jeonju University Campus on Wednesday evening… I live in Jeonju! :) I was just in Seoul as of Thursday morning to do some recording sessions… but realized I’d better see a doc first.

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