Splinter

 

Loading and unloading firewood from the woodlot to woodstove stretched muscles and created terrible backaches every winter for Karl. Today he encountered an unexpected problem. A small  sliver of wood embedded itself into the bend of his thumb.

 

Karl soaked the area in hot water and attempted pushing both sides of the afflicted area together to grab hold of the tiny piece with a tweezers.

 

To his regret, it slipped over and over. Unable to grip the splinter, he gave up.

 

His thumb racked with pain whenever he used it. Karl poured baking soda on the thumb and soaked it in Epson salts, still trying to remove the splinter. Nothing worked. Weeks flew by and the pain lingered. He noticed his thumb darkening when he started bandaging it, hoping to keep it from getting infected.  Gradually, it blackened and became quite numb. Small pieces of rotting flesh fell off and stuck to the old bandage from time to time.

 

After procrastinating, Karl finally visited his doctor who diagnosed gangrene and suggested surgery.

***

Waking up in the recovery room, Karl examined his hand and relieved, noticed his left middle toe replaced the amputated digit perfectly.

 

 

Reviews

[Matthew J]

You've just scared me into going to the doctor rather than procrastinating next time I have something wrong with me.

[Deborah Leah Krempa]

Well written story, a toe for a thumb, cute. Thank you for sharing. Debileah