Thumbs, surgery, and bacteria
I never realized how important our thumbs are until I temporarily lost the use of one of them. Thumbs are vital! Think about it; if we didn't have thumbs, how could we text each? How could we hold our eating utensils? Horrifying! About seven years ago, I noticed that the joint at the bottom of my right thumb had grown a huge bump; it was a bone spur. It wasn't particularly painful, just ugly and deformed. I went to a hand surgeon. At his office, an x-ray confirmed that I had osteoarthritis. Weird, especially since I am left-handed, and, at that point, I was still sort of young. I asked the doctor about treatment. "There's surgery, but we can try a cortisone shot and see if that helps," he said. I asked if the shot would hurt. "It won't hurt me," he replied. Ha ha, what a smart ass. The damned shot hurt like hell, and the thumb lump laughed at its impotence. So, surgery; I trusted this ...