Then one night I was playing with my cousin and he accidentally ripped off the cast, taking out the needle. When Mom called the doctor, they said that it was too late and let's just leave it be.
My finger has a scar on it from the surgery larger than some appendectomy scars I have seen. It runs in an S shape the entire middle section of the finger.
Since then I have had almost no movement in the top joint. It's stuck bent at a like 45* angle. Over the years, it has gotten straighter and straighter and I have gotten more and more motion back. It still doesn't move a lot, almost 20 years later, but it moves.
When I was in high school, it got slammed between two desks. Now the nail has a 90* bend in one side. That makes it very difficult to grow a fingernail of any legnth or paint the nail.
What I want to know is how other people tell left from right. I mean, I've been able to tell since I was three, but only because there's one finger on my left hand that I can't bend. My sister can't tell the difference at all (except that "the passenger is always right" in the car).
Also, if I ever get engaged, I wonder if everyone who looks at my ring will grimace at the finger like they do now when they notice. I've fielded questions about it since I was three. What's wrong with your finger? Doesn't it move? Why does it have that big curve in the nail? There's a reason to get married... so I can study the reaction people have to my ring finger.....