somebody put me together....

Some eighteen months ago, a few weeks after an ill-advised game of basketball with the Ultimate Olympian, and worryingly close to my wedding, I discovered that I had broken the ring finger on my left-hand. The joint ballooned up, and as well as making the sizing of my wedding ring rather challenging, I was told by the distracted looking doctor in the fracture clinic that this was going to take perhaps two years or so to heal (the joint was already in pretty bad shape as it was the same one that I had dislocated playing rugby several years before). Fast forward to today, and although the joint is still a little swollen, the wedding ring has come down by more than three full sizes and I've just about stopped feeling the need to tape it up when I play football.

So what do I do? I somehow manage to do pretty much the same thing whilst playing football about 6 weeks ago. At least it was a different digit this time.... although that's only a small consolation when you suddenly discover how much you actually use the thumb on your left hand.

Having been through this before, I didn't exactly rush to the doctor. Instead I iced the joint when I got home, sat out the bruise and generally tried not to think too much about it. It was only six weeks later, when I kept banging the damn thing, that I wondered if I should get it checked out. We men are always being told that we should go to the doctor more to get things checked out, so I went to the doctor.

"Ah, yes. The joints in the hand are very susceptible to this [no shit Sherlock]. There's no point getting an x-ray as I'm afraid there's nothing we can do. The joint is damaged and it may take a couple of years to heal and to come down to a more normal size. Try not to bang it too much in the meantime, as that will only make it worse. Have a happy christmas".

Two years? Try not to bang it? It's my thumb man!

*sigh*

With the last 18 month bringing me a chipped elbow, the broken finger, some torn ankle ligaments, a cracked rib, a suspected broken toe and now the damaged thumb, do you think my body is trying to tell me something?

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We're up to the number 8s in our countdown of the year's top 10 albums over at the Auditorium. Given that we've chosen The Feeling, Metallica and Glasvegas, it shouldn't be too hard to work out which one LB picked, which one bedshaped picked, and which one is mine, eh?