Uni Sumo and the Linkerpink

Two Sundays ago, I sprained a pinky during a bout of unicycle sumo wrestling.

Uni sumo is a pretty unusual sport, but my injury was fairly pedestrian. While tousling with an excellent rider from Austria, I felt a twinge as we tried to push each other out of the ring. I might have stopped then, but instead we had one or two more skirmishes because the adrenaline rush in my brain overpowered the pain in my hand. That ache kicked in later, right at the base of my left pinky knuckle.

It can't have hurt as much as the Dutch guy who had his left pinky amputated by his kidnappers in late 1989. That poor guy's 'linkerpink' was sent to his family as proof that he was still alive. I've always loved the word linkerpink.

My linkerpink hurt for a few days before I took action. I did take inaction right away, however: I stopped using the hand as much as I could and avoided anything that required a left pinky; thankfully the only things that need this particular digit are the letters q, a, and z. A few days later, however, the pain hadn't abated, so I buddy-wrapped my linkerpink to my ring finger. That helped, but since I didn't think to get gauze and special tape, I just used Band-Aids, and those took a toll
on the underlying skin.

Today I called my doctor at 8:30, and by 9:15, I was in his office. Tho he guessed it was simply a sprained ligament, he sent me for x-rays just in case. By 10:40, he was telling me that the x-rays had exonerated my sumo partner: There was no broken bone.

I love that I can get this level of care so quickly and cheaply. I was done in 90 minutes after seeing a radiologist once and my doctor twice, all for a $5 copay. Go New Paltz Family Practice.