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Common everyday life eh? Well then, car break-in's in the city fit that bill. My wife called me crying and said someone had broken her truck window and stolen everything inside. !#%%@^ I muttered when I got there and was cleaning out all the glass, enough to get to a car wash place and vacuum it. All was well and got the window fixed the next day.

But about a week later, my finger started hardening around the nail. WTH? But no emergency and trimmed the cuticle a bit and even started fidgeting with it (lol). A few days later the finger started swelling. And swelling. And swelling till I could no longer flex it! It had a constant dull pain too and was turning red. Huh-oh and off to the doctor.

He shot it with a local (no biggie as I've had stitches on open wounds before) but the worst was watching him saw at the rock hard skin with a razor sharp scalpel and having a hard time of it. Like sawing away so hard my whole arm was moving. Then he hit pay dirt and the built up green and blood red pus vented like a geyser! BLECHHH.

But oh man it was relief. A few months on antibiotics and the finger is near normal, now almost a year later it's still kinda stiff at full bend. Not quite as gory as some of the injuries here but I for one am thankful for that!

The culprit? A tiny, microscopic sliver of glass worked it's way in and over time burrowed very deep causing the infection.

I hate thieves.

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Editor's Notes:

Smash-and-grab seems to have many definitions these days. According to many of today's top multi-millionaire recording artists, it's the most effective way to rob high class jewelry stores. Sometimes people "smash and grab" ATM's. It is can even metaphorically describe military coups, a usage I find pleasingly simplistic.

When you used it in context of a car, I assumed you meant while the car was parked and unattended. This is the version of "smash and grab" that I am familiar with. I had a friend who lived in downtown Baltimore for a while. He had a car with one of those little triangular vent windows in the front of the door (I'm sure some of you are old enough to remember that kind of window) which was broken so many times by the neighborhood kids that he stopped replacing it and just kept it covered with plastic so that they could get in at will and check for stuff that he may have forgotten to take inside.

One time, he went out to his car in the morning and found a t-shirt on his back seat. It was one of his own which he had been looking for. Apparently, it was under his seat and as the crooks were looking under there they found it and left it out. Nice. Actually, the friend was this guy.

But come to find out, you may have been referring to a much more malicious version of automotive "smash and grab" which takes place most commonly at red lights. Someone will distract the driver from the left of the car while his partner smashes the passenger side window and swipes whatever they can reach; purse, cd player, packages, etc. I don't know if that's what happened to your wife, but if it is I'm sure it was very traumatic.

As far as your finger, green and blood red pus venting like a geyser? Well sir, that's just gross. As is the image I have in my head of the doctor sawing away at your finger. In other words: Thanks for sharing your everyday life experience!

Sharky

Photos:
Puffy- and infected
Cut- looks little, feels big