#tw swelling

HEHEHEHSHEHEHE THIS IS SO SILLY DUDE 😭

Hello TMA nation ✨

Just got this done today!! So happy about it!!

It’s self designed!!

I cannot state enough how happy I am with my engagement. I am over the moon <3 

 However I did promise the ER doctors and nurses we would “warn all our friends” about trendy new “unbreakable” rings 

TW: blisters, finger injury, blood

^^; I positively find it absolutely hilarious that it was not tipsy playing with a new sword shenanigans that had us visit the ER the first night of engagement... it was the ring.

I don’t wear jewelry that much and when candidly speaking about rings with @ultramarine316​ I have always preferred simple bands, and there are a lot of sites and jewelry stores now that sell and advertise “unbreakable bands”

The ring that she chose was made of Tungsten and I absolutely loved the simple green and black design of the ring. Regrettably it didn’t last very long

Meed drinking, warm summer days, and salty meat skewers sticks does lead to natural bloating and swelling by the end of the day at camp my ring finger was very swollen and I couldn’t get the ring off. A couple of habitual ring wearers in our friend group did let us know that they generally take their rings off on hot days because swelling is a very common side effect of heat. Unbeknownst to me a ring noob. 

Once we got home I tried icing and elevating my hand, using soaps and oils, snaking  a piece of ribbon under the ring and trying to shimmy the ring down. Nothing was working and it was starting to get late and the swelling seemingly was only getting worse and had started my finger was starting to discolor.  We decided to go to the ER rather than assume it would fix itself overnight.

At the emergency room  @ultramarine316​ stayed in the waiting area / lobby. I didn’t think she would be allowed to come with me to the back with me once I was seen. 

Once seen by a doctor they let me know right away that they were way more concerned with my finger than preserving the ring, once I mentioned the material the doctor changed their wording to “if” they could get it off explaining that they are seeing a rise in untraditional rings and that they aren’t always equipped with the right tools to cut through the materials.

As demonstrated by the first attempt to get the ring off,  my ring broke the first pair of ring cutters they tried which were some high grade really futuristic looking scissors.

They also tried to reduce swelling with attempts to drain my finger of the fluid build up, they tied really tight strings repeatedly around the finger to try and force the fluid under the ring so that they could pull the ring over my knuckle. They did also inject something into my finger to numb the feeling as they attempted this. 

This didn’t have as an effective result as they wanted but it was something to try while they looked for a better ring cutter.

The second attempt was using some type of small surgical saw and try to cut the ring that way. At first we thought there was progress because you could see material chipping away until we they realized that it was part of the saw being chipped away by the ring not the ring being chipped away by the saw.

Another doctor was consulted and they started looking online for other viable methods, one nurse was dispatched to contact the Fire Department to see if they had a Dermal *(sp?) drill on hand. 

The staff at this hospital were super friendly and determined to help, and my room was becoming a drop in point where a passing by nurse or doctor would pass by and tell me “Hey I heard you got engaged congratulations, so sorry you ended up here” “Congratulations on your engagement! Hey at least you not the couple who came in on their engagement/ wedding night after X got stuck Y” there were a few variations of stories of this  “Zipper stuck in Labia was by far the worst sentence I heard that night and I indeed felt super lucky that that wasn’t our case .

Once Nurse absolutely made my night (early morning?) when poking in asked if I wanted her to bring “my Fiancé” (I almost swooned and asked them to repeat that sentence one more time ^///^) to the back room. I was like she can come back here? And the Nurse was like oh it’ll be fine and went and got her. <3

Doctor came back and showed us a YouTube video they found of how using a pair of vice grips to put enough pressure on the ring would cause it to shatter, they brought in another member of the hospital staff, I don't think was a nurse or doctor but was very handy with tools and assisted the doctor with angling and adjusting the vice grips as shown in the video. Thankfully after adjusting the pressure a couple of times the ring did shatter. ( :’( RIP cursed ring, I am going to turn you into a necklace)

Another highlight of the night came when  we were waiting on discharge papers and one of the nurses literally dragged in a confused EMT and plopped them in our room, she then announced this was now the gayest room in the Hospital, the EMT was her girlfriend and we all had a giggle at that. She then pointed to my gauzed up hand and told the EMT she wants gold, simple pliable cut-table gold they both signed the container they put the shard of the ring in for us. 

me: *arts too hard and fingers are too swollen for doing art now*

me: 

Jumpscare lol. Been having moderate allergic reactions for a month and need to see an allergist. Last two years of medical shit has cost nearly $10,000. I’m so tired of not feeling good.

GERD so bad it feels like knives in my chest, but the GI says he sees no scarring. Colonoscopies and endoscopies that won’t get covered by insurance because I’m not 55.

Allergic reactions I can’t identify that force me to quarantine in my own house.

Constant migraines and stress related illness AND a PCP who tells me my cholesterol, which is 4 points over, is high enough that I need to lose weight after spending a year and a half trying to create and maintain a healthy, non panic-inducing relationship with food. (I srsly used to have panic attacks after a McDonalds burger fries and McFlurry, which is not too much food and ESPECIALLY not when it’s a treat every few months).

I’m so fucking tired. I just want to spend a month without some sort of pain and illness. Hell, just two weeks. Please.