My Second Surgery in France

Ever since my first surgery, I have been going to the doctor at least once every three days so that the doctor can monitor my finger.  On Tuesday, the doctor told me that if my finger wasn't looking better by the time I came in on Friday that I would need more surgery to remove more of my nail because the infection was underneath.  Even though I changed my bandages at least once a day, it was in the same state on Friday as it had been for a week.  Friday morning I went to the doctor, hoping that I wouldn't need surgery again since I had another exam later that day.

The doctor looked at my finger, poked at it with tweezers and then said, "Yeah, we can't wait any longer, you need more surgery now."  Then he led me to the other side of the center where they perform surgeries.  I had to make an emergency folder with the hospital and wait about 10 minutes before they took me back.  The surgeon was the same guy and so of course he looked at my finger and poked it as hard as he could just to make me writhe.

The anesthesiologist came in a few minutes later and had me lie down on the stretcher/bed thing.  It wasn't the same guy, although he seemed like he was playing the same game.  He made small talk except this time, he didn't give any clue as to when he was going to put in the Novocaine.  All of a sudden, I feel a needle going in between my fingers.  You know, that really sensitive part of your hand between your fingers.  He stuck the needle in and injected.  I whimpered and sobbed/laughed (I laugh when I'm really nervous/scared/in pain).  Then without saying anything, he goes to the other side and repeats.  I could feel my finger inflating.  It felt so gross.  Then he turned my palm up and injected another shot of Novocaine in my palm right underneath my finger.  After the third injection, I started to feel weak.  I couldn't lift my arm.  I lay there feeling sick and weird until the doctor came in.  They put on the compression thing on my arm that was super uncomfortable and turned it on to cut off circulation.  Then he started cutting.  I tried to look again but the doctor's hands were AGAIN blocking my view.  :(  Anyway, I felt the pressure of him cutting my fingernail in half and then him pulling/cutting it out.  Afterwards was the same procedure as before.  They asked me if I had any pain medication.  Is this a Godsend?! Finally!! I told them that I only had the weak aspirin and then the surgeon said, "Ok, that's great."  I responded, "...it's not very strong..." and he laughed and said, "well you don't want something too strong!"  Wrong, doctor, I do want that.

Public transportation was again a hassle post-surgery and my hand hurt so badly that I decided I shouldn't go to class.  I went home and passed out until my host family came home for lunch and I told them the story about what happened.  After lunch, I slept some more and when I woke up, I felt better but was kind of nervous about going to Prague for the weekend, but it all turned out ok.

I hope this is the last surgery I get in France.  I don't know what else they have left to cut open except to just cut off my finger...