Enough

On my person right now there are bruises in varying degrees of coloration; from yellow, to black, to purple and some you can't see but can be best classified as tender spots. Most of these are a result of the dogs banging into me, jumping, knocking, smacking and me being in the wrong place while they wrestle.

This photo is dark but quite clearly you can see on the back of my arm a rather large and sore bruise caused by Archer. I think I was sitting on the grass at the schoolyard, fussing with Esme, and he ran into me while he was playing with Leeloo.

Here's one of those bruises that doesn't really show up in a photo. It feels like the pain is more in the joint so the bruising is less obvious. It used to be a darker spot but was never really clear and the flash would blow it out anyway so I am just pointing at the pain.

One of the most recent wounds I am nursing is a partially crushed finger. The end of my finger to be more precise. It was my fault, as these things usually are. I was holding a stick and offered it to Archer and Leeloo, Archer made a grab for it and clamped down close to my hand, closer than I immediately realized. He then proceeded to attempt to saw through it with his molars. Unfortunately if you substitute my finger for the stick the result is not pretty. If you've ever seen a Ridgeback, or any dog, gnaw through a finger width stick you can imagine my consternation.

I didn't actually feel the pincer effect of his molars, it was more the grip he had on my hand I was resisting. Until the crunch came. Then ... all bets are off. I yelped and pulled away and he looked stricken. My finger didn't hurt that much, just felt like I'd jammed it in a drawer(which I do a lot it seems) and because I was wearing gloves I didn't look at my actual finger for a few minutes. Well, there wasn't much blood, just ... squished skin and a little trickle of blood. When I got home I slapped on a band-aid (something I would come to regret). Here's Archer apologizing for his little oopsie ... isn't he cute? Unfortunately last night that band-aid became the Vice of Pain. I woke up at 2am and felt like I wanted to faint or vomit. Good thing I was lying down. The tip of my finger felt like it was being squeezed in a vice and at the same time like it wanted to explode. Both Very Bad Things. Several deep breaths later I realized I would have to get the band-aid off since my fingertip needed to swell and couldn't. More nausea and waves of faintness. I gritted my teeth and gradually, through a haze of sleep and pain, pulled off the band-aid. After several minutes of deep breathing, talking myself out of barfing and general malaise, the throbbing eased enough for me to fall back asleep. This morning the fingertip is puffy and sore but at least I'm not in any danger of fainting at any moment. You wouldn't think such a simple thing would hurt so much but I tell you ... owie. I took the following photo this morning but it's not gory since this was more of a crushing injury. I know it doesn't look like it would be very painful and there is not a lot of blood but it still *#*%^* hurts.