Here comes yet another health update regarding the left fifth phalanges of Doktor Smith. The last set of photos showed the icky red/blackness that seemed to be swallowing my finger. Well it got worse. The blackness covered most of my pinky in between the joint and the tip, by the time I had my appointment with Dr. Curnow. However, my fears were dashed almost as soon as the doctor walked in. Just to give you an idea of the kind of presence Dr. Curnow has, imagine a rounder Bill Clinton with longer hair who kinda fills up whatever room he's in with his upbeat attitude. This man came in to the check-up room sat down next to me and took one look at my hand and said, "well hey thats lookin pretty good." He said that there was healthy skin under the hard black stuff, that it would peel off soon and that it was pretty standard in this kind of surgery. He then told me that Connie--his head nurse--would come in and remove my stitches. She did, then she gave me the little scissors and tweezers because they usually just get thrown away. Then I was off on my merry way. Not 2 hours after got the stitches out I cracked open like a shrimp. Nearly all of the skin of my pinky peeled off and underneath was fresh pink skin. The only remnants of the wound are right along the incision line. They are covered with steri strips to keep the scab from cracking while I bend the finger. So 2 weeks post surgery and I'm looking pretty good. By six weeks I should be out of the cast more or less and well on my way to recovery.