Mo came home recently clutching her left hand after a crash on her bike. She thought she might have broken her left thumb in the fall.

I assured her if she had broken her thumb, she would know it. Probably just a sprain or a ligament or possibly she’s a sissy girl.

The blinding pain continued, as blinding pain is wont to do. She set up a video call with her doctor, who said it could be broken, and she should get an X-ray.

After scheduling an appointment, Mo immediately began thinking about canceling. She asked what I thought. It’ll stop hurting soon, I assured her. If you had broken your thumb, you would know it.

So she canceled the X-ray.

But the suffering continued, leaving her unable to hitchhike effectively (she’s right-handed, so carries her beer and hand grenades with that hand, leaving only the left one for thumbing down rides). She cowed to the mega-medical bureaucracy and made another appointment for an X-ray.

I found it to be a silly exercise. Surely, if her thumb was broken, she would know it.

Today, I got a text from her after she saw the X-ray results.

The thumb is broken.

So I was correct all along. The thumb is broken. And she knows it.

Medicine is easier than you would think.


p.s. it also showed another bone was fractured, but I probably shouldn’t make any cracks about it.