I like to slam my fingers in doors

I just got back from a week off of work - it was ISU's spring break. It was a pretty amazing week! i got to relax, hang out with my parents, see Stephanie, and go to Spring Valley and the Botanic Gardens. It was a perfect break from all the ISU craziness.

But Amy, why didn't you blog AT ALL?

Oh, that would have a pretty simple explanation..... I slammed my finger into a door!

Haha, ok.... I will explain. I was helping close Hamilton Whitten because a co-worker was feeling under the weather. Closing a building includes checking every room to be sure the trash is removed, windows are closed, blinds are open, and everything is unplugged. The RAs do a majority of this, but professional staff needs to go through and recheck everything... specifically sign each window.

I decided to check Hamilton and was given 3 RAs. What cracked me up is all the boy RAs went with me and all the girl RAs went with the other helper, which happened to be a man. It's ok, they are very fun RAs! We started on the 10th floor and started doing our thing....

... 1 RA would unlock the doors
... 1 RA would follow me (to make sure I dont steal anything) and do a final check
... 1 RA would follow us and relock the doors

We had a great system going, and we were zipping through it. They are hilarious to listen to and they decided to play their own music, which was entertaining to watch as they danced around and sang. When we got down to the second floor, we got an text saying the building service workers suspected a cat living on the second floor. We decided to be extra thorough to see if we could smell or find any evidence. The boys started to spring ahead of me, checking the rooms. As I was done with my check, I would pull the door shut behind me so the locking RA knew I was done.

Well.... for whatever reason I was at one room and as I was pulling the door shut, I heard the boys laughing about something. I turned around the corner and simply did not pull my hand out fast enough! Plus... the door was randomly lighter than the rest of the doors!

I was INSTANTLY in indescribable pain. I felt my eyes bulge out of my head. Now, I've jammed my finger in a door before, but this was different. As I looked down at my finger, blood was seeping out around my nail. I wanted to fall to the floor in pain, but we were almost done and I didn't want to over react to something so dumb.

As I started to go into the next room, I could feel my finger swelling and throbbing. It didn't take long for the boys to notice something was wrong. I showed them what I did and got a unanimous "ahhh that looks like it hurts!"

The blue under my fingernail formed instantly. As we finished the rest of the building, I was struggling to hold back tears. I went to my apartment and wrapped my finger because touching my nail was incredibly painful. I packed up my car and was determined to still get home. As I drove, I had to keep my hand up on the passenger seat headrest to keep the throbbing under control.

I came home and showed my parents what I did. Of course, they started to laugh before anything... Amy slammed her finger into a door and it's semi-serious? Of course! After my 2 hour drive and packing and unpacking, it was feeling and getting worse.


I unwrapped my finger and noticed how much bruising developed on my ride home. I could barely bend or straighten my finger! Owie! The pain kept getting worse, and I honestly thought I was going to throw up after trying to shower with it. :(

The next morning, I was in just as much pain, if not more. My dad gently suggested going to the ER to be sure there wasn't a minor fracture anywhere. I agreed, maybe I would get an anti-inflammatory to help the unbearable pain under my finger nail!

Mom went with me to get her own situation checked out, and we split up. I was cracking up almost the whole time because it was a family trip to the ER on my first day home. Before long, my x-rays came back negative and the doctor told me (in not so many words), "Well, I can't do anything for you, this is just going to really hurt for a week or two."


She gave me this sexy, new brace and a pain pill prescription and wished me luck. Good news - it wasn't broken! But boy that pain under my nail is killer. Moral of the story, typing is pretty difficult to do over my break! What a break, huh? :) Luckily, things are getting better and the pain is not as difficult!

I'll put up some pictures soon of the rest of my break!!