A long-haired roaring Jet?

For those of you who follow me on Facebook, you may have seen a photo of my mother recently. The same one that is at the top of this post in fact and the reactions were both warming and funny. So, here's the story of my mother's visit to the hospital...

Quite a while ago now, my mother noticed a small fluid filled lump on her finger. At first it wasn't that bothersome, but as time went on, the lump became bigger and would hinder her in her hobby: making lace. Thin threads and lumps don't go together you see. Off she went to the doctor. It was a ganglion*, which needed to be surgically removed.

A few weeks ago I took my mother to see the surgeon, or so we thought anyway. Turned out it was somebody who confirmed the gp's diagnosis: ganglion that needed to be surgically removed. *Sigh*

And then last week, the time had finally come that my mother would have her ganglion removed. Nervous (as if!) she and my dad were off to hospital, where the offending lump would get the chop. A bit of narcotic and off they went. Ouch! More narcotic and off they went again. Ouch! More and this time it went fine until Ouch! Finally after the fourth dose it seemed to do the trick and they were able to remove the lump.

She came home with her finger packed up like that. The next day the bandage came off though and now it is only wrapped in a small bandage and a small plastic splint. Which she has to wear for two weeks. Which in turn means: no washing up, and little dinner making...

I knew there was a catch somewhere!

*A ganglion cyst is a small sac of fluid that forms over a joint or tendon (tissue that connects muscle to bone). Inside the cyst is a thick, sticky, clear, colourless, jellylike material. It occurs mainly on the wrist, but can be found on other parts of the hand, although the top of the finger as in my mother's case is quite uncommon. Just popping the sac to remove the fluid is of no use, once the sac is closed again, it will fill up immediately.