{"id":25860,"date":"2023-11-22T22:12:36","date_gmt":"2023-11-23T03:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=25860"},"modified":"2023-11-22T22:17:45","modified_gmt":"2023-11-23T03:17:45","slug":"episode-917-football-accidents-can-have-big-consequences-my-baby-finger-for-instane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=25860","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 917 FOOTBALL ACCIDENTS CAN HAVE BIG CONSEQUENCES…MY BABY FINGER for instane"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Note:  Such a trivial event\u2026a broken baby finger.  But it Changed my life.  Embarrassing and personal… maybe the story is too<\/div>\n
boring for readers.  Skip it then.   That baby finger, however, is a big parr of my life. I feel driven to tell the story even though most<\/div>\n
readers might feel I have wasted their time.<\/div>\n

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Take a look at my  baby left finger.  See the bump on it.   Now to tell the story.<\/div>\n

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  EPISODE 917    FOOTBALL ACCIDENTS  CAN HAVE BIG CONSEQUENCES…MY BABY FINGER for instane<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Nov. 20, 2-23<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The accident seemed so trivial at first.  But the consequences on my life Big time and bad\u2026.in the short run.<\/div>\n
And surprisingly positive in the long run.<\/div>\n

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I threw a good Cross Body block.  Was it in a game or just in a practice scrimmage ?  I do not remember.<\/div>\n
I do remember the block.  My left hand touched the ground as the block finished.  Then our halfback ran by.<\/div>\n
And he stepped on my left hand.  Let\u2019s say that was 180 to 200 pounds of crested foot were landed on my baby finger.<\/div>\n
It hurt a bit.  Later I had trouble writing.  My left hand scrawl was bad enough butDoing so with a broken baby finger<\/div>\n
was worse.<\/div>\n

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\u201cYour finger is broken, Alan.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI know that but it does not  hurt much.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou should get it fixed.\u201d\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSee Dr Pennal, at St. Joseph\u2019s Hospital.\u201d  I think that was the surgeon\u2019s name. Not sure.  And I think Dr. Greensway<\/div>\n
suggested getting a surgical opinion.<\/div>\n
(seventy two years ago)<\/div>\n
\u201cYes , it is broken.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDoes it need to be fixed?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYes.  Fragment floating around that little finger need to be stabilized.  Minor operation,\u201d<\/div>\n

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And that\u2019s how this major event in my life began.  Noting major.  Minor surgery  The year was 1958.  My Grade 13 year<\/div>\n
of high school at Humberside.  Big plans?  I had none.  Had no idea what to do with my life.   The smashed baby<\/div>\n
finger changed everything.<\/div>\n

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THE OPERATION \u2014 FINGER SURGERY<\/div>\n

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I went to the hospital alone.  Not because my parents didn\u2019t care.  But they were working<\/div>\n
Mom was a sewing machine operator in a needle trade sweatshop hidden workshop on Annette Street near Keele St.<\/div>\n
If she did not work, she did not get paid.   Dad made good money a long way from home.  He was a truck tire buider and  had to catch a series of busses and street cars from<\/div>\n
West Toronto to the small tow of Whitby, east of Toronto.  Probably 3 to 4 hours there and back home.  He was a gambler\u2026.horse races too all his free time. <\/div>\n

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So I went alone.  Never a good idea going to a hospital alone.   I read that somewhere.  True.  <\/div>\n

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First i was asked to lie down on a gurney while a nurse shaved my right arm.  Now That seemed<\/div>\n
odd to me.  <\/div>\n

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\u201cWhy are you shaving my right arm?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cTo get you ready for the surgeon.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBut it is my left hand with the broken finger.\u201d<\/div>\n
(She checked  my chart)<\/div>\n
\u201cSorry\u2026you are correct.<\/div>\n
(Then she shaved my left arm)<\/div>\n

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What would happen if they opened up the wrong finger?\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cThis local will numb your hand\u2026no pain. You wil be awake.\u201d<\/div>\n
(And a  nurse gave me a needle. Then the gurney was wheeled <\/div>\n
into the hallway and left there for some time.  I waited on the gurney for a long time it seemed.<\/div>\n

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Then was wheeled in to the operating theatre.  Yes, theatre.   There ws a huge round gallery<\/div>\n
above me with half a dozen people gazing down.   Such a small operation for interns and<\/div>\n
nurses to watch.  I never did know exactly how damaged my finger seemed.  No time for<\/div>\n
thinking.<\/div>\n

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“YOWEEE!  That hurts, \u201c as the surgeon began to open up the finger.<\/div>\n
\u201cWhen did this boy get the local?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSome time ago, perhaps an hour or more>=\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGive him another shot right now.\u201d<\/div>\n

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No pain after that.  I took my mind off the surgery by watching the people who were in turn<\/div>\n
watching the surgery.  Tried to put my mind elsewhere. Ten it was over.<\/div>\n

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\u201cSon, you  will have a cast on your left hand for some time.  The bones on <\/div>\n
your little finger have been put in place… a long wire pin goes down the centre of your finger.<\/div>\n
When all seems fine the pin will be removed.  See the tip of it there.   Be careful.\u201d<\/div>\n
(Instructions were something like that.  The pin was there but not visible due to the cast.)<\/div>\n

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Day surgery. \u201cYou can go home  now.\u201d   I boarded the Roncesvales street car heading for <\/div>\n
the Annete Strreet bus and home.  I felt a little faint as blood oozed into the cast but <\/div>\n
soon I began total the immobility of my left hand for granted.<\/div>\n

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Should I play football?  Why not?  We had a game against Oakwood where I made a<\/div>\n
textbook shoestring tackle.  Burf said so   He may have also noticed my white cast. Never told him about it.<\/div>\n
And in that game I nearly intercepted a pass but knocked the ball to the ground instead.<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy did you not catch the ball and run with it?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNever occurred to me.\u201d (Left Guards andi inside linebackers are not ball carriers)<\/div>\n

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I was back in the game\u2026playing my role with the team.  It felt good.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
OMINOUS CLOUD<\/div>\n

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The consequences of that damaged little finger changed my life.<\/div>\n
Grade 13 was a tough year for students across Ontario in 1958.  Grade 13<\/div>\n
exam papers were marked by special markers  in June and July.  Markers that<\/div>\n
did know or care that I could barely scribble my name even after the cast was removed.<\/div>\n

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CONSEQUENCES OF MY LITTLE BROKEN FINGER \u2026 WERE BIG TIME <\/div>\n

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Next Episode    BIG CONSEQUENCES OF A FINGER WIRED TOGETHER<\/div>\n

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postscript:  The Grade 13 exams were very serious\u2026expected much of students.<\/div>\n

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Circular S. 4C 1959-3113<\/div>\n
ivjinisiry 0 i E<\/div>\n
r r<\/div>\n
33 3 \u2022 I9i G<\/div>\n
o 6T>>e {H –<\/div>\n
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION<\/div>\n
MEMORANDUM<\/div>\n
To Principals of Secondary Schools<\/div>\n
Re Grade 13 Departmental Examinations in English<\/div>\n
1959<\/div>\n
ENGLISH LITERATURE I. GENERAL COMMENTS<\/div>\n
Markers of the English Literature papers in 1959 observed a gratifying improvement in handwriting and spelling, as well as in sentence structure and coherence. It was still evident, however, that a great many candidates lacked training in organizing their material. The habitual use of clear, precise, and idiomatic English remains the exception rather than the rule, and startling deficiencies in vocabulary were revealed. For instance, many candidates lost marks because they did not know the meaning of \u201cthwart\u201d and \u201csubsequent\u201d. Those who neglected to read the questions carefully penalized themselves by failing to perceive the main requirement of the question and by wasting time in writing irrelevant material.<\/div>\n
The defect most frequently found was that, though most candidates revealed an adequate command of the content of the course, few were able to discuss critically and appreciatively the means which an author uses to produce his effects. Key words in the questions, directing the candidates to attempt a critical approach, were largely ignored. Thus, though candi\u00ac dates were asked \u2018how a statement contributes to the achievement of a purpose\u2019 and \u2018how a character is revealed\u2019, and were directed to state or describe \u2018the means by which suspense is created\u2019, \u2018the uses of metaphor or simile\u2019, \u2018the methods of inducing the reader. . . \u2019, and \u2018the sources of comic<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Note:  Such a trivial event\u2026a broken baby finger.  But it Changed my life.  Embarrassing and personal… maybe the story is too boring for readers.  Skip it then.   That baby finger, however, is a big parr of my life. I feel driven to tell the story even though most readers might feel I have wasted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}