Last night I checked in with Linda, as I was in the neighborhood. She said that the wound was healing beyond her expectations and that since the edges were approximated and the primary healing done, I could stop keeping it covered and start letting the skin get used to being out again.

Last night (for my five hours of sleep; go Goat Simulator) was the first time I had my finger uncovered from the tegaderm for longer than ~3 minutes. Even just overnight, I can see a marked hardening, drying out, and yellowing of wound edges that I suspected were dead, confirming my thoughts. There’s no pain, though, and I can use the finger for daily activities that don’t require too much pressure just fine.

I plan to keep the finger wrapped in a flexible gauze pad during the day time just to keep me aware of it and keep it protected. It’s a loose, very air-permeable dressing, though, and I’m not putting on any ointments, so for all intents and purposes, the wound is exposed to the air. I’ll probably stop that around the middle or end of next week.

I still have a tad bit of surface numbness on my distal phalange, localized to the edge closest to the thumb and palmar to the midline between the palmar and dorsal surfaces. All parts of the finger remain sensitive to pain, all but ~2-3mm around the incision remain sensitive to sensation, and I have full range of motion. I’m assuming it’s just a layer of dead skin; as it scabs and falls off I’m sure sensation will return.

I definitely do have a lower respiratory bug, but systemically, it’s definitely not from the incision – still no fever, pain, inflammation, or malaise. Just gotta ride it out.

The first picture is from this morning after ~8 hours exposed. As I don’t anticipate any
healing changes happening rapidly, updates will happen on a strict schedule of approximately whenever I feel like it.