Heal Thyself

About three weeks ago, I cut my left index finger. I was drying a serrated knife and it slipped out of the towel I was using. The knife was in mid-air and like a fool I thought I would reach out and grab the handle. Instead, the knife cut into my finger then clattered on the floor.

I didn't feel anything initially, but when I picked up the knife I noticed a clammy wet feeling coming from my left finger. I looked down at it. The knife had sliced a small quarter-inch pad of skin off my finger tip. It looked like those round pieces of paper that you get from using a hole-punch, except the hole-punch didn't make a clean cut. This hung off my finger by a sliver of skin. I was strongly tempted to pull it off, but I thought that would hurt.

I pressed down on the now bleeding cut. I went to the sink, turned on the faucet and held my finger under running water. The cut wasn't deep. The bleeding slowed down in less than a minute. I turned off the faucet then walked to the medicine cabinet. I dabbed some bacitracin ointment on my cut then put a band-aid on it.

I somehow became determined not to lose this piece of skin. I knew this meant wearing a band-aid on my finger for a while. The band-aid would get loose and mangy after a few days, since I showered and washed my hands and did the dishes with it on. That first week I changed it every night. Later on, I kept it on for two and even three days at a time.

Each time I changed the band-aid, I checked the cut. As the days wore on, the loose piece of skin began to reattach to my finger. The edges of the cut blended into my finger pad. I reapplied ointment with each new band-aid, but towards the end I stopped. I wish I had taken some photos or videos of this healing. It felt miraculous to me.

A week ago I stopped wearing the band-aid. The cut is gone. My finger's skin is smooth and restored. I am amazed and grateful that my body knows how to heal minor injuries like this.