Reality Bites The Hand Which Feeds

 Well, it's been a veritable bugger of week here at the Dark Tower, after a promising start last weekend.

As you wil recal I had begun work on my 25mm 80s sci-fi project, and by Sunday afternoon, I'd got 8 troopers and an officer painted...

 

 ...and was - as the televangelists caught with hookers say - 'relaxing' with Call Of Duty when two of my Scottish Terriers decided that they would settle old clan scores with a to the death duel in the living room.

Now, Scotties are loving dogs, but are passionate wen it comes to holding their own. This occurs mostly in the males, who have lots of testosterone in a small frame. 

"Off with their gilhoonies!" you cry... Quite so, but Scotties are also much more prone to some very nast cancers (as I found out in 2020) when they are castrated, so we'd decided that Rex McHubbard and Bartolomew 'Bones' McCoy would not suffer that fate. This has led to a Highland feud which spiralled out of control and which went 'nuclear' just as I was racking up some serious XPs.

Well, there was claret flying and I stepped in to split them and all of a sudden the claret increased as the Scots decided that Sassenach intervention was not required:

And so, after cleaning my blood and that of the McHubbards and McCoys (more of the latter clan's bllod than the former)I spent Sunday evening in A&E, finally getting home at 23:00, with a temporary dressing, tetanus shot and two kinds of anti-biotic, along with an 'invitation' to see a hand specialist to Tuesday morning.

Tuesday came, and I was fast tracked from the specialist to a surgeon colleague, who did some excellent work removing the infected tissue and adding some stitching to my beautiful hands. The good news was, as the good lady poked around in my thumb, she confirmed that the nerve was intact - PHEW!

Of course, the question was whether I would be able to paint, so ignoring sound medical advice, I cracked on with finding out, because, if I don't do the work, I can't have the money.

And, I am pleased to say that despite the time required being longer as I hae to keep altering my grip, ad using nitrile gloves to siulate the friction of skin on the brush handle, I've done prety well, particularl wth my signature 6mm work:

I'm back with the specialist and surgeon today, and  am hoping that when they remove the dressing and packing, I've not displaced the sutures or done more damage. If all is well, then it should just e a case of being patient for 10 days until I get the stitches removed.