Other than a head shot of Hoyt Axton on my left deltoid and Natalie Wood on my right, I don't have any tattoos. Right now, however, it looks like I have a sleeve tattoo on my right arm. But it's a bruise; a huge and Furman purple bruise. And it's the best one I've ever had, including the one on my rib cage when I fell off a roof and had the fall broken by a brick wall a few years back in Georgia.
How bruised? We have a puppy. Her name is Lily. She is a rescue puppy. Her lineage is pit bull, gazelle, and sasquatch. She likes to go on what we call "tears," as in tearing across the meadow. It is a sight to behold when Lily goes on a tear; this beautiful, 30-pound puppy going full speed all over the place, purely for the joy of running fast.
Near the end of one of her tears last Sunday afternoon, she was finishing up and headed for the front porch. I put out my right arm so that she would stop. She did not. If I had known she was going to blast straight ahead, I would have set myself and tensed my arm. But I thought she would stop. She did not. As a result, she snapped through my arm.
The result of that plunge by the puppy resulted in what I would call "significant discomfort." My right arm made a funny, squishy sound as Lily barreled right on by. I thought my elbow was dislocated; but, when I looked at it, it looked normal. Then it occurred to me that I was going to pay a visit to the Emergency Room. I would rather memorize "The Song of Hiawatha" than see a doctor. But I could not bend my arm and the "significant discomfort" was growing. What to do? What to do?
My long-suffering wife, Lisa, came to the rescue. She got three Advil in me and packed my arm in ice at the point that seemed to be producing the most discomfort - at the base of my bicep and the top of my forearm.
Now, a few days later, I have full range of motion in my right arm, can push hard using triceps. Can not do much with that bicep, but it is getting better. I expect full recovery in a few days. The human body is "fearsomely and wonderfully made," the Bible says. When I look at my sleeve tat, I might add, "colorfully, too."
