There is something filling in where that piece of bone fell out. It looks hard and kind of gnarly, perhaps bone, but then again bone is not known to regenerate in humans, and I’m pretty sure she’s not part starfish. So maybe it wasn’t her bone that fell out after all – maybe it was part of the weird fingernail or something else entirely. We’re sure to find out soon, though, because the infection is back.

She has only been off antibiotics for one week, and the finger has worsened steadily since then. I have been waiting to take her in until it got worse enough to require antibiotics. I knew that the finger wasn’t better enough to stop the antibiotics last time, and knew it was only a matter of time before it looked infected again. But, as I knew she would be, the ID doc was pleased with the progress and thought Grace would be fine stopping the medicine on schedule. Perhaps I wanted to teach the doctor a bit of a lesson, perhaps I thought she could have been right even though my instinct told me otherwise. Either way, the finger is worse now.

I hope this gamble with infection will not lead to another hospital stay. Alternatively, if we do end up in the hospital, I hope the doctors are very aggressive with their treatment so that the finger finally heals.