The Story of Stephen's Owie

Once upon a time there was a fetching young man named Stephen who loved to play basketball. One day Stephen was playing his beloved sport with some friends when he got a little blister boo-boo on his hand, right between thumb and second finger. Not only was Stephen handsome and athletic, however. His intelligence surpassed that of most basketball players in the land; therefore, he wisely iced and rested his hand until the small owie disappeared.

Months passed and Stephen now found himself showing his romantic sensibilities by taking his lucky wife on an anniversary cruise to Alaska. As loving and agreeable as our young hero was, he agreed to take a kayaking excursion with his adventurous wife and surprised himself by actually enjoying it. All except the little blister that cropped back up in the same spot it had first appeared those many basketball-playing moons ago.

More months passed and the little blister owie persisted on poor Stephen's hand, getting more and more painful with time. All the doctors in the land were perplexed by Stephen's blister and couldn't quite decide just what his boo-boo was. Some thought it was a cyst, others a vascular aneurysm, so it was off to an MRI to determine what was really going on. The MRI results showed a malformation of the blood vessel that basically looked like spaghetti inside his hand.

Brave and valiant as our hero is, Stephen now awaits surgery for what started out as a seemingly innocent basketball boo-boo. Thankfully the procedure should be quick, as should the recovery for his hand, but that doesn't mean we can't learn from this young man's story. Never assume a blister is just a blister, especially when it doesn't go away after a normal amount of time.