When I read John Scalzi's Weekend Assignment 121 I knew right away what I wanted to write about. Here's the assignment:
Weekend Assignment #121: Do whatever you want, so long as it somehow involves the number 11. Memories of being eleven, lists that have eleven positions on them, collections of eleven similar objects -- hey, whatever you want. As long as the number eleven is somehow involved, it's all good. For those of you thinking about being sneaking and using binary notation: no "11, base 2." We're talking binary number 1011 here, pal.
Okay, so what did I think of right away? 11 fingers! That's right, my sister Val was born with 11 fingers. The 11th finger grew out of the pinky on her left hand. The finger was removed when she was a baby, but if you look real closely you can see what remains of it in this photo (right side of the picture - on the pinky).
There's an interesting story about how it was removed. When Val was a newborn, the first thing that the doctors did was tie a black nylon string around it in hopes of removing its blood flow, thereby causing it to fall off. (I kid you not, my mom tells us this!) When that failed to work, the finger was surgically removed (fingernail and all!).
Extra credit: Grab a book, open it to page 11, and write out the 11th sentence.
Okay, I grabbed the nearest book to me. It is a book that I just bought for my niece (to give to her son). It is called Read with Dick and Jane. Opening to page 11, I see there are not even 11 sentences, LOL. Oh come on now, this book is made easy for children. I just LOVE this book, it was my reader in first grade. Getting back to the subject, I will read sentence eight, because it is the closest thing I can find: Run and find Mother. Dick is saying that to Spot. Read the book to find out if Spot saves the day, I won't spoil it for you and tell you the ending.
God bless, Krissy :)
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Great entry. I remember when they used to try that, the string thing. LOL glad your sister survived that period of medical history.
ReplyDeleteJulie
Great choice for both parts of the assignment. My brother had to have 2 toes removed off one foot. He only started with 10 tho, it was deformed somewhat and they had to go. When he was bit older at the beach and the pretty girls asked he told them he got bit by a shark. Thanks for not spoiling the ending of the story I am only on page 9 :)
ReplyDeletehugs
d
Very interesting ! Linda in WA
ReplyDeleteKrissy,
ReplyDeleteYou never bore us.. do you! Wonderful story and you used a family member to boot.. you should get extra extra credit for that one..LoL. Loved the book extra credit. I think the nearest book to me doesn't have that many sentences either because it's Kyan's book. It does have 11 pages though so that should count for something. Now that Kyan loves dogs. I'll have to remember to pick him up one of these. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm like D glad you didn't spoil the ending.
Hope you're having a great weekend.
Take Care, Chrissie
My niece Maddy was born with 12 fingers6 on each hand! She's 3 soon to be 4 and she still has the nubs from them. You and John are still in my thoughts and prayers!
ReplyDeletehope you have a great weekend:)
ReplyDeleteDeb
Ewwwwwwwww....
ReplyDeleteWOW, That is so interesting, how they used a string to tie it off. Sending prayers to you and hubby. Dawn
ReplyDeleteWhat a great entry. I am so far behind, I will never catch up but I'm doing it fast as I can. Take good care. Hugs, Barb
ReplyDeleteI worked for a plastic surgeon once and he did surgeries like this; always fascinated me
ReplyDeletebetty
Thanks for the email and e-card but my Macromedia Flash Player is not well and only the simplest graphics display. I imagine they were nice <grin>
ReplyDeletePatrick
I remember Val talking about this in one of her entries dealing with something not everyone knows about you. Very appropriate entry.
ReplyDeleteGreg
Interesting story and thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteBrenda
So tastefully done, my love =)! I thought you were going to show my face. LOL Thanks for not showing my face, doll. LOL I loved the book you chose. awww... Chelsea called me this morning. She thinks she is having false contractions :-o ... poor thing. I will keep you updated. I LOVE YOU!!!! xox
ReplyDeletehttp://journals.aol.com/valphish/ThereisaSeason
yep I do see where your sister's 11th finger was. I heard about that tying it up and hopefully it will fall off. Love the dick and jane and spot books.
ReplyDeleteWow! 11 fingers? Sorry for not dropping by often. My AOL software sucks!
ReplyDeleteVery cool... polydactyly, it is called and now, they just hop right to surgical removal! lol
ReplyDeletebe well,
Dawn
What a unique "11" entry!
ReplyDeleteHi Krissy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment on my journal. I think the poem is complex too. Loved your unique No 11 entry.
Kate.
http://journals.aol.com/fisherkristina/SometimesIThink/entries/1114
One of our old neighbor children had an extra thumb growing out of her right thumb. We didn't notice it at first, until one day she was over for dinner. I did a double take. It was so cute though--she had all of her nails painted a pretty red..all 11 of them.. :) Julie
ReplyDeletewow Krissy! what a unique entry! I'm so glad that you sister Val had good luck with her surgery!love,natalie
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