How I Almost Botched the Bar Exams Part 1

I would say I was emotionally unstable during my bar review. I was living alone, and I had to deal with a bad break-up. My neighbors wouldn't keep the noise down. It was the height of the pandemic, and as much as I wanted to go outside to get some sunlight, I couldn't risk contracting COVID-19 and being disqualified from taking the bar just for such.

It didn't matter if my neighbors knew that I was reviewing. They would bang the walls, monitor who my visitors were(yes, I was being harassed) and even laugh raucously during their nightly inuman. If they felt like it, they would even play music on repeat just below my study room.

One day, I had gotten enough that I threw a tantrum. While slicing up vegetables, I slammed the knife down, hilt in hand, and my right palm slid over the blade. My fingers were still gripping the blade which had sliced through my right ring finger and pinky.

I didn't feel anything. But I released my grasp on the blade a little too late. 

I washed the blood off my fingers, and saw bubbles of yellow poking out from the cut(it was fat). I had to put pressure to keep the bleeding at bay, so I tried to form a fist. But my pinky wouldn't flex.

This can't be happening, I thought. I closed again, and against my will, my pinky finger remained extended.

I pushed the pinky finger down with my left hand. But my pinky would stand without the slightest quiver every time I removed pressure on it. 

My brain racked through my nursing theoretics. 

The knife must have cut through my flexor tendon!

And the only way one can repair them was through surgery. I grabbed my phone and tapped in the search box. I was correct.

I felt the blood drain from my face. I felt cold, and I steadied myself against the ledge of the table. I slid myself down and lay on the floor. I propped both feet up to help the blood flow back into my upper extremities.

Denial crept in.

Just how am I going to take the Bar exams with a torn flexor tendon?

I type at a 130wpm max speed. With only one hand, I would be typing at about 10wpm! Would I ever be able to finish typing the answers?

Just how much would the surgery cost?

Should I tell my parents? Nah. That's a bad idea. Not only would they throw a fit, they might even suffer an attack in worry.

If I have the surgery, will this pinky heal in time for the Bar?

Which hospital has the least number of Covid-19 patients admitted? Are there any near me that would admit an urgent case?

Do I take the risk of contracting Covid-19 by seeking medical help, or do I leave this pinky unattended?

Just how could a small cut like this have torn through the tendon? 

Can I just undo time?

As the blood flowed from my feet back to my dazed brain, I decided I would have to call the nearby hospitals to check if they were admitting urgent cases in their ER department.

But as of then, I had every cause to worry about the near future. 

The Bar exam was only a month and a half away.