In my entire life, I have never taken a sick day. Now, I know that is not necessarily anything to be proud about - but I really just never get sick. Through hundred hour-plus work weeks as a neurosurgical resident and even two small children, I have been remarkably immune. So, as I lay around the last several days nursing a broken hand, I started to go a little stir crazy. I don't like simply sitting around or being pushed into some sort of forced relaxation. Still, there I was. Feeling sorry for myself and driving my wife crazy.

For me, it started while covering the wildfires in San Diego. Getting by on just a couple of hours of sleep several days in a row finally caught up with me. I was walking toward my live shot location, when I suddenly found myself at the bottom of a flight of stairs. I was so tired that I never even saw them, until I was lying flat on my back at the bottom of them. Of course, as I heard people scurrying toward me to see if I was OK, I immediately sprang to my feet - mainly out of embarrassment. "I'm alright," I shouted for all to hear. At the same time, I took my wildly distorted left ring finger and twisted it back into place. That hurt. Badly. It was the sort of core pain that nearly drops you to your knees. Even then, I thought it was just a bad sprain.

So, I continued on to my colleague Kiran Chetry. She took one look at me and asked, "What's wrong?" "What?" I replied. "Nothing." She's one of those women who just knows when something is off --- or maybe I was grimacing like a crazy man. Who knows? I still did a couple of segments about my investigations the day before, all the time watching my hand balloon up to the size of a boxing glove. Chris Gajilan, my producer, had enough and off to the ER we went.

At Scripps hospital in San Diego, they could not have been nicer. While telling me how badly messed up my hand was, they still smiled. The ER doctor walked in, chuckled in an amused way and said the hand surgeon was already on his way in. It was 4 a.m. Turns out, I had a spiral fracture of my fourth metacarpal on my left hand. That's a pretty nasty fracture where the bone not only breaks, but also rotates. "Could I wait to go home for the operation?" I asked. After all, I wanted to follow up with my own doctors in Atlanta. Reluctantly, they agreed.

Two days later I lay in the holding room at Emory Clinic, while Dr. Gary McGillivary sharpened his knives in the next room. He quickly placed two pins in my hand to hold me in place, and then a cast to hold the pins in place. Honestly, I barely remember anything. They gave me 2 mg of Versed, which is an antegrade amnesiac, and I slept through the whole thing. Lightweight.

Well, I wanted to blog today (it took me two hours to do this as I am typing with one finger) to simply say thank you to all the nice people who have e-mailed and sent their well wishes. By all reports, I will be fine. Within another few weeks, I hope to be back to operating myself. My hand surgeon is confident that won't be a problem. In fact, just yesterday, my physical therapist told me I was the best patient she had ever worked with. My wife wasn't buying it.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Typing has never been my strong suit. Trained monkeys type faster than I do. But these days, it's even worse. And it's painful. If I type for more than a few minutes, my elbow and wrist hurt like the dickens. Since writing (and subsequently typing) is the way I make my lunch money, I decided to seek professional help before it got really bad. After a few X-rays and a little poking and twisting, the doctor gave me the bad news. Turns out I have carpal tunnel syndrome. Now, I am wearing a VERY attractive black brace and I am popping ibuprofen ever few hours. Oh, the hazards of an office job!

Curious, I decided to do some checking on work related injuries. Just last week, the U.S. Department of Labor released new statistics on work injuries that require time off. Overall, the news is good: The number of injuries was down 6 percent in 2006. Among the other interesting findings:

* Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants had the most days away from work -- four times the total for all other occupations.

* Sprains and strains were the top cause of injury.

* Men were more likely to be injured than women.

* And interestingly enough, the overall cases of carpal tunnel syndrome decreased by 21 percent. (Apparently my wrist and elbow didn't get the memo.)

But here's the statistic that really jumped out at me: Assaults and violent acts increased by 10 percent. Against women, they were up 21 percent. Health care and social assistance workers took the brunt of the abuse -- 60 percent of incidents happened to them and were committed by people they were trying to help.

Hearing that puts my little inconvenience in perspective. I am curious: Do you have any interesting work injury stories? Do you think your employer does enough to keep you safe? Any advice?

I will end it here. My arm needs a break.