Sunday, April 18, 2010

Yes, Virginia .... that rotary cutter is sharp!

Warning:  the following post is somewhat graphic. 
 If you have a weak stomach, venture no further.

Today was forecast to be bright and sunny ---
the perfect day to rototill the garden and clear away last year's debris.

We were in desperate need of beastie food
 so a trip to the Evil Empire was in order.

However, before we went there we went
 to the sewing studio to feed the birds.

I noticed that the finches seemed to be readying to nest
 and that they had no nesting material,
so I dug through the scrap box and found 
some bright material to cut into teeny strips for 
them to use in their nesting box.


I was on the very last strip when I somehow whacked 
the side of my left index finger.


I knew I had cut it pretty bad so I ran into 
the bathroom and it began gushing blood.

Okay, so it wasn't gushing, but that sounds 
so much more dramatic than it was bleeding like a bitch!

Naturally, there wasn't a roll of paper towels
 on the sink like there normally is, 
so I began rolling toilet paper and applying pressure.  



It was soaking through 
the Cottenelle as fast as I could pull it off the roll.



Mardell had stepped outside to admire our blooming tulips, 
hyacinth and daffodils and was blissfully
 unaware that I had cut the entire side of my fingertip off.




Was she ever surprised when she walked back in!
But she grabbed our first aid kit and 
found the gauze and wrapped my finger up.


We soon determined that it wasn't going to stop bleeding, 
so off to the emergency room we went.


Trust me, you do not want to visit the emergency room on a Sunday morning.

Not that anyone probably wants to visit an emergency room at any time ......

They began to check me in and a nurse came in the room
 and asked me to take the gauze off so she could see the wound.
I dripped blood all over their floor so she immediately 
took me back to trauma one.


The receptionist had to come find me to give me my fancy little bracelet.

The first thing the nurse did was clean the affected area.
"This is going to sting a little," she warned.


She got it cleaned up so that we could see what was what.

It really didn't look so bad ... but it wouldn't quit bleeding.

 I took about 1/8th of an inch off in the outlined area.
Just took the whole side of the tip of my finger right off.

It continued to bleed so she opened up two more packs
 of $300 gauze pads and left me to apply pressure.


I finally managed to get it semi-stopped and 
was feeling quite encouraged.


Then we had to wait.
And wait.


And wait.
And wait some more.


Mardell could tell I was getting antsy and 
was ready to be out of there,
so she sang to me.

"Soft kitty, warm kitty,
little ball of fur,
happy kitty, sleepy kitty,
purr purr purr."

Sheldon and Penney would have been proud!


When the crew from Air Link called in and then the helicopter landed, 
I knew we were probably there for the long haul.

We were directly underneath the landing pad 
and we could smell exhaust from the helicopter.

We could hear them wheeling bodies into various rooms.  
I looked at the cut and figured in the world of triage, we
might be lucky to leave by midnight.

Finally a student PA came in and pronounced that it couldn't be stitched.
No kidding?  I had that figured out before we ever went to the hospital
and I don't have a medical degree.  

She messed with it to make sure there were no foreign bodies in the wound ....
and caused it to once again begin bleeding profusely.

So back to the pads and pressure.

Two hours after we had walked in, the doctor finally came in.
She confirmed it couldn't be stitched and 
said the nurse would be in to wrap it.

Before that happened though, she decided that it 
probably needed to be cauterized to stop the bleeding.

Without any warning, she applied nitrate to the left edge 
that seemed to be bleeding the most.  

I was quite proud of the fact that I hadn't cursed to this point.

They heard my "SON OF A BITCH!!!!" down at the staffing station.
The doctor mumbled an apology and hurried down to the
 said station to laugh her ass off!
At least the nurse warned me that it might hurt a bit.

The nurse finally arrived to apply a tube bandage with this 
handy dandy contraption.


I considered stealing it when she told me I would have to change
the dressing every day for a week.


Not really.
But it would have been easy.

She got it all bandaged and within two minutes
it was already bleeding through.


She was afraid that if she messed with it, 
it would bleed even worse so she added several more layers
and sent us on our merry way.


We changed the dressing tonight
and it looks pretty good....


but so much for rototilling anytime soon!

The up side is that I can't do dishes for another week!

4 comments:

Mary said...

Another week my ass!! hee hee And, if that looks BETTER......I am really scared! I have to ask....what happened to the chunk you so neatly sliced off?? Thanks for fixing the door knob yesterday while you still had working index fingers!!

Sister One said...

We went back and looked for the chunk, but didn't see it. We did remember to put the cut strips in for the birds though!

Ruth said...

Perhaps you should invest in some of those metal mesh gloves that protect hands from sharp objects. Do they make full-body metal mesh outfits? You might want to consider looking into that prior to rototilling anything :)

nicki said...

blech. disgusting! hope your finger feels better soon though.