Saturday, June 3, 2023

The finger and the party

Today I had planned to have Marla and Martina over for a little celebration. Martina has completed an internship in her journey to becoming a fully certified vet tech, and I, of course, have a new job. 

Yesterday I went shopping and got the ingredients for the food I was planning to prepare, but the only things I managed to finish were baking a pound cake from scratch and boiling some bow-tie pasta for a Greek pasta salad. When I went to start chopping veggies for the salad, I was careless and distracted, not to mention using a razor-sharp new knife....and I sliced a deep cut into the side of my left index finger. 

And oh my God, the blood! I don't think I've ever bled so much from a cut! The gash was pumping out so much blood that I started to get dizzy and nauseous. It got so bad I had to go lie down and elevate my feet to keep from passing out! I'm really glad Gregg was here. He ran and found a clean towel to wrap around my finger and hand with plenty of pressure. He got a cold wet cloth and dabbed my face and forehead with it until the danger of fainting passed.  Once the bleeding slowed down, he was all prepared to drive me to the ER for stitches. I probably should have gone, too, but once the bleeding finally stopped it was almost midnight and I just wanted to go to sleep. I guess I was worn out from all the drama. The towel my hand was wrapped in, as well as the white t-shirt I was wearing, had to be thrown away.


We had plenty of bandages and gauze, but the only tape Gregg could find was blue painter's tape. Stylish!!

A little while ago I very cautiously unwrapped the bandage from last night, and the cut looks pretty bad. Very deep. (I'll spare you the picture I took of it). But at least it's not bleeding, and I reapplied a coat of antibiotic gel to the wound before re-bandaging it. Stitches still might not be a bad idea, but I'd rather not go sit in the ER if I can help it. *

So needless to say, the girls and I won't be having our little party today. We've postponed until tomorrow, so I'll have time to (slowly, carefully) finish the food with only one good hand.

Injury aside, tomorrow will be better anyway because we're having our roof replaced today. A crew is on top of the house as I type this, hammering and nailing away. We'd been making plans to get the roof done for a while now, but only found out they were planning to come today at the last minute yesterday afternoon. Who wants to have friends around with all that noise and chaos going on? 

All in all, it's been quite the weekend so far!

*Have you ever chosen to let a bad cut heal without stitches that you maybe needed? 

24 comments:

  1. Yep, I have a scar from almost the exact cut on the middle finger on my left hand--like you, I even had to lie down on the kitchen floor because seeing the blood from the deep cut made me so nauseous! The cut was a clean slice with a sharp knife, so it healed well, but it took a long time to heal completely.
    Because I'm right handed it didn't bother me.

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    1. P.S. I'm sure if I'd gone to the ER they'd have stitched it, it was so deep, but it really has never mattered. As long as it doesn't get infected.

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  2. Thank heaven you alright!!!! Hell, even paper cuts can hurt let alone a deep cut like yours.I've had minor cuts but that's it. It is amazing how quick they can heal. Never had a bad deep cut, but I remember my father once putting in a fluorescent light fixture once...and the reflector piece slipped out and caught him right where the forearm and elbow meet...inside and it was deep to the bone. Talk about blood everywhere. I was 16 or 17 at the time, we got him wrapped in towels and I drove him to the ER...never mind I never had a lesson!!!!! My mother arrived home to the doors open and blood all over the family room floor, stairs upcoming up from the basement, and the kitchen, she must have thought a murder took place.

    I hope the rest of your weekend goes well!!! We will now await to hear from Mitchell. He is king of cuts slips and trips!!!!

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  3. I've used steri-strips/butterfly bandages for cuts that may have needed stitches, and always healed well and without complications. To help keep the cut clean and prevent infection, I also apply a bandage over the steri-strips.
    Hope the roofers finish today and you can take it easy.
    Enjoy your time with friends tomorrow!

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  4. Oh man, i had to lie down after reading Finger news. I am thinking that stitches are a good thing, plus it can get a good medical look at. YIKES!

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  5. I keep saying cooking is extremely dangerous and should only be done by paid professionals! (Although I know chef down the street who chopped off a finger last year.) And, yes, I've had a couple of cuts that should have been stitched. I hope it continues to improve and I hope it doesn't pain you. That's scary!

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  6. Ouch, ouch, OUCH! No, I would go get stitches. There will be much less of a scar that way plus less open wound for infection to get in.

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  7. Please go and get that cut checked out. Like Debra says above, it is quite easy to get an infection and you do not want that! Take care!

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  8. Owowow!! I have cut my left index finger a few days before moving from my former rented flat to the one I am in now (and which I own), 20 years ago in October. It bled like a tap, and my kitchen looked like a scene from a splatter movie. Like you, I felt nauseous and close to fainting. I laid down on the settee, and my husband in his typical British way asked “Shall I make you a cup of tea?” Also like you, I did not go to a doctor, even though my husband offered to go with me (we did not have a car and would have had to ask someone else, or call a taxi). Instead, after I felt a little better, I walked the very short way to the nearest pharmacy and bought a kind of clasping strip to draw the open sides of the cut together. My husband helped me cleaning and bandaging the finger, but I must admit it hurt, and the finger throbbed quite badly. When I removed the bandage the next day to clean and rebandage, I nearly fainted again, it looked so horrible! But it stopped hurting and throbbing after the first day. The scar is still there, 20 years later.
    Hopefully, you are much better tomorrow, and can enjoy your celebration with your friends.
    ( By the way, since it happened only days before we moved, I could not carry stuff I needed both hands for… it seemed like a good excuse from the hard physical work, but I‘d rather NOT have had the cut!)

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  9. You do need to let the professionals look at it. If it needs stitches and you don't have them it will leave a nasty scar.

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  10. I've definitely had cuts that should probably have gotten stitches. But- you know. Nah. Scars don't bother me. I have found that the different products that go under names like Liquid Bandage can be helpful in these situations. It's nothing but super glue, I think, but it can definitely help hold a cut together. What a traumatic incident! And if it doesn't seem to be healing up or gets red and swollen, get thee to the doctor.

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  11. Yes to the question. Scars are nice reminders. Blue painter's tape... nice touch.

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  12. You can help it heal with butterfly bandages to close the edges. I think you can buy them now; when I was a kid, my parents made them.

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  13. Yes. But the cut needs to be cleaned thoroughly. Steristrips or Nuskin to pull the edges together.

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  14. It'll heal, but the sides need to be pulled together, and apply plenty of antiseptic. Don't move it more than necessary. All a bit obvious I suppose.

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  15. That cut is what super-glue was invented for - a stitch substitute on the battlefield. In my experience, super-glue only works properly on flesh and skin but is pretty bad on everything else.

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  16. Do you have walk-in clinics for small emergencies? That's where I would go to have it cleaned and stitched (if needed). Why risk an infection?

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  17. That must have been really painful! I too, years ago, cut myself badly with a knife on Christmas Day. I didn't go to the ER, I still have a small scar, but it is barely visible.

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  18. Ugh! Well THAT was some excitement you didn't need. I must say I've been lucky enough to never need stitches, except after minor skin surgery, and I hope to keep it that way.

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  19. I think a doctor had best take a look at that. What a shocking experience for you, all that blood. You are getting a new roof, we are on the same page, I just selected a roofer and he is coming over tomorrow to pick up my deposit check. Very expensive things new roofs.

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  20. I guess there's no point in telling you that you should have done what Dr Gregg suggested and got stitches while the wound was fresh! Consider buying some chain mail gloves to wear when using knives. What an annoying comment by me!

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  21. Sorry about the injury. Getting used to new cutlery is no joke. As for 'have I ever cut myself badly and not gone for stitches?' WELL GLADYS. Years ago I grew...call them 'Shasta Daisies.' Now, if you scored the seedpods of the 'Shasta Daisies' in the evening, the next morning you could collect lovely brown drops of milk with the side of a shaped and sharpened spoon. For purposes. And so I made a spoon like that using my husbands grinder, and, armed with a fresh Xacto blade, I went off to harvest and score my crop one morning - uncaffeinated. I sliced open the side of my pointer finger so deep the Xacto caught on the bone - and then I gave myself a nice cut on the palm gathering everything up in my haste to run inside. Due to the nature of my, um, harvest, I didn't really feel the palm cut right away; I was too busy dealing with getting the bleeding stopped and bandaged. The finger did surprisingly well, but it was the cut on the palm that just kept on bangin'. The wages of sin, man. Not like 'Shasta Daisies' are sinful, right, but yeah.

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