September 10, 2000  More Adventures in Pond Building

So I know you are expecting to see pictures of these,

And that is truly what I meant to bring you today. In fact it must have been just after I took this picture that I did this...

A Picture is worth a thousand words of course, but I bet you want to hear the story.

So there I was working with the Pond of Uncertainty. The whole story of what was going on will come later. But I was moving fish to a temporary home. You see six in the bucket, Uno, Tres, Cinco, Carl Lewis, That Other Fish, and Hello Fish. Being the smallest and hardest to catch, Saskatchewan is still in the pond.

So I have them in the bucket and was taking pictures, and I went inside for the portrait bowl, and I came back out and took pictures. Then I guess I went in to put the bowl away and there was a bloody trail all across the floor. "Hmmm," I am wondering, "There seems to be a cut on me somewhere." I found it on my big toe. So I put my big toe in the sink and wondered how I had done that and more how I hadn't noticed. There was a lot of blood around. After I peeled back the flap and was interested to see flesh, and not just skin, and wash it off. I went in search of a big enough band aid. There was no gauze in my medicine cabinet so I had to go to the first aid kit in the car. So I sat on the front bumper of the Beetle and covered my wound.

With that solved I wiped up all the blood from around the house, lest it stain the carpet, and then set about wondering if I should go see someone. It was a bad cut but just not all that bad. I tried to call a nurse friend of mine for advice. I couldn't find her number and ended up talking to someone with her name, but not her, after calling information. I thought about it some more, and decided maybe the Hospital would have advice. So much for friendly advice. All the ER Nurse could say was, " I can't tell you anything with out seeing it."

After pondering this for a few minutes, I headed for town. I spend the whole drive begrudging the medical system that made it impossible to do anything but go to the ER on Sunday night for a simple cut. I also was a little sobered by how long the drive was, and I was really glad that I wasn't in any real danger.

I felt really silly walking into the Emergency Room. It is so strange that you have one place for people who are a little worried about a cut up to someone in cardiac arrest.

The receptionist ignored me for a minute to finish her conversation. I guess I didn't look so wounded, but when I said that I had cut my toe, she seemed a little apologetic and rushed.

While I was filling out the forms, the nurse peered over the counter at my bandage and asked me a couple of questions. I just realized while driving back, how strange it was that I never had to produce my wallet. It was a waste of time to put it in my pocket on the way out, unless I had wanted to get ice cream afterwards or something.

Things were routine from there. The nurse took off my dressing and asked me questions about how and when. The cut looked a lot smaller than when I had washed it in the sink. I was still feeling a little silly about having come in.  I was working on the pond. At least I had an excuse for having been running around in the yard barefoot. I was glad that I hadn't cut my toe last week, while I was splitting wood in sandals. That would have been inexcusable. The nurse put my toe to soak in betadyne and then I started feeling better that I had come in. It was going to be very clean at least.

I wish I were a hot chic in distress with this doctor. He was older and a little distinguished, but cut. I almost asked him if he worked out. Would that have been too flirty? I don't know. He was dreamy though. We had a nice conversation about cuts. I wanted this to be a learning experience for me to know when I should go to the ER, in the future. I asked if he had many people come in with cuts that shouldn't be stitched. I didn't get the response I was hoping for. He just told me about the kinds of cuts you shouldn't stitch, but still sounded like they really belonged in the ER. I wanted to know, how big of a cut is too small. In the end I decided ( now this is what I suffered to learn for you, so pay attention.) If you think it may need stitches but aren't sure, GO! especially if it is in a place that might be hard to heal, or it might be really dirty. I also practiced my first aid training. I thought my cut would be called an avulsion, but after a lengthy  and graphic description of what an avulsion is, the doctor went on to call my cut a 'triangular flap laceration.' He even went on to describe how it must have happened, which was helpful since I certainly didn't notice.

I wish I had thought to bring the digital camera with me to the ER. I could have had great shots of me getting local anesthesia from a long thin needle in my big toe, or of the flap being pulled back and having water squirted in to rinse, or the sudsy scrub brush he used to get crud out. Or even of the four stitches being put in.

And the Quote  of the Day:
When the doctor was done he sent the same nurse back in to dress the wound. One might have expected the first comment to be about my toe, when I hadn't seen this guy in twenty minutes and I had just been through minor surgery. But what were the words out of his mouth? "My pond is full of cattails. Can't find a legal way to get rid of them." The best part of the quote was the pause afterwards. For thirty seconds I was too shocked to really take in the comment or say anything else, and he didn't say anything. Finally he talked about the toe. And the quote of the day confirms my suspicion. It is all about ponds and fish anyway.

MiXiM

Update 3:45 am. Ouch. It really hurts. More than wisdom teeth. Advil and some teeth clenching and I am back asleep

Update 7:45 am. Ouch, I kicked the chair. How many days have I lived here and not done that. Not once have I kicked the chair with my big toe until it had four stitches in it.

Update 11:00 am. It looks like my insurance will pay me $300 for this injury above and beyond the ER bill. It is like some demented savings account where you have to draw blood to withdraw money.

Update 7:00 pm. Time to change the dressing. I don't want to see what is in there, especially since over the day blood has soaked out and dried the most amazing shade of purple.