Thursday, July 07, 2005
My Hand
Yesterday I was quietly going about my day, getting things done, unpacking from the trip, and moving furniture around the house. It all sounds so simple and yet in the midst of the fun I did something I haven't done in a long time. I had a plastic broom handle which we (Greg and I) tried to put under the entertainment unit so that it could roll. The unit squashed the handle. After moving the unit (by brute force aided by the sudden appearance of my father-in-law), I picked up the broom handle and easily broke it where it was squashed. I was left with a long piece and a short piece.
The short piece easily fit into the garbage, and so I started playing with the long piece. I tried bending it across my knee, but it would not bend. This just proved to Greg and I how heavy the unit really was. Determined at this point to break the pole once more and then to toss it, I set one end on the ground and held the broken end in my hand and stepped. While this action does cause a bend in the pole, it also pulls the pole downward so that the jagged edge that was above my hand would be pulled into my hand.
I knew right away that I had not been thinking, especially since I am sure that I have had minor brushes like this before in my life and the movements of the various objects, specifically the jagged edge are not that difficult to figure out. I also knew right away what had happened and that I had better rinse my hand and hold the wound closed. I used paper towel while Greg and I searched for a band-aid that would be big enough to cover the section of skin ripped open. We used one of those knuckle band-aids that had the four ends and secured the wound while I waited for a while for my wife to get off work and give me a ride to the hospital.
With the kind of wait that I had I wondered if it would be healed to the point that they would no longer be able or willing to do stitches. When they took off the band-aid I discovered that the band-aid was helping prevent bleeding, but the wound was no where near closed yet. The doctor looked at it and said that because it was a puncture type wound, stitches would not be a good idea and so instead he washed it (included everyone's favorite "irrigating the wound"), and then put gauze pads on the wound and wrapped the wound and hand in a roll of gauze. Based on the wrap I would think that there was a sprain or something, but it is only to hold the gauze pads on the wound.
So, my fingers work fine to do things like typing, but I cannot lift things anymore and I have to watch out for simple things in life like putting my hand down and lifting myself up. I hope the lesson of how I play with broken things will be remembered this time.
The short piece easily fit into the garbage, and so I started playing with the long piece. I tried bending it across my knee, but it would not bend. This just proved to Greg and I how heavy the unit really was. Determined at this point to break the pole once more and then to toss it, I set one end on the ground and held the broken end in my hand and stepped. While this action does cause a bend in the pole, it also pulls the pole downward so that the jagged edge that was above my hand would be pulled into my hand.
I knew right away that I had not been thinking, especially since I am sure that I have had minor brushes like this before in my life and the movements of the various objects, specifically the jagged edge are not that difficult to figure out. I also knew right away what had happened and that I had better rinse my hand and hold the wound closed. I used paper towel while Greg and I searched for a band-aid that would be big enough to cover the section of skin ripped open. We used one of those knuckle band-aids that had the four ends and secured the wound while I waited for a while for my wife to get off work and give me a ride to the hospital.
With the kind of wait that I had I wondered if it would be healed to the point that they would no longer be able or willing to do stitches. When they took off the band-aid I discovered that the band-aid was helping prevent bleeding, but the wound was no where near closed yet. The doctor looked at it and said that because it was a puncture type wound, stitches would not be a good idea and so instead he washed it (included everyone's favorite "irrigating the wound"), and then put gauze pads on the wound and wrapped the wound and hand in a roll of gauze. Based on the wrap I would think that there was a sprain or something, but it is only to hold the gauze pads on the wound.
So, my fingers work fine to do things like typing, but I cannot lift things anymore and I have to watch out for simple things in life like putting my hand down and lifting myself up. I hope the lesson of how I play with broken things will be remembered this time.
// posted by Eric @ 8:54 AM 
