My turn at the ER.

It started innocently enough, doing dishes. Well, I wasn’t even really washing dishes per se—like the knife wasn’t hiding in soapy water (my mom taught me that knives never go in the water—they sit to the side). I was just washing the one knife, with a scrubby, under water. It wasn’t even dirty, it was just new and needed a cursory 5-second wash. But I wasn’t paying too much attention and I was trying to do it really quickly—and suddenly I felt a ZING! and saw blood spurt into the sink. Egads.

And there was sooooooo much blood (it’s a good thing blood doesn’t really bother me). It hurt but not like I thought it would. I was actually more ticked because I couldn’t see the extent of the injury due to all the blood. When I finally got to look at it, I saw that I sliced my fingernail at the base along with about a 1/2″ gash in my finger.

Then…the Twitter and Facebook posts commenced. 🙂

2:16pm I just cut my finger with a new knife. More blood than I’d prefer. #thingsthatmakemeswear

2:30pm See? Not TOO bad. Right?

2:45pm It’s bandaged now (with a spray of pain reliever and a big band-aid).

I was pretty sure I didn’t need stitches, but after seeing the picture, friends told me it might warrant a few stitches, but…

1. I didn’t feel it was worthy of having Tom come home from work so I could go.
2. I’m not good at deciding, having only gotten stitches maybe twice in my life (I think five total, including childbirth!).
3. I was actually waiting to examine it more closely—to pull apart the skin to see how deep the slice really was—but I had to wait until it was REALLY done bleeding.

When Tom came home I unwrapped it to show him and it started bleeding again, and he told me I should go to the ER. Ugh.

6:34pm At ER waiting for stitches—Tom convinced me to go. At least they’re fast (waiting for a PA).

7:11pm Up next: tetanus shot, since I can’t remember when I last had one.

7:20pm Well I thought this was going to be a super quick visit—I was triaged and waiting for the PA within 10 minutes. Then it was 30 minutes before they took me to the minor care center. I’ve been here 25 and have seen the PA but am waiting for my tetanus and then the stitches. Hopefully the rest goes more quickly as I didn’t eat dinner.

7:33pm I wish I knew why it took 30+ minutes to get a tetanus. At this rate I’ll be home at midnight. 🙁 Otherwise, I like this place.

7:44pm Harnessing the power of posting… How long does it take to get stitches? (I posted re: the tetanus and had it 5 min later.) #knockonwood

8:14pm I’m all numbed up. The PA was awesome. She said lacerations are her favorite thing and she loves doing stitches. Lucky me! It was neat watching her efficiency…and thinking that numbing agents are awesome, because I should really be able to feel that needle sewing me up! (I had warned her that I might need more than the normal amount of anesthetic—recounting my birth story—but I ended up only needing the usual amount.)

8:20pm Five stitches (which brings my current lifetime total to 10).

8:35pm I guess 2 hours round trip wasn’t bad (from my house back to my house), but it felt soooo much longer. The PA said that tonight was really busy, but you’d never know from how un-busy it looked.

The funny thing is, I’m all about doctors and medicine and having someone be able to fix something, but I really didn’t feel my injury necessitated a trip to the ER. I told the PA I didn’t want to take up valuable time and resources for what was essentially a CUT. She said an ER visit was definitely warranted. Especially if it cuts into the nail (had I cut more of it, she would have had to take the whole nail off!). Well, now I know.

I can’t believe all the normal day-to-stay stuff that is hindered by having this finger out of commission. Like using any silverware, unscrewing jars, putting in contacts (I use that specific finger), writing, picking up Owen, typing, etc.

I’m just glad it wasn’t worse.