That was incredibly stupid

I just got back from spending two hours at the emergency clinic, having managed to cut a lovely big slice into my finger.  The culprit was my lovely rotary fabric cutter, which I was enthusiastically wielding while starting a new sewing project, when a moment’s inattention meant that my little finger on the hand that was holding down the ruler slipped over the edge a bit just as the blade reached it.  Result, a big slice into my finger (and nail – that blade is impressively sharp), and lots and lots of blood (it’s ok though, none of it got on the craft project – that wasn’t *quite* the first thing I checked, but it was close ;-)).  There was enough blood that sticking plasters were completely ineffective, so I suspected it might need a stitch – I did have a moment’s thought of should I try and catch the bus to the hospital, but then common sense kicked in and I figured out that this is one of those times when it’s ok to call friends and ask for help.
So I rang Harvestbird (actually, I rang the Gwilks first, but then remembered they’d be at church) and she came and picked me up and took me to the 24-hour doctors at Church Corner, where I was seen by a triage nurse who put on a temporary dressing (to replace the old towel I had wrapped round my hand in an attempt not to bleed on everything), then by another nurse for a tetanus shot, then by a doctor who decided I didn’t need a stitch after all, but I did need part of my nail removed (which he did without anaesthetic – he commented as he was doing it that “this is a well-known torture technique” – thank goodness for the FutureCat family’s ridiculously high pain tolerance…) to prevent infection, and finally by yet another nurse who taped the wound together (eventually – it was still bleeding badly enough that she had to put a tourniquet on my finger to stop the blood for long enough so she could get the tape to stick down) and put a proper dressing on it.  She said it should have healed up enough in a couple of days that I can replace the dressing with just an ordinary sticking plaster, but for now that finger’s pretty much out of action – I didn’t realise how much I use my little finger when I’m typing until now…
Oh, and because it’s Sunday so I couldn’t go to my ordinary GP and had to go to the 24-hour clinic instead, it cost me $75 for the privilege.  But hopefully I should be able to get that back from ACC.
So yeah, lesson learnt: pay more attention when you’re using the rotary cutter, FutureCat.  That wonderfully sharp blade is very good at cutting through all sorts of things, not just fabric.

Similar Posts

12 Comments

    1. Yeah, I think a wasp sting might have been more pleasant – certainly wouldn’t have needed such a big bandage afterwards! The bandage is more annoying than the cut is, actually – I keep bumping it against things (which hurts), and trying to have a shower while keeping it dry was a bit of a challenge.

  1. Oh! How horrid! Do hope you are still well enough to come North.
    No firm plan yet but I’m working on it. Will let you know a.s.a.p

    1. Don’t worry, unless I somehow get it horribly infected in the next few days I should be well and truly fit to travel.

  2. Just as an aside… I switched from using my rotary cutter which I adored to a ruler cutter and this was one of the reasons. Plus even easier to get nice straight lines as the cutter and ruler are all in one. Expensive… but in the ballpark or your medical fees so something to think about?

  3. That clinic is a tad expensive. My daughter broke her arm on a Sunday and it was more than $100 later (we were charged extra for x-ray). That’s actually on top of ACC funding. The only free option is A&E and be prepared for a long wait.
    Not particularly happy about it but it’s not like you can tell your kids not to injure themselves in the weekend. At least all the follow up treatment is fully ACC funded.

    1. Yeah, I got the nice letter from the ACC yesterday informing me that the $75 I paid was *in addition* to what the clinic charged to ACC, so I can’t claim it back. I’d hate to think what the total cost was!!!
      I did consider going to the hospital, but seeing as Harvestbird had interrupted her weekend to transport me, I didn’t want to ask her to wait with me for hours (although it ended up taking a couple of hours anyway…)

Leave a Reply to yetzirah Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.