Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 15, 2012 23:19:21 GMT 12
Please excuse me if I am slow to reply to emails or posts for a bit, but my plans went awry this evening. I have been helping friends all day and one of the jobs I was tasked with was washing glasses. All was good till suddenly with my hands in the water washing a glass I felt a terrific pain in my little finger of my right hand, on the side next to my next finger.
I knew instantly it had been cut but it was only when I pulled it out that I saw how. Strangely the rim of the wine glass somehow sheared off, without any feeling of doing so nor any "tink" sound. It formed a thin shard with a very sharp point which had gone straight through my finger and out the other side, so now about 20mm of glass protruded on one side and 35mm on the other side.
Really painful and a bit of shock set in, even a few tears till I calmed down from the shock. Very little blood appeared luckily, but this was obviously needing more than a band aid.
My mate had had a couple of beers, as it was nearly 8pm, so he called my sister who kindly came and the three of us went off to Hamilton to Anglesea Clinic's Emergency department. The waiting room was full but incredibly they rushed me straight in.
I first had to have a tetanus booster shot, then after 20 minutes a doctor came to see me and she was really great. The pain had largely gone, as had the shock, and the novelty factor meant there was a lot of comical banter between the four of us.But it was clear this was not their average Saturday night injury.
To cut a long story short, following some injections into my finger (Youch!!) the doctor tried to slide it out. She cut one end off and hoped the other end could be grabbed and slide it through. "Tink!" That other end flew off and just missed my eye!! Now there are no ends left and a piece of glass under the skin.
More injections now, and when finally numb enough she opened it and tried to extricate it. No joy, it kept slipping deeper. For safety reasons she had to stop and go call the hospital for advice.
Upshot it more injections, wounds stitched up, and referral. I now have my arm in a huge bandage splint to keep my finger immobile. Tomorrow I have to go to Waikato Hospital at 8am and see a plastic surgeon about getting special surgery, under general anesthetic, to try to get the glass out, before it does further damage. Damn!!
I knew instantly it had been cut but it was only when I pulled it out that I saw how. Strangely the rim of the wine glass somehow sheared off, without any feeling of doing so nor any "tink" sound. It formed a thin shard with a very sharp point which had gone straight through my finger and out the other side, so now about 20mm of glass protruded on one side and 35mm on the other side.
Really painful and a bit of shock set in, even a few tears till I calmed down from the shock. Very little blood appeared luckily, but this was obviously needing more than a band aid.
My mate had had a couple of beers, as it was nearly 8pm, so he called my sister who kindly came and the three of us went off to Hamilton to Anglesea Clinic's Emergency department. The waiting room was full but incredibly they rushed me straight in.
I first had to have a tetanus booster shot, then after 20 minutes a doctor came to see me and she was really great. The pain had largely gone, as had the shock, and the novelty factor meant there was a lot of comical banter between the four of us.But it was clear this was not their average Saturday night injury.
To cut a long story short, following some injections into my finger (Youch!!) the doctor tried to slide it out. She cut one end off and hoped the other end could be grabbed and slide it through. "Tink!" That other end flew off and just missed my eye!! Now there are no ends left and a piece of glass under the skin.
More injections now, and when finally numb enough she opened it and tried to extricate it. No joy, it kept slipping deeper. For safety reasons she had to stop and go call the hospital for advice.
Upshot it more injections, wounds stitched up, and referral. I now have my arm in a huge bandage splint to keep my finger immobile. Tomorrow I have to go to Waikato Hospital at 8am and see a plastic surgeon about getting special surgery, under general anesthetic, to try to get the glass out, before it does further damage. Damn!!
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