Martha and Me

March 9, 2011

Last weekend will go down as one of the worst in recent memory, since early Saturday morning I fell and cut the base of my pinky finger on the sharp metal edge of a heavy-duty tape dispenser.

It was a pretty deep gash, but I toughed it out for four hours (even enjoying the always-amazing Oyster Stew and Beet and Arugula Salad at Place Pigalle) before the throbbing pain became too much.

Figuring we would not overload the United States health-care system, we opted not to go to our local emergency room, but rather to a nearby Urgent Care Clinic.

There, the doctor suggested he glue the wound back together versus stitches. Sounded good to me, as I hate needles or anything having to do with the sight of blood.

About an hour later, we were back on the street and ready to pick up our day, more or less where we had left off.

Things didn’t go well that night, as we could see blood coming out from underneath the bandages. The pain intensified.

First thing Sunday morning, I was all ready to go back to Urgent Care and get them to fix me up (again).

“No you won’t!” Spencer said. “We’re going to a real ER this time!”

And so we did.

Once there, a very nice doctor, originally from northern England so he had a pleasing Scots-like accent that reminded me of Scotty from the Star Trek television series, said the finger never should have been glued.

After several minutes of irrigation with warm saline solution (which felt wonderful!), he gave me two shots down the nerves in my finger (which hurt like hell!).

Next, he draped the wound with a blue cloth with a hole in the center,  then inserted four stitches made from blue nylon (or whatever stitches are made of).

He said I’d need to be in a splint for about a week, to stabilize my pinky and keep the stitches from pulling out.

So I am now doing all my typing with a splint and four stitches. NOT easy, and so other than for my blogs and articles, I’m sticking to lowercase as it’s too hard to shift.

I found out that Martha Stewart recently had to go to the emergency room for stitches, too, after her dog accidentally butted her in the lip, resulting in a bad split. Here are her gruesome photos, which certainly rival mine.

Get well and heal up soon, Martha!

Meanwhile, I will try to do the same. Splint off on Sunday; stitches out next Tuesday, if I last that long, sigh.

4 Comments »

  1. OUCH! This hurts just looking at the pictures!

    Comment by Judith Dern — March 11, 2011 @ 6:26 pm

  2. I’m making a note to stay away from “Urgent Cares.”

    Comment by Steve Sorbo — March 12, 2011 @ 6:15 pm

  3. Braiden, How miserable. Cuts on the hand are so painful and annoying. Hope you are feeling better. I’m glad your husband insisted on the ER second time around! Missy Trainer

    Comment by Missy Trainer — March 16, 2011 @ 7:09 am

  4. Thanks to all for your sympathy and concern. Happy to report that I’m now splintless and sutureless in Seattle, having shed the splint on Sunday and the stitches yesterday afternoon. J J J

    Typing, shampooing, and washing the dishes are now much easier tasks! Life, thankfully, returning to normal.

    Comment by Braiden — March 16, 2011 @ 1:49 pm

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