I Have An Owie
by wjw on March 25, 2014
So I’ve been hors de combat for a few days due to a cut finger. Which is sort of embarrassing, but still . . .
A few nights ago I was cutting up some lemongrass, which as I’m sure you know is a tough, fibrous plant. The knife slipped and took a big slice out of my left index finger. The knife was serrated and carved a wavy line so irregular that it never did close up properly. (And hasn’t still. I’m just generating new flesh in the gaps.)
The blood came out in rivers. (Small rivers, admittedly.) Blood all over the kitchen, all over the floor, all over the bathroom. It took a good deal of effort to bandage my finger tightly enough to keep the red stuff from pouring out.
And then there was a lot of pain. That first night, I didn’t get much sleep.
So for a few days there I didn’t do any writing, or any posting, unless it was necessary. I’m a touch typist, and the left index finger is responsible for six whole keys. First, it hurt (a lot!) to type with that finger, and second, the finger was so heavily bandaged that it kept mashing more than one key at a time, and made a complete mess.
I could have tried to revert to hunting-and-pecking, but it was too awkward with one of my peckers damaged. So to speak.
But now it’s better, and I’m down to a simple adhesive strip, and though it still hurts a bit I’m able to type normally, and I’m writing away great guns on the current project.
Still, it was embarrassed to be knocked out of action by an owie on one finger. (I should probably have invented a more stirring, manly injury for myself, but we’re committed to honesty here on the Internets, as I’m sure we all know.)
And speaking of more substantial injuries, nine years ago today I was in the hospital, fighting for my life against a burst appendix.
So by comparison every day is a good day. Even days on which I slash myself.
We hope you put the time to good use – evaluating movies.
Sorry to hear about your injury, WJW. Some years ago I did a similar thing while washing dishes and ended up slashed by broken glass. The wound was not big but it was deep and wouldn’t stop bleeding, so I went to the ER. While the medical experts were doing assorted painful things to me, I asked how often people cut themselves while doing dishes. They told me it was one of the most common injuries they see. Almost on cue, another fellow came in some minutes later with a dish-related injury. A glass shattered on his hand while he was scrubbing it.
Another common injury cited was bagel injuries–incurred during the slicing of the bread, during which a knife often slips and enters the nearest finger. I always slice bagels very carefully now…
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