I'm a real klutz!!!!!!!!!!!!

[catwoman]

I am such a klutz.

On Dec. 20, I sliced part of my left index fingertip off trying to chop an onion for chili. Knives had just been professionally sharpened and I wasn't watching what I was doing.
An avulsion, the ER department at Baylor All Saints Hospital called it. Sent me home without apparently stopping the bleeding. Woke up @ 3:30 a.m. with something wet on my face. Finger was sopping wet, as were the bedsheets, my clothes.
Called hospital, was told to come back. What! Me pay another $100 co-pay for an ER visit? I took a wad of papertowels, applied pressure, fell asleep with hands held above my body. Woke up @ 6 a.m. Bleeding had stopped.
Hospital charging $600 to my insurance company for visit; I went to the hospital thinking cut needed to be sutured. Couldn't be sutured, because I had sliced skin off, nothing to suture together. OUCH!

Had to change bandage several times each day.

Due to the nature of the slice, I'm sure my husband's finger would have kept bleeding too, if he had been the patient.

Got a mandeline -- a fancy slicing machine -- at a restaurant supply store. Day after I injured my left hand, I used the mandeline and tried to slice off the smallest finger on my right hand. Not too bad, compared to my left hand.

Next day I was nuking formula for our Abyssinian kittens born 12/06. Grabbed microwave rack and voila! burned my left hand.

An anonymous relative felt pity and gave me a small first-aid kit in my Christmas stocking.


Last Friday (New Year's Eve), I was grabbing a Farberware party urn to take to our club's cat show in Waxahachie TX and knocked some metal serving trays off a 6-foot-high shelf. Trays crashed down on me and the washing machine (need to patch that with epoxy now). Cut my nose in 2 places, got a very spectacular bruise on my right shoulder, with several lines where the trays hit me. Lovely goose egg bruise.

My New Year's resolution?

Open my eyes, watch what I'm doing, use a step ladder.

 

[Guest]

Maybe the goose will lay a golden egg.

 

[Karlynn]

Marsha - Sounds like you need to stay out of the kitchen and anything related to food preparation and serving!!!!!

 

[catwoman]

Al:

Wouldn't that be nice -- to find a golden egg???

Karlynn:

We'd starve to death. My husband doesn't cook!

I've never had injuries in the kitchen before!!! I was under a lot of pressure during December, since I was secretary-treasurer for our cat show. New show hall, lots of unknowns and I had to make everything work. I budgeted a $97 loss; if my figures are right, we made at least $2,000 and perhaps $2,400.
Only loss I could see was the 2.5 pounds I lost running around a 40,000-square-foot FFA building Saturday and Sunday!!!

 

[geebee]

Marsha,
Just what are we going to do with you? How are we going to meet in Columbus if you are in pieces in Texas?
Seriously, I understand how things come in bunches and klutziness (sp?) seems to be contagious. I have had more bruises & cuts since my sliced finger in November. I expect the New Year to bring stability - LOL!
I hope things get better for you as well.
Smiles,
Gina

 

[Granbonny]

Marsha

Marsha

Made my stomach have butterflies, reading your thread. ..I like to cook, too, but buy all frozen veggies that need to be sliced. Onions, Veggie Mix, for stew, ect...Even canned carrots are fine...Put them on top of my Pot Roast, ect....Hubby peels the potatoes, if we need them.....About the only thing I slice are fresh tomatoes in the summer... Buy the sealed, salad...Mix...I have a great pair of Kitchen scissors..for things that have to be opened..trim chickenskin, ect........I remember boiling water years ago in a cup in microwave..Wasn't paying attention and opened door. Burn my entire arm.. when it exploded.. Be careful, in the kitchen and bathroom... Bonnie

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Hmmm....

Sounds like a case of "pumphead revenge"...

FOCUS on ONE THING at a time maybe???

HNY

 

[Harpoon]

Two tips: (well, three really, but the third is a first aid thing)


tip #1: SLOW DOWN!!! It's really tough to do, but if you're making klutzy mistakes liek that chances are you're not paying attention to what you're doing and going too fast for the tasks at hand. Try to slow dwn a bit or at least give yourself more time to do things....


tip #2: If you have a significant other, make him/her do all the slicing and dicing if you keep slicing and dicing parts of your own anatomy!!!!

So what if your husband can't boil water to save his life? You tell him what to do and how and you worry about the boiling pot on the stove. Make HIM pour out the water when the spaghetti is done cooking...

Ya gotta delegate. =)



First aid bonus tip:

On finger slices. Apply a bandage VERY tightly and then add a second one. Never remove a bandage to put a new one on if the first one is "soaked through" because whatever clot may have formed may be ripped apart by removing the bandage.

I've had stuff bleed on me for well over 14 hours straight, just a stupid abrasion on my thumb when my hand slipped while washing the cap for a travel mug. I kept removing bandages when they soaked through until a nursing friend one mine recommended just putting a new bandaid over the exisiting one and making it as tight as I could. So what if it cuts off circulation to the tip of your finger? At least it won't bleed!

Besides, I think the blood actually washes out the clot forming cells when you're bleeding "profusely" like that and it would take you days to bleed out from a small cut such as one on your finger. Even if you lopped a finger clear off, it take maybe two or three days to bleed out and generally most wounds like that would clot over before then, with or without anticoagulants.


Unless, maybe, your INR was way the hell off the charts....

 

[Abbanabba]

Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!

I managed to slice off the top of my thumb a couple of months ago..... cutting onions too!! AND, I had just sharpened my knives - argh!!

I also had massive problems trying to get the bleeding to stop. I had no bandages at home, but had wadded up a bunch of paper towels and was sitting with my hand up over my head for about half an hour while I waited for my partner to get home to take me to ER (ironically he made a rare stop at the shops for something and was running late!).

By the time we go to ER and saw someone, at least an hour had gone by and it was still bleeding profusely. Like you, there was nothing to sew back together, so the ER nurse ended up putting a seaweed dressing over it (..which apparently has some sort of natural coagulant..) and enough dressing that my thumb looked like something out of a cartoon (but at least I wasn't charged for it!).

Anyhoo, to look at my thumb now, you would never know it had happened. Even the nail has grown gack to normal.

Maybe you need to get out of the kitchen and let your hubby take over!! It sounds like you're far too accident prone

All the best for the New Year (..let's hope there's far less accidents! ..).

A : )

 

[Guest]

My New Year's resolution?

Open my eyes, watch what I'm doing, use a step ladder.

*raises eyebrow*

You forgot one....visit Cort in Chicagoland.

*grins innocently*

Why not?

Seriously, I certainly hope you are doing better than you apparently were in December. My oh my...


Cort, "Mr MC" / "Mr Road Trip", 31swm/pig valve/pacemaker
'72/'6/'9/'81/'7, train/models = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/
MC Guide = http://www.chevyasylum.com/mcspotter/main.html

 

[Guest]

You lost 2.5 pounds over the holidays. That should be considered a success. As long as it wasn't 2.5 pounds of blood that ran out of your wounds.

 

[catwoman]

I almost married someone named Brady... I definitely would have been hearing Marsha, Marsha, Marsha ...

My husband does a mean bowl of cereal. Other than that ... nothing. That's mainly why I stayed with my parents for 2 weeks postop MVR after leaving the hospital. He appreciates my cooking, says I'm the best cook in the world. What more can a woman want?

I've often wanted to go to culinary school. Guess this nips my professional chef career in the bud.

Maybe I should get yellow & green bandaids? Those show up really well in stewpots of food.

 

[tommy]

Marsha,

You can get gloves that are woven with strands of metal.

Seriously, could it be that your mishaps are due to you being very active and in a bit of a hurry. If so, I see that as a huge blessing that you are able to do the things you love. Yes, be careful, but live life to the fullest. Carry on!

 

[Guest]

I bought some Shrek band-aids for the clinic. Mostly I use them for kids but every once in a while, there will be a grandparent who is being tested but brings a little kid in with them. If I can get the grandparent talking to my student, I can sometimes slip one on the grandparent without their knowledge. The kids really get a laugh out of that - seeing grandma or grandpa wearing a Shrek band-aid.

 

[catwoman]

Tom:

I think those gloves are for shucking oysters or clams (?). Have seen them in stores.

BTW, are you going to do the Cowtown Marathon on Feb. 26? I kinda thought of doing the half-Marathon. Maybe. Perhaps. etc.

 

[tommy]

Marsha,

If you run, I'll be there. That would be terrific.

I've been trying to convince myself to take a long break. My current goal is to not have any goals. I got a bit burned out. If I feel like runnning, I run. Frankly, after about a month of that strategy, I'm again feeling the "itch".

The Cowtown brochure arrived in the snail mail yesterday. I have another friend that will run the half or full marathon. I suspect that I will run either the 5k or 10k and cheer you on.