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Sliced (trigger warning blood/ injury)
a year ago
General
Trigger warning: blood/workplace injury
Last Sunday I cut myself at work. I have been working as a cook for around two decades now, this is the worst time I have ever cut myself. I sliced a chunk of the nail off of my left index finger along with part of the fingertip. There was so much blood. I haven't seen that much blood outside of having a blood test done. I bandaged myself up the best I could and went to urgent care. By the time I got there I was slowly becoming lightheaded and delirious. They got me in very quickly. They gave me a compression band and told me to change it in 24 hours. When I changed the dressing the wound opened again. Later that day (Monday) I went back to urgent care and they put this anticoagulant on me that they described as being almost like an antiperspirant. Meaning that it would cause the blood to clot. The resulting pain from the anticoagulant....... No words can describe.......
. I like to think I have a decent pain tolerance,
I was ready to break down and bawl my eyes out., and I came very close to passing out.
Yesterday I had a milestone, I was able to remove the gauze by soaking it for upwards of 2 1/2 hours and I'm able to use regular bandages now in conjunction with The latex finger condoms we all used to joke about in culinary school. My employer has been more than helpful through the entire process. Part of the problem is I was using an incredibly dull knife. A dull knife is far far more dangerous than a sharp knife. The good news Is I didn't actually hit any bone, I came really close.
Still in occasional pain but it's definitely getting better. At the end of the day I am just very thankful this wasn't any worse. I'm glad it did not require an ER or OR visit. One other thing that I found really amusing. The doctor that saw me the second time with the anticoagulant, he used to live in my old hometown on Long Island, back in New York.
Somehow we both ended up in southern Missouri.
Anyway besides almost chopping my finger off things are well
Last Sunday I cut myself at work. I have been working as a cook for around two decades now, this is the worst time I have ever cut myself. I sliced a chunk of the nail off of my left index finger along with part of the fingertip. There was so much blood. I haven't seen that much blood outside of having a blood test done. I bandaged myself up the best I could and went to urgent care. By the time I got there I was slowly becoming lightheaded and delirious. They got me in very quickly. They gave me a compression band and told me to change it in 24 hours. When I changed the dressing the wound opened again. Later that day (Monday) I went back to urgent care and they put this anticoagulant on me that they described as being almost like an antiperspirant. Meaning that it would cause the blood to clot. The resulting pain from the anticoagulant....... No words can describe.......
. I like to think I have a decent pain tolerance,
I was ready to break down and bawl my eyes out., and I came very close to passing out.
Yesterday I had a milestone, I was able to remove the gauze by soaking it for upwards of 2 1/2 hours and I'm able to use regular bandages now in conjunction with The latex finger condoms we all used to joke about in culinary school. My employer has been more than helpful through the entire process. Part of the problem is I was using an incredibly dull knife. A dull knife is far far more dangerous than a sharp knife. The good news Is I didn't actually hit any bone, I came really close.
Still in occasional pain but it's definitely getting better. At the end of the day I am just very thankful this wasn't any worse. I'm glad it did not require an ER or OR visit. One other thing that I found really amusing. The doctor that saw me the second time with the anticoagulant, he used to live in my old hometown on Long Island, back in New York.
Somehow we both ended up in southern Missouri.
Anyway besides almost chopping my finger off things are well
And yes, wuff has had some of that coagulant on a cut before. Luckily, nothing quite as major as yours, but for a smaller one that just didn't want to stop bleeding.
YOWCH! That stuff is way worse than lemon juice on a slice! DOUBLE-YOWCH!
You're right about those dull knives! You have to use extra pressure to get the same cut, and you lose a measure of control when trying to force it so hard.
Comically, one of the worst cuts ol Vrghr did to himself was the result of using dull knives, but happened when switching to a sharp one:
Wuff had been using the kitchen knives in our work center's kitchen. They were mediocre at best, unable to hold an edge for more than a couple slices and the edge they could achieve was barely worth the name.
Unfortunately, after using them for so long, stupid wuffy developed some very bad habits with the hand holding the ingredient being cut. Especially when cutting bundles of stuff, like trying to do a fine dice on a stack of julienned carrot sticks. The pressure of the dull knife kept smooshing out the bundle, so Vrghr was holding them together in a pinch-grip instead of the proper "crab".
Then came the day wuff brought in a GOOD knife of his own. Wonderful, sharp edge that stayed that way. Was just starting on mincing a bundle of stuff and the knife was coming down and wuff's brain yelled "STOP", but his paw was already slicing, and one of his digits was in the way. The old kitchen knife would have just bounced off. This one went right in without slowing down, nearly to the bone.
Vrghr was already pulling back on it, so it popped straight back up without lopping off a slice. Hadn't even begun to hurt yet, but wuff already knew he'd screwed up. Ran it under some icy water in the nearby sink to help shrink the vessels while grabbing the aid kit off the wall with the other hand. A nice tight bandage and a rubber glove and wuff was back in action, though it did make a surprisingly messy sink while applying the bandage.
Thankfully, no stitches or trips to ER or clinic. But a VERY strong reinforcement for proper knife techniques, and an appreciation for just how sharp and the quality of that particular knife.