More than a paper cut…

… and therein lies the dilemma: how much more than a paper cut *is* it??

I bumped my head and it hurt a lot. [Once I got off the floor] I put ice on it immediately. It wasn't until I set the ice pack down that I realized it wasn't just a simple "bump" on the head.

I cleaned it as best I could without being able to see the top of my head and I photographed it. I slowed the bleeding to a trickle, but Clare wasn't home to ask, "Is this bad enough to go to 'prompt care'? Emergency room?" What to do? (And all of this, of course, not knowing what my out-of-pocket cost would be … which turned out to be $260.90. For how many things do we incur expenditures without knowing what they'll cost, asked the economist…)

I called the prompt care clinic and learned it was open several more hours. I headed over after 2 hours and turned around, thinking, *surely* I can get the bleeding to stop. I tried for another hour and finally decided to show the wisdom of my age and let the professionals evaluate it and do what should be done (4 stitches).

My dad lived almost 22 years as a widower and Clare's mom as been a widow for going-on 11 years. With Clare at an all-day conference, I had to make a relatively simple health care decision without my partner of almost 36 years. I did not like it…

The worst part physically? The subsequent DPT shot was worse than the wound (well, except for the first couple of minutes), two injections of lidocaine and the stitching itself!

So what did I do? It's the chair rail project — http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2015-09-18
I measured and cut all the pieces and installed them temporarily on the walls to get them level and fit them. I used small finishing nails — not pounded flat to the wood — to hang the pieces temporarily. I was fitting the very last piece in a corner and I turned while rising from a crouched stance. During the standing turn, I caught a nail head from the adjacent wall. The cut looks larger in the posted image; it was only 2" long and fortunately all above my [current] hairline.

1 year ago (“Young buck”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2014-09-19
2 years ago (“My first ‘,’”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2013-09-19
3 years ago (“Morning dew”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2012-09-19
4 years ago (“A man with two watches…”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2011-09-19

[ DSCN8456S9x12 :: P&S ]

[Kim]

Oww! You nailed it for sure . . . and head wounds bleed profusely so it's good you sought help. Hope you're feeling better by now.

[Jane Anderson]

I've heard head wounds are so bloody because our heads (brains) need blood.

[Thom Mitchell]

@cejaanderson Also: the skin is very thin!

[Danette Thompson]

Ouch! My mom recently sliced her finger quite badly on a veggie slicer, but she wouldn't go get stitches.

[Thom Mitchell]

@danette I was told I'd done the right thing: faster to heal and less scarring. Fast to heal, indeed: they took out the stitches 6 days later (so my wife and MIL didn't have to do it on a vacation we took!)...

[Danette Thompson]

@rhoing I agree. I am glad my mom's cut healed fine. I made her show me! She was so uncooperative.

[Thom Mitchell]

@danette Clare recently cut herself cutting veggies. But it was a Sunday afternoon/evening, so our urgent care clinic was closed. It was go to the ER and wait for hours with a minor complaint among possible Covid patients or suck it up. She sucked it up. By the end of the week, she went to urgent care. By that time, however, there was nothing to do; the most critical period for a deep cut is the first 12 or 24 hours. That's when stitches or glue can be applied effectively. Now we know.