Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Important Safety Tip

If you happen to live someplace with snow, Do Not let your hand get smashed between a hidden stump and your sled. Even if you don't break it or do serious injury, it will hurt a lot and it might bleed. Also, for the next several days, typing will be painful. If you are a writer, this is bad, especially if you're the kind of writer who will type anyway. It slows you down. Sigh.

9 comments:

Douglas Hulick said...

Ow.

Hope it gets better soon.

Kelly McCullough said...

It should. Hurt like nobody's business for the first thirty seconds until shock kicked in. Shock is my friend. Then I took off the glove and got a good look at it. Nasty and bloody, but no bone or tendon damage. So, it sucks but I'll be fine in a week or three. Fortunately, accidents of genetics gifted me with a high pain threshhold, fast healing, and good damage resistance.

Kelly McCullough said...

Oops, hit send too fast. Thanks, Doug.

Anonymous said...

Also, snorkeling in shallow coral reefs when the tide is coming in and far enough to be shoved around by the waves crashing over the coral is bad.

Similar genetics, thankfully, persistently help me beat back persnickety infections and heal up those cuts and scrapes.

Anonymous said...

Kelly, since your sense of self-preservation has reverted to your more youthful set point, I thought I'd point out a few more snow-related winter activities which a writer (or pianist) should avoid:

1. Don't stick your hand into the jammed auger on your snow-blower. If you remove the stick, it'll start to turn again.

2. If you're going to drive the camaro into a snow-filled ditch and then walk several miles to phone for help, consider gloves.

3. When chopping firewood, never volunteer to "hold the log steady."

4. When feeding the subsequent fire, don't grab the glowing, pretty bits. They're hot.

5. If you violate any of the above, the best course of action is probably NOT: "If I ignore it, it'll probably get better."

DaveHD

Kelly Swails said...

Ouch, Y, ick. Keep neosporin on it.

My preferred methods of staying injury-free during the winter months is this: 1. Stay indoors. 2. wrap myself in blankets instead of firing up the fireplace. 3. blow on the hot chocolate before drinking it.

Kelly McCullough said...

Kelly X,

Thanks. I nuked it with hydrogen peroxide, and the glove mostly kept me from getting much foreign matter in the wound (glove lint excepted). Also, I'm thinking the blankets idea sounds like a better bet.

Dave,

First, let me plead that it wasn't my idea-Laura went down ahead of me and she didn't get hurt.

Second, I can't say I've done any of those, though I know some of the folks in question and I've done some equally stupid things over the years. OTOH, I always went to the emergency room when I needed it. I'm very good at going to the doctor.

Sean,

On that and so many other fornts, you'd think we were brothers, rather than brothers-in-law.

Stephanie Zvan said...

That's it. It's Laura's fault--or maybe your fault for following her down. Doing that just means the snow is packed enough for you to be going really fast when you hit what she missed. I did that once and got the bruise that made my doctor wince.

Oh. Ew. Ow. So sorry.

Sean, be prepared. The healing on a coral scrape is worse than getting it. At least mine was. Itchy. Very, very itchy. I hope the rest of the experience was worth it.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Steph, but I'm all good. It's healed already; I can't even see it. I found out two years ago that I seem to react really quickly to coral scrapes--they take less time to heal than even the regular dirt and pavement type, which makes no sense, except that maybe they stoke up the ole' immune defenses to a higher level, so the healing is faster. Who knows?