21 November 08
Badge of the Trade
When I worked for an architect in Cambridge, Mass., many of my coworkers had a thin slice taken off their left forefinger, the result of a dull exacto blade during a late-night charrette (deadline). I went through graphic design school, went through countless Exacto blades. I always, somehow, avoided this injury.
Until today. I stuck my finger in my mouth so I wouldn’t a) swear b) see c) bleed my guts out, ran into the main office, whimpered, grabbed some paper towel, then fessed that I might need to go to the hospital. But for what? There’s nothing to stitch, it got sliced off. I got chastised, rightly, by our front desk gal, who accused me of using a razor to cut card (she’s Italian), then ran next door to the vets.
“Do I put anything on this before a bandaid?” said I, bravely, to the first wildlife vet I found — she works on lead intoxication in condors but she used to be an equine vet. “Let me see.” (They’re ghoulish, veterinarians.)
“No. You weren’t around any animals, right? Clean blade? OK, bandaid now, tight but not too tight the blood has to clot, wash it when you get home then antiseptics, another bandaid. It’s going to hurt, later.”
“You’re letting a horse doc touch your finger?” asks the biodiversity/avian flu guy who is not a vet but might as well be at this point. “Better that than most doctors,” I say, and head back to the stash of bandaids.
Badged.
Update, 11/22/08: The cats were either super solicitous or cold in our first real tule fog of the fall (they almost never come onto a lap together). My PT sister-in-law whose specialty is wound care has given sound advice and asked for progress photos (on their way.)
!
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Good grief! I hope it wasn’t the good Spanish roja at last night’s wonderful dinner that cause your attention to wander! Be well, dear Pica.
Oh, ow!! I hope it heals fast. xoxo
Oh, gosh!
Meep! I hope you at least get a handsome scar… and that it doesn’t interfere too much with the knitting :-)
Thanks for the sympathy, everyone! Susan, I don’t think so — more that I was in a hurry and careless.
LadyP, it does thoroughly and absolutely interfere with the knitting. I tried to turn my fourth heel last night; I’ve ended up with an incomprehensible number of stitches. I may have to learn continental knitting till this heals (and work on another project; the gauge is bound to be wildly off).
I found the relevant reference in Terry Pratchett. From the Pratchett wiki, describing the character Doughnut Jimmy:
Ouch! Speedy healing so you can get back to “heeling” those socks! As a Continental knitter, i have ample experience of knitting with bandaged fingers, since this last year I have both closed a door on one finger and managed to slice through the nail in the kitchen at another time!
Ow.
Ask me about the time my little brother left a protein supplement in the salad at the Depot (Or was it Au Coquelet?) restaurant in Berkeley. That grew back fine; then again, he was maybe 18 at the time.
Heal good, anyway.
Oweeee. I only just read this. Hope your poor finger is starting to regenerate already. xxxxx
Of course cat’s know when you’re hurt. Their frequent aloofness is part and parcel of their hypersensitivity, I think.
“Cat’s know” ? Extraneous apostrophe submliminally evokes sliver of poor sliced finger.
Oh geez. I’ve got those scars. I remember exactly how I got them.
Hope your healing is swift, and that the nerves in your finger don’t cause you much distress.
Bravo for finding the humour in this. There’s some great literary material in the idea of a profession where apprenticeship requires a ritual maiming. Parallels to circumcision rituals and castration anxieties would be inescapable.
Aïe aïe aïe! So sorry to hear that, I’m still mildly queasy from your story. I’ll spare you Mike’s and my separate left-hand-cut stories, but I rememmber shadowing my carpenter brother one summer as he hung out with fellow carpenters, and over drinks, they would compare left hands for the cuts left by table saws and band saws. Tis the season to give thanks.
Owchie!
rushes off to replace the dulling blade on the eXacto