Lewis Family Up in Stitches
On July 2nd I was cutting 1/8″ boards using a table saw at work. The boards were for the mural my summer school students were using for a display at the upcoming Cupertino Veterans Memorial. A friend walked in the room and I glanced up at him, then picked up my board to remove it from the saw. When I did that, I *misjudged* the location of the saw blade and just grazed my finger over the top of it. Blood started squirting everywhere and my first thought was, “You idiot!”
I went to the Cupertino Medical Clinic and they gave me 8 stitches in my right hand, middle finger. It basically looked like ground beef, not a good clean cut at all. Luckily, I only had the saw set to 1/8″ for the boards or it could have been a whole lot worse. No, I wasn’t wearing gloves because the cabinet they were in was locked and I didn’t have a key. Anyway, excuses aside – I cut my finger and it made me feel like a fool.
Here’s my finger 2 weeks after the incident. At this time, 4 stitches were removed and 4 of them were still buried in the flesh. I ended up having to get my finger numbed (after I blacked out twice without pain relief) so they could cut through my flesh with a scalpel and remove the other 4 stitches. Please note that my finger looks AWESOME here compared to how it looked 2 weeks before.
It doesn’t end there, later that same week, on July 5th, Henson had an altercation with a German Shepherd. I was not there and didn’t witness any of it, but Josh had to take him to the vet where he got 14 stitches. I didn’t see his initial wound, but apparently the vet had to open up the skin more to drain it all, so it looks worse than it was initially. When I got home from work and Josh brought him home from the vet I freaked out because it was all swollen and gross.
This picture is actually 11 days after the incident, so it’s looking really good here. It’s also after me treating it twice a day during that time with my one good hand. 🙂
Poor Henson had to wear an Elizabethan collar for a couple of weeks. He also ended up wearing a little doggy t-shirt because he would do everything he could to rip those stitches out by scraping his body against anything he could find. He actually ripped one out by bending his hind leg up there and scratching it. Basically, he was in torment the entire time.
I gave him several anti-bacterial baths (with my ONE HAND) and he would just close his eyes as I scratched all of the flaking skin on his coat. I’d also rinse the wound with antiseptic and then apply Polysporin to it so it would heal faster. Here’s a pic of him about 2 weeks after the incident playing with a new toy I got him. I think he looks a little like Davy Jones.
