And the lesson continued

Category: Lessons in my life | Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:36 am

And the lesson continued
I did more wrong things, I found out later. Since this was my first ever accident / injury / mistake with a pair of secateurs, I removed the secateurs.

The wound opened wide, tissue and blood oozing out. I moved real fast - ran to the bathroom, grabbed a clean towel and wrapped the towel tightly around my arm and then made the phone call to my sister.

I was told afterwards that it is best to leave the secateurs in since there was no bleeding while the secateurs was lodged in my forearm. I did not know that and the consequence of my ignorance was a lot of red stuff everywhere.

My dear sister cleaned up for me when she brought me home from the hospital. It was not too painful - in fact painkillers made me feel "Comfortably Numb" (I cannot resist this one Frank). The shock was however, well "shocking" I had nightmares for quite a while always waking up still seeing the secateurs lodged in my arm. Fortunately the nightmares also stopped now.
I was so relieved when the staples got removed. I could not do anything without the effort pulling on the staples and the risk of infection is much less now.

So the garden is a mess, but like Sjoerd advised, "the garden can wait". Besides Stewing will make me feel better too.

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Droopy wrote on Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:43 am:

Ouch! Poor thing. I would have removed those secateurs too, probably on instinct not thought. At least now you know if anything similar happens again, which I hope it won't.

Frank wrote on Tue Jan 15, 2008 11:52 am:

Ouch! Again let me say that it is good to mention 'little' details like this Palm as it could just save someone a lot of pain and distress.

eileen wrote on Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:16 pm:

I'm so glad that you hadn't hit a main artery or vein when you had your accident and pulled the secateurs out!!! I was taught (when training to be a vet nurse) never to remove any kind of object lodged in a wound but I have to admit that instinct takes over when it happens to yourself and you pull the offending object out without even thinking of the possible consequences. You did the right thing in wrapping it up tightly as it probably stopped any infection setting in.

I sincerely hope that you never have an accident like that again - poor you - neither wonder you were shocked and had nightmares after an event like that.

Palm Tree wrote on Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:25 pm:

Eileen, you are a lady of many talents - vet nurse, organic gardener, etc.
Believe me when I say I have learnt this lesson.
Droopy you are so right - I did it instinctively - no thinking involved whatsoever.
Gosh Frank I hope no one has to go through this.

toni wrote on Tue Jan 15, 2008 1:54 pm:

Oh, wow, Palm Tree...considering what happened it is no surprise that you had nightmares. Glad they are gone now.

My first reaction would be to pull them out too. Very glad your arm is healing nicely.

dirt2diamonds wrote on Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:47 pm:

I would have pulled the object out too. It is a scary thought of what could have been the worst scenario. What a nice loving sis that you have.

dooley wrote on Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:20 pm:

Now, how could you have made a phone call with those things hanging out of your arm? Sometimes the best thing to do isn't the most practical thing to do. I would have pulled them out, too. I'm glad you have those staples out. Does it look like a railroad track on your arm? I had staples in my neck when I had thyroid surgery many years ago and it left those little dots on either side of the scar so it sort of looks like a railroad track. I'm glad it's healing for you without problems. dooley

zuzu's petals wrote on Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:43 pm:

Just keep taking good care of yourself,
and thank your sister, for all of us,
for getting your injury seen to so quickly.

Glad the healing is going well.

(((Hugs)))

Palm Tree wrote on Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:22 pm:

Thanks everyone
Oh, Dooley I got the cellphone on speeddial to my sister. That helped a great deal.
Thank you all. You all mean a lot to me and I will pass on all the wonderful sentiments to my sister.