Double Minor Freak Accidents
Daughter and I impaled ourselves with small objects over Thanksgiving weekend in unrelated moments of that-is-so-weird. Neither of us knew the severity until the doctor's office.
First daughter -- Scooting around on her knees while cleaning up for Mom's visit she felt something sharp and then a little crunchy, but she didn't see anything when she stripped off her pants to check her knee. No swelling either. Just pain. That was Wednesday afternoon. She continued to hurt through Thursday, but with no swelling we figured she wrenched it and it would get better. Friday morning she had a hard little lump like a bead in the soft part of the knee, and then...
Me -- Still Friday morning -- Mom wanted to throw some pottery, so we worked in the garage until around 8:30 a.m. at which point I ran into the house for something and slid on the wood floor in my socks. Felt a splinter go into my foot. I went for the tweezers, but when I pulled it hurt badly enough I thought it must have a barbed end and would require a doctor's skill to remove.
After receiving some mocking for my wimpiness from family, I decided to take self and child to the family practice down the street.
Me -- Not more than a centimeter of the splinter extended from the ball of my foot. The doctor used a hemostat to yank out a one-inch long stake. We both balked after having gone with the "I'm a wimp, but humor me" approach to splinter removal. We switched to
Me: My instincts were correct.
Doc: Yes they were. I haven't pulled anything like this out of a foot in years. You need to take this home to show people.
Daughter -- Next, he felt around her knee and said, "It's almost like there's something in here. We should x-ray this."
He did. X-ray showed a sewing needle either stuck in the kneecap or in the joint. Couldn't tell. He cut into the knee but gave up finding it very quickly in favor of sending her to an orthopedist tomorrow. So.
Doc: I can't believe I'm seeing this on the same day, in the same family, the same house. Whatever's in the water, stop drinking it.
We're both on antibiotics, but daughter's situation remains unresolved, poor kid.
To my untrained eye, the needle does look like it lodged in the bone. He took two x-rays from different angles; however, what do I know? Anyway, we're in limbo until tomorrow.
More soon.
First daughter -- Scooting around on her knees while cleaning up for Mom's visit she felt something sharp and then a little crunchy, but she didn't see anything when she stripped off her pants to check her knee. No swelling either. Just pain. That was Wednesday afternoon. She continued to hurt through Thursday, but with no swelling we figured she wrenched it and it would get better. Friday morning she had a hard little lump like a bead in the soft part of the knee, and then...
Me -- Still Friday morning -- Mom wanted to throw some pottery, so we worked in the garage until around 8:30 a.m. at which point I ran into the house for something and slid on the wood floor in my socks. Felt a splinter go into my foot. I went for the tweezers, but when I pulled it hurt badly enough I thought it must have a barbed end and would require a doctor's skill to remove.
After receiving some mocking for my wimpiness from family, I decided to take self and child to the family practice down the street.
Me -- Not more than a centimeter of the splinter extended from the ball of my foot. The doctor used a hemostat to yank out a one-inch long stake. We both balked after having gone with the "I'm a wimp, but humor me" approach to splinter removal. We switched to
Me: My instincts were correct.
Doc: Yes they were. I haven't pulled anything like this out of a foot in years. You need to take this home to show people.
Daughter -- Next, he felt around her knee and said, "It's almost like there's something in here. We should x-ray this."
He did. X-ray showed a sewing needle either stuck in the kneecap or in the joint. Couldn't tell. He cut into the knee but gave up finding it very quickly in favor of sending her to an orthopedist tomorrow. So.
Doc: I can't believe I'm seeing this on the same day, in the same family, the same house. Whatever's in the water, stop drinking it.
We're both on antibiotics, but daughter's situation remains unresolved, poor kid.
To my untrained eye, the needle does look like it lodged in the bone. He took two x-rays from different angles; however, what do I know? Anyway, we're in limbo until tomorrow.
More soon.