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MsOpal -> RE: The stupidest way you ever hurt yourself (11/26/2006 1:55:37 PM)
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This was many many years ago ... I live in a very small house, the kitchen was n ot even 10ft x 10 ft. The light in the ceiling went out, it was an old house with 10 foot ceilings. The light hung down some but was pretty high. I was barefoot. I had a 2 year old toddler and a crawling baby "loose" in the house. I had a 4 burner gas stove with 2 of the burners on, water boiling in one pot and something else cooking in another pot. I needed light. I did not have a ladder. I did have an old fashioned pull open table that had leaves for the center, but it was closed up to smallest size. But those sliderbars for the table to open up are an important part of the story! I had a lightbulb. I pulled that table into the center of this tiny room, I left the stove on, both burners. I did not corral the kids into their room, or close the kitchen door. I stepped up on a chair and then onto the middle of the table. I reached up, stretching to reach the light and unscrewed the bad bulb. I looked down and saw the kids at the door watching. Something felt odd, there was a big noise, both babies began to cry and I felt very cold(never did figure out why unless it was some sort of 'pre-shock'). I looked around and I was standing up, but the table had fallen in on itself in the middle, I had just gone striaght down to the floor but was still standing up. Both hands had glass light bulbs, unbroken. I was less than 6 inches from the gas stove, 2 burners on, nothing toppled over or spilled on me or babies! But I could not move my feet. Those slider bars? They are attached to the underside of those old table with 3 inch metal screws. Both feet were now implaed on the screws.
One foot was not hurt badly, and I got it off fine. The other foot, well, it had 3 screws totally up into the arch. As I tried to get my foot up off of it my weight shifted and my foot went over sideways, ripping this huge chunk out of my foot. Now there is blood! Now there is pain! I grabbed a dishtowel and wrapped my foot and literally hopped on one foot to my bathroom and sat on the side of the tub with my babies all wide eyed watching ... I ran hot water as hot as it would get and stuck my foot under it and washed the sawdust and metal flakes out of the open gaping would, I washed off this chunck of meat that was suposed to be part of my foot and I crammed it back into my foot. I got the phone (no cordless back then!) and called my mother at her office and asked her if shoe would come help me please, after work. I told her I needesd some gauze and tape and some really good antiseptic lotion or something, that I had cut myself, it was OK for now, but would she mind coming by after work and helping me. Well she came by and hit the roof that I would not go to the ER. But I did not go. Fasr forward 48 hours ... foot swollen like a waterballoon, red, hot, throbbing, can't walk, can't eat, fever. Trip to ER and of course it is too late for the stitches it needed, but they have to clean out the infection. They take a thin flexible tube and boiling hot water with some sort of antibiotic in it, they push the end of this tube up into the cut so they can force the hot waster to wash out the infected areas inside my foot. The corpsman refused to give me anything for the pain because he said if it had not hurt me enough to come in when it happened it could not possibly hurt me now! Talke about punishment!
But I have a good scare and a great story!
lol
I have more stores too! At this point I have a steel plate, wire and screws in one arm, more screws holding a knee together, repaired rotator cuff ...
MsOpal
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