Stitches, or How I Used My Health Insurance

Blessings Darlings!

I did NOT plan on needing to USE that  health insurance within half an hour of my post on having it going up - but no one PLANS on injuring themselves!

It started off as such a good day - I was whipping thru' my To Do list at a good pace.  Out in the garden I was  putting down a layer of newspapers and pulled weeds, to smother the weeds in an area I want to put more zucchini in.  I went to break off another stalk of Johnson grass and ... it fought back, breaking in a way that it cut the living crap out of the inside of my trigger finger.  Profuse bleeding occurred.  I wasn't afraid of 'bleeding out', but it was clear that the injury warranted some stitches.

Of course, I was home alone, the husband was out to lunch with a contact and has no cell phone.  Direct pressure with gauze, lots of gauze, kept in place with masking tape (I was in a hurry and didn't want to bleed on the carpets!) reduced the blood flow as I tried to get thru' to the restaurant.  By phone. At noon. Their line was busy for rather a while.  So I called work and sent word that I was going to get medical care and probably wouldn't be in today (Thursday as I'm typing.)  Reaching Chef was a bit of a problem, since there were Events at the hotel he was up to his ears in - I had to call the Tavern and have my son (who was at work there at the time) relay the message, and I texted the sous chef.  I also checked to see if B. was working at the front desk - she works at both the hotel I work at AND at the restaurant my husband was at, so I figured if she was at the hotel she could text the restaurant.  No luck there.

Finally got thru' to the restaurant, they had no problem identifying the Chubby Hubby from my description, and he came home with the car to take me to Urgent Care.  Urgent Care was empty, so we got in for treatment right away.  Well - right after adding my new insurance info to my account!

Four stitches and a tetanus shot later, I was good to go.  No meds -  the wound bled more than enough that it washed itself out to prevent risk of most infections, and no pain killers.  Just take Motrin if needed.  Ten years ago, and in Maryland not West Virginia, I'd have been given Tylenol with codeine.  Different times, different place, less worry about the epidemic of opiate abuse.

It really hasn't hurt at all - even before getting the stitches.  Most likely because it was a sharp plant doing a clean cut, tho' the numbness still in part of my finger tip hints at there being at least an insulted nerve.

But I sure didn't get more stuff done around there, other than taking the laundry off the line.

And now I can see I need to increase my preps.  First - I need to learn how to do sutures.  Second - I need at least one left handed can opener.

Frondly, the Patched Up Fern