Saturday, January 22, 2011

the tipping point

Slicing potatoes for creamy potato bake. Baby asleep, Child occupied, Friday evening stretching ahead. Weekend to follow, all was right with the world.

'Til I cut off the top of my little finger.

Slice. Pain. Expletive.

Finger straight into mouth.
Mouth fills up with blood.
Revulsion.

In the bathroom I spit, run the cold tap, yelp as water touches the wound.

Trying to avoid looking at my finger I glance up at the mirror and recoil from the ghoulish image of my blood stained mouth. In my mind I'm yelling 'Medic!', the result of (too) many viewings of Band of Brothers, but the reality is it's just me. Me with two small children in the house and as usual what this means is 'shut up and deal bitch.'

Massive wad of cotton wool to try and stop the bleeding. How can a small finger bleed so much?! Awkward one-handed plaster application.
Vigorous kicking of dog as it attempted to lick up blood spatters. I will NOT have my pet so happily consuming a part of me.
Hesitant return to pan of chopped potatoes to find and remove big chunk of skin. I find it! Retch!

Feeling faint. Must.lie.down.

And as much as in the cold light of post-trauma I feel like a wuss for this, I phoned my husband, begged him to come home, just managing to keep a big fat cry at bay.
At the end of a week of back to school, back on antibiotics for a persistent throat infection, back into the swing of real, full time, mostly solo parenting, this little finger on my right left threatened to tip me over the edge.

OUCH.

5 comments:

Possum said...

Aaaargh!!! This takes me back to when I sliced the top of my thumb off. I used to own a restaurant and was trying out one of those Mandolin slicer thingies...looked away from the task at hand ...without stopping what I was doing ...and the task became a screaming attempt to quell the flow of blood!!! I was lucky to have a tube of wound powder (at home!!) which I got in Hong Kong - brilliant for coagulating things as is Robertson's meat tenderiser (I am told it MUST be that brand!!) Also, amazingly, Rescue Remedy drops seems to stop the flow as well!
Suffice to say I absolutely know your pain!!

Unknown said...

Cutting yourself is never fun! I hope you feel better soon. You are lucky to have someone there to lean on!

I hope your weekend goes a bit better for you!

middle child said...

Not good. Not good at all. When it rains, it pours!

julochka said...

sometimes it's the little things.

i cut myself all the time. i have a long history of it. my mom used to think i did it on purpose to get out of doing dishes. but really, i'm just that clumsy. and my knives are dull, but not so dull they won't cut skin.

but the worst assault i've committed on my fingers of late was when i poked a felting needle ALL THE WAY THROUGH and out the other side.

minimal bleeding from that tho'.

i hope your finger's feeling better now and that people have waited on you hand and foot all weekend.

xox,
/j

Heather Moore said...

arrgghhewwww! Wincing!