Thread: Warning! Mild Gore.

At this rate, my shins will be more durable than my femurs! (Micro-fractures cause the bone to repair & thicken with calcium, making it stronger in the end.)

This happened less than an hour into my shift, earlier tonight.


It was in the exact same spot as last time!


No bandaid this time, as it wasn't bleeding much, and I wanted the scab to develop sooner rather than later.

Well, it finally happened. My shin took a hit bad enough to require medical attention. This didn't happen the usual way, however.

I was walking a narrow path between a conveyor (chest high) and a safety railing. Two pans had turned 90 degrees, and were about to cause a jam-up. As soon as I caught up to them, one slid out the narrow gap along the side of the conveyor belt, nailing me right in the shin! There was loud cussing, and limping, and still had much to do before I could hobble to the first aid kit in the supervisor's office. I had looked before I made it to the office, and noticed a bit of leg was missing.

Here is the pic I took after some cleaning, before the first bandaid.


Soaked up the blood with a clean paper towel. Hydrogen peroxide spray. Packed it with triple antibiotic ointment. Applied a 2x3 bandaid. Had to replace the bandaid after about four hours.

Nothing was broken, and I wasn't bleeding out, so I told my supervisor I'd have it looked at after my shift. After the first few minutes, and since, the pain has been no more than an occasional ache. Got lucky there, IMO.

Got two or three stitches, plus a prescription for ten days of antibiotics because I waited several hours before getting it checked. The doc that sewed me up was impressed I did exactly correct first aid treatment. He almost ordered an x-ray, until I told him I'd done at least another 5 miles (according to my pedometer app) at work since the injury . "...Okay, never mind on that!"

I got my middle finger to close to the grinding wheel when sharpening machine shop tools for oilfield & severed a tendon almost all the way & the idiot male nurse at the ER finished it. He claimed he didn't do it but I could still bend my finger when I got there, but he was cleaning it & disconnected it completely. My middle finger was straight for several weeks until they could do surgery. I can bend it but not like I used to.

I pinched my little finger about a year and a half ago in a skidsteer attachment. Open fracture. the bone was crushed. Unfortunately internal scar tissue fused the tendon to the bone so I can only bend the bottom joint, not the top.

Funny thing is, it didn't really hurt when it happened. It felt more like a strong electric shock. The pain started hours later in the ER. I will say it started to hurt, but nothing some ibuprofen didn't help. I declined the Rx for the Oxy since I'm wary of that stuff.

In the first picture, the finger looks totally different than when I got there. It was originally so smashed and mangled that I just assumed they were going to have to just remove it. I was surprised when they said they were going to clean and sew it.

A before and after pic....... If it's too gory feel free to remove or let me know and I will if I can still edit....

I don't blame you about the Oxy. I had some once & took one. it was a small but expensive script & I didn't like it so I flushed the rest.

Yikes! That one is good 'n gnarly. Having three older brothers, I grew up being told that a sprain hurts much more than a break. That is partly how I knew I broke my thumb about two and a half years ago lol. Didn't hurt all that bad... initially. Throbbed real good in the E.R., though.

I am also wary of opioid pain meds. I spent a big chunk of my youth around addiction. But because I don't take opioid meds hardly ever, I haven't built up a tolerance, so any prescriptions for such are of a very low dose! Less risk of addiction to small dosage... that's how many folks get hooked in the first place: doctor airs on the side of patient comfort, writing a 'script that will numb the pain entirely. I can tolerate pain. I bang myself up good enough, I may want something to help manage the pain, but I don't need to be numb & drooling/passed out.

I usually have between one and three of those hydrocodone pills left over. Those get forgotten in a drawer until my wife takes a spill herself, twisting an ankle or jarring her head, and ibuprofen won't touch the pain. She also grew up around addiction, and does not use these types of meds on a whim.

Originally Posted by Crawler

I am also wary of opioid pain meds. I spent a big chunk of my youth around addiction. But because I don't take opioid meds hardly ever, I haven't built up a tolerance, so any prescriptions for such are of a very low dose! Less risk of addiction to small dosage... that's how many folks get hooked in the first place: doctor airs on the side of patient comfort, writing a 'script that will numb the pain entirely. I can tolerate pain. I bang myself up good enough, I may want something to help manage the pain, but I don't need to be numb & drooling/passed out.

I usually have between one and three of those hydrocodone pills left over. Those get forgotten in a drawer until my wife takes a spill herself, twisting an ankle or jarring her head, and ibuprofen won't touch the pain. She also grew up around addiction, and does not use these types of meds on a whim.

Same reasons for me to avoid. That and the fact that I personally know four people that became hard core addicted to Rx Opioids. Sad, sad thing in every case. Two of them were younger working age and they lost their jobs, became frequent visitors to the E.R. for quick fixes (injections). One of the other ones, a retired man, stormed into one of the clinics in town screaming and creating a scene demanding more pain meds (he was originally prescribed them from a knee surgery...). The fourth basically went through withdrawals, is semi-retired and is doing better.

I don't discount that there are some people that are wracked with pain due to severe illness and injury pain that would otherwise be unbearable and debilitating.

For the rest of us....life hurts sometimes. I also agree with you: the avoidance of any and all pain is a recipe for a bad life.

Great line from the movie The Princess Bride: "Life IS pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something." How true is that?

A silent and widespread scourge to our society.

that's not even remotely gore-y

On various knife making groups on FB, I see pics coming by that illustrate why it is a bad to wear rings when using power tools (basically the finger is a white bone stem with all the skin, muscle and tendons and a mangeld ring being mushroom-topped around the nail bed). Or pics of shattered grinding discs embedded in a skull or throat. One guy (not a knifemaker probably) had nearly half his head topped off by a huge high power grinding disc that spun apart.

I make it a point to actually look at those pictures when they come by. Yes I am revolted by them, but I want to keep a healthy fear of power tools alive by confronting myself with someone else's mistakes. That day you become comfortable around power tools you become complacent. And then one day you're suddenly looking at a finger being gloved off or a piece of your body lying on the ground.