# Minor injury Clinic Experience



## Paul (Jun 15, 2007)

> I fought the saw and the saw won


Here are the results:







Actually it was an electric hedge trimmer. I was wearing a pair of gloves. I turned the trimmer off and was moving my hand by the blade as it was slowing to a stop. The tip of the glove for the index finger of my left hand got pulled into the still moving blade and cut through the glove, cutting the inside of the index finger.

It wasn't a very large or deep cut, so I bandaged it with a finger tip bandage. After two hours it still was a bleeding, so a trip to the minor injury clinic. The doctor said the normally all I would have needed was a bandage but as I cut the finger in just the right (or wrong lol) spot I had cut a small artery. Now this cut was a major bleeder. The doctor said that if I did not get treatment this sort of cut over two or three days could cause me to bleed to death as the result of the amount of blood lost.

The doctor ( a surgeon) had difficulty stopping the bleeding. He had to shove a pait of sharp scissors into cut to trim the edges so that when he stitched it up it would not bleed.

Right now the freezing is wearing off and the finger is beginning to throb. Oh well...I fought the saw and the saw won!

Paul.


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## Tina (Jun 15, 2007)

Cute title, but it sounds painful, Paul. Poor guy, I'm sorry you had such a painful lesson.


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## Paul (Jun 15, 2007)

Tina, 
It sounds more painful than it actually is. It simply hrobs now just enough to remind me of th injury.

The minor injury clinic is a newly developed Manitoba example of how to reduce the bottleneck at the emergency rooms. I was in and out in less than 1-1/2 hours. If I had gone to a major hospital ER it would have at least taken double the time. Thanks for the comforting thoughts Tina. BTW how is life in Canada? Hows the French progressing?

BTW the minor injury clinic mostly treats sports injuries. It is attached to a surgery clinic so I had the cut stitched up by a surgeon. I noticed the skill of this doctor compared to other ER (non surgeons) when he repaired the wound. This was the first time I have seen a suture excellently tied off using only one hand. I suspect this is a skill required for some surgeries when there is only one free hand available to stitch and tie off the thread.


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## GWARrior (Jun 16, 2007)

You're lucky! My dad cut off a half inch of his pointer finger! he was cutting a piece of wood (for my tree house. i felt so bad.) on his radial arm saw. For some reason the blade became loose and jerked the wood around and his finger got caught. Sliced thru right up the middle. it was very very icky and he was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Our basement is full of dads power tools and i dont go near them!


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## Paul (Jun 17, 2007)

GWARrior said:


> You're lucky! My dad cut off a half inch of his pointer finger! he was cutting a piece of wood (for my tree house. i felt so bad.) on his radial arm saw. For some reason the blade became loose and jerked the wood around and his finger got caught. Sliced thru right up the middle. it was very very icky and he was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
> 
> Our basement is full of dads power tools and i dont go near them!


Your Dad's injury sounds horrible. How was your Dad's recovery? Could you use the tree house, knowing the sacrifice it took to build it?

Yes my cut could have been worse. Fortunately the trimmers built today have two switches requiring the use of both hands to operate. The trimmer I used as a teenager had one slider switch and would remain running even if it fell out of the operator's hands. A dangerous design, especially if the clipper fell out of one's hands and hit a leg or foot.


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