SHIR of the GARDEN SHEARS

SHIR of the GARDEN SHEARS

Finger collides with garden shears

- Joy Krauthammer

Avoiding going to the nearest ER --which is an act I felt strongly against, I was very inventive so I didn't have to go when my finger collided with the sharp rose pruners. Here is my shir* of the garden shears. Preparing for my daughter's visit the next morning, I was multi-tasking, and ridding dead leaves from a plant outside in the 100* + weather.

Needing to be a survivor and constrict the blood stream, I quickly made a strong tourniquet with a tightly wound rubber band to compress my finger. I poured a handy new bottle of hydrogen peroxide on wound and watched the wound bubble. I'd never used that fluid before. I bandaged the wound with bandaids, medical tape, and wound a twist-em over the whole thing to hold it together. I realized that I needed help holding up my hand to keep the blood from flowing down, so I grabbed a belt. Then I grabbed a suitcase strap with clips. I stuck plastic knife in contraption clip to keep finger erect, then switched to a Chinese chopstick so I didn't knife myself. Then I added the ring finger, wrapping it with tape to the whole kit and caboodle to support the poor pinkie finger. I hung up my whole arm, and was very proud of my invention. No ER for me.  (Last time I needed a tetanus shot it cost $2,500 in ER.)


I called a nurse who said never to use H. peroxide because it kills good skin. My doc didn't do stitches in office, I was informed. I went in next day for tetanus shot because of the garden shears. Doc didn't have shot in his office so I had to go to pharmacy, wait, buy it and bring it back to MD office. As long as I was there, I also bought the whooping cough vaccine. A walnut sized lump manifested over shot location.  Weeks later it is reduced to pea size. oy vey. 

I became a one handed typist, and couldn't swim for two weeks in 109* weather and warm water.  :(  My finger remains tender weeks later and I'm a little nervous now as I prune out the plants' dead leaves from the 100* heat. (I'm careful as I performed as percussionist this week.)

Enjoy the medical photo that I creatively took of myself in a mirror for Shir of the Garden Shears.
*SHIR in Hebrew means "song". 

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Since my garden shears careless accident, I am taking a CERT course with the Fire Department. Last week we learned how to emergency splint arms and legs, and it was NOT with knives and chopsticks...
www.CERT-LA.COM 

Plastic knife splint before I decided a knife can slice me...

Self Portait by Joy Krauthammer

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