...And Then I Went To The Emergency Room...

There I was, talking to my doctor's office; trying to clear up L's vaccination record before school... when I stepped on something. Something that sliced my foot open, leaving a 2 inch wide, 3/4 inch deep gash in the sole of my foot. It was broken glass, courtesey of my cat.

I cussed into the phone, apologised to the poor guy on the other end, cussed more as I looked at my foot, apologised again, then told him I'd cut my foot and I'd have to call him back because right now... I needed stitches.
I flung myself down on the massage table, stuck my foot in the air, then realized I had nothing but my unwashed hands to press against the wound to stop the bleeding.
Fortunately, the Hubby-Man was home. He was already in the bathroom looking for gauze. He emerged (gauzeless) with a roll of toilet paper, which he pressed against the sole of my foot, saying, "Are you ok?"
I said, "yes... NO!... I need to go to the hospital!"
He stood next to me, holding my foot and keeping me calm until he could leave without me freaking out. When I was calm; he fetched a bandage, gauze tape, and our son. He bandaged my foot, got us all out the door, half carried me to the truck and drove to the hospital... All without breaking a sweat.
Did I mention he held my hand the whole way as he calmly navigated rush hour traffic in a stick shift? I think he grew another limb for the drive.

The emergency room was practically empty. They met me at the door with a wheelchair and I was triaged right away. The Hubby-Man's calming influence must have made a difference because my blood pressure was 129 over 73. I spent 20 or 30 minutes in the waiting room. Most of my time was spent laying on the floor, meditating.
Because it hurt and I was scared!
The last time I was in a hospital, I was giving birth. So I laid there and compared the waves of nauseating pain to labor. Labor is definately more intense.

After some time spent laying around, they put me in a room on a comfy gurney/bed, where I meditated again. Endorphins don't last very long, and I was starting to really wish for a local anesthetic.
A nice lady came in for my insurance information, quickly followed by a nurse. The nurse asked me questions about my injury before carefully removing my makeshift bandage. (a thick gauze pad and a helluva lot of gauze tape)
The nurse took a quick peek at my foot, said, "Wow. That's deep. You might need an x-ray" She put a fresh bandage on while saying, "I'm going to have the doctor look at this." Before leaving the room. She was really nice about it, though.

I got a quick peek at my foot, too; and started shaking uncontrollably. I suppose that's better than when my nostrils wouldn't stop twitching in the waiting room, which made me laugh, which made my foot hurt, which made my nostrils twitch harder.

Anyway, the doctor came in around the same time I stopped shaking. He pulled back the bandage, looked me straight in the eye and told me I'd need stitches, numbing shots, and that he'd have to probe for glass. Lovely. He also warned me that the shots would really, really hurt.

He wasn't kidding.

Oh, my, freakin, god, did they hurt! I actually screamed. The Hubby-Man held my hand and let me grip his arm while I screamed and gasped. There was a point where my vision went away. The world went black. I remember these things, but I can't recall the actual pain. I guess that means it really, really hurt... just like the doctor said it would.

However. I didn't feel anything but pressure as the doctor cleaned and probed my foot. I only felt one of the 6 stitches I recieved, and compared to the lidocaine shots -it was nothing.

I expect my arm will be sore tomorrow from the tetanus shot they gave me, but my foot is in agony. I keep getting little sparks of pain so sharp, it's crunchy. Oh, and I've got a bunch of antibiotics, too.

So there's my story. I'll post a link to the gory pictures tomorrow, when I change the dressing.