Wednesday, July 8, 2009

A Hospital Story With Photos

*Warning! if the thought of an IV in an arm or an image of a large snake is not pretty, don't look! I'll gladly email you the post without the photos because I'm just considerate like that. :)*

So if your one of my friends on Facebook you might be aware, but if you’re not then I have a great story to share…in photos and short sentences.

It started Sunday night around 11:30pm. My fiancĂ© was boiling some beans for the next day’s dinner. Then the pot over boiled and the hissing sound freaked out Nasty Cat



And in efforts to try and prevent my fiancĂ© from being harmed in his state of freak out, Nasty Cat chomped down really good on my right pinky finger. It was a good chomp. And stupid me decided, “Oh I’ll just wait until morning to see if it’s bad” because I’d endured cat bites from Nasty Cat before and I was fine.

However, Monday morning rolled around and I wasn’t fine. My whole pinky was swollen and painful and the swelling was starting to take over my palm. So off I went to the hospital where they did this:



And hooked me up to this for an hour:



And sent me home with this to take for the next 10 days:



I went back to the hospital Tuesday because the swelling had extended to the right side of the back of my hand. I no longer had knuckles underneath my ring finger and pinky and the swelling had also started to crawl up the base of my ring finger.

My doctor put more antibiotics on file for me in the chance that the swelling didn’t go down and decided to further spread on my hand.

Luckily I woke up this morning and the swelling on the back of my hand and on my palm had gone down. My pinky is still slightly swollen but is no longer throbbing. It is still rather tender and useless to me. I am back at work though today because I can actually maneuver a mouse and type with four fingers on my right hand without pain. (Luckily I got that A+ in typing and I can make my ring finger do some double duty.)

I am, however, taking it easy and continuing to soak my hand every couple of hours. I also have an eye doctor follow up today. (Have I mentioned how sick I am of seeing doctors and paying co-pays?)

I am also lucky that last March during a reptile photoshoot at work I was bit by this:



And didn’t have to get another tetanus shot – because those hurt and wipe me out and then they hurt even more the next day. Give me the hour-long IV drip any day. And yes, that is the snake that bit me last year in yet another fit of fright and freak out. It is a Brazilian Rainbow Boa Constrictor and I think it might have been my 5'1" height or a bit taller when stretched out. I was quite the subject of excitement in the emergency room that day.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

so i'm thinking you may want to start staying away from anything that can hiss and has teeth....snakes...cats...what else hisses ;)

Crys said...

Don't forget things that sting too! I had that lovely incident with the bee last fall that brought me to the emergency room too.

dragonflymama said...

Wow- the wildlife loves you! I hope you are recovering and feeling better! Be careful out there!

Rachael said...

Animals just find you tasty. Take care of yourself and no more bites!

Smirking Cat said...

I still have a scar where my cat bit me years ago when I had the bright idea to reach in and try to split up a fight by just picking him up. He chomped my hand really good and I had to go to the doctor because it swelled up. Cat bites are vicious!

Mrs M said...

I guess thats why we have a rabbit and guinea pigs!

Glad you are on the mend, as for the typing - I can only type with one finger on each hand, but they are the fastest two fingers this side of London!!