mrquackers

Yoshi and I had an interesting Monday night...

The plan was simple: String the Christmas tree we'd bought Sunday with lights. When I checked the stand, though, it didn't appear the tree had taken in too much water. The store had cut it for us, but I figured it must have resealed itself with sap. "No problem: I'll just cut the end off again," I said.

After hauling the tree outside and removing it from the stand, I took two inches off the bottom - then got too clever for my own good. We'd had to remove several branches to get it to fit in the stand, so I figured I'd trim the 'nubs' that were left there and the tree would absorb even more water. Good idea. Bad execution.

Halfway into the first cut, the saw - a rusty, dirty bow saw, I should add - slipped and I ended up sawing my hand, right at the knuckles at the base of my fingers. A grisly three-plus inch gash that cut quite deep and jagged. One trip to the ER, five stiches, one Tetnus shot and a prescription for 30 Percocet later, I was back at home. The lights never got strung.

There's a whole laugh-out-loud story in this about the ER itself, but typing is kind of painful now and that would make this post dangerously long, so I'll pose a question instead.

Am I the only holiday klutz out there? Or has anyone else inadvertantly sent themselves to the hospital from trying to get in the spirit?

-Quackers (who used to type a WHOLE lot faster)

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"If you're walking on thin ice, you may as well go ahead and dance."

Bloodslick

Good Lord. I've never had anything like that happen. In fact, I've never had any serious injury of any kind. I think my skin is a little thicker than usual.

I hope your hand feels mighty better soon.

kwoodmex

I tend to find ways of hurting myself, slits, scratches, or cuts on my hands, knuckles, and arms.

i wouldn't say I'm so much of a clutz as I am wreckless in procedure, but I do have to say, I've yet to send myself to the ER.

and oh yeah, OWWWWWWW with the saw thing, sorry to hear about that.

gnort

ouch! Wow..i wish you well with a speedy recovery, at least you've got some percocets outta the deal
>tries to look on the bright side<

I've never gone to the emergency room, but this year my roomate and I were trying to string lights along the top of our room and I almost took a digger off a chair. Fortunately there was no injury and i got back up on the unstable chair to try again.

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You had me at Qapla'

Sho Nuff

Once 3 different christmas trees fell on my mom in 2 years. String of bad luck i guess. Ive got a picture of one that I put on the christmas tree every year. She hates it.

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I know Nietzsche doesnt rhyme with peachy, but you sound like a pretentious prick when you correct me.

Kaos

That's something you HAVE to do after getting a picture of that.

Wasn't the holidays, but a friend of mine cut off half a finger, the tip of another finger and had a huge gash on his hand when the circular saw hit a knot in the wood and "jumped" off and across his hand.

Aphrodite

Not personally, but the other half seems to be really good at attracting sharp and/or heavy objects...
so yeah, I've seen the emergency room a few times, just not as the patient!

sailor

Yikes. Not cool. I cant say Ive ever had anything really bad to me, but I once saw a friend get hit by a car (driven by another friend--I was also in the car). His knee went through the headlight, which cut the skin off the top of his knee. I got to him, he took his hands off for a sec, and I was staring right at his knee cap. We got him a towel, held the skin back on and put pressure on it, and jacked his leg up in the air waiting for an ambulance. He has one hell of a scar there, that he jokingly refers to as Zeus.

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"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
--Plato

flamingdog

That circular saw thing sounds insane. I think I'd go mad if i cut my own fingers off... i just can't imagine it. I am making a pact with my self now that I will never ever go near a power tool again.

spectre

All I have to say is that most of the people at a local hospital know me on a first name basis.

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"Fuck these chains
No goddamn slave
I will be different" ~ Machine Head

legolas

well the lights would've electricuted you and you were actually saved from greater pain. happy holidays to you anyways

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"To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems."

Evil Milkman

Ouch! Well, have a merry... a happy... uh. That sucks.

Get better soon!

opey99

not such a nice start. hope you recover soon, fortunately I can't think of any incedents of myself or family being damaged getting ready for christmas, but my car got backed into by my wife's g-parents neighbor on christmas eve.

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name's Bramage, Dain Bramage

krwlz

I cant say as Ive ever put myself in the ER, but Ive had my share of accidents getting ready for christmas.

Most recently (last year) was setting up racks for x mas trees at work. This was the classic thumb and hammer incident... Made rather humorous by my unknowing boss, who told me to watch out for my thumbs about 2 mins after I did it.

raeanna74

That sucks. I hope you can enjoy Christmas anyway. It is at least a good story. You will have to tell the ER story here later when you can type better.

I haven't done anything too serious around Christmas. Been pretty lucky overall. (Knock on wood)

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"Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama
My Karma just ran over your Dogma.

mrquackers

Since this has leapt back to the top of the stack, here's a quick update: The stitches are now out, though the wound is still kinda ugly, but I'm able to type at a decent speed again. I was, ironically, on a business trip when it came time to get my stitches out and couldn't find a "doc in a box" (walk-in clinic) to get them removed. Fortunately, the trip was to my home town and my mother is a Critical Care nurse. I swung by the house and she had a suture removal kit handy (Sidenote: How many of YOUR mothers keep suture removal kits around the house? )

They're out. I kept 'em. And I now plan to put 'em in lucite and make a Christmas ornament out of them!! Hey, it's only fitting.

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"If you're walking on thin ice, you may as well go ahead and dance."

omega2K4

Look on the bright side of this-- you have some drugs for the holidays.

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"While the State exists there can be no freedom. When there is freedom there will be no State." - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

"Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form."- Karl Marx

Dano069

I sympathize with you my friend. I've cut my hands, fallen off ladders, shocked myself removing lightbulbs, almost poked my eye out stringing lights on the bushes and other assorted holiday disasters. I sometimes think I was the model for the Tim Allen character on "Home Improvement" Glad you're okay! Enjoy the Percocet.

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I may look attentive, but I'm taking peeks down your blouse faster than the human eye can follow.

shakran

My neighbor was stringing lights last year. He climbed up on his roof to wrap some lights around his chimney. He fell off the roof, but landed in some shrubs and managed not to break anything. Scared the hell out of him though. This year I caught him hurling strings of lights at his roof - looked like he was TPing his house with Xmas lights - to avoid having to climb up there again. His house looks REAL good this year.

BonesCPA

My pop had a good one a few years ago - he got hit in the eye with a tree branch when he was setting up the tree. Tore the lens of the eye (the outer film). Didn't do anything right away, had his vision blurry for a while, and then ran into a utility pole turning out of a driveway. Finally went to the doctor, gave him an eyepatch and cream and informed him that every morning when he woke up he was retearing the lens when he opened his eye in the morning. Gotta love Dad.

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Back into hibernation.