Well, as I was coming inside this morning I didn't quite beat the closing screen door and got to know it a little better than I wanted to. As my left foot was coming up the last step, the corner of the screen door caught me just above the heel and on the inside of the ankle, next to my achilles. Well, it kinda hurt.
After a quick look at it - it looked rather deep - I went straight to the bathroom and ran cold water over it for about 20 min to help reduce the swelling, clean it out and seal the wound. It still looked deep, and was a little on the sore side. Well, maybe more than a little!
So, off I trundled to the local Accident and Emergency at the local public hospital. Now, for those not in Australia (or in Queensland), you may need to be introduced to our wonderful Public Health system here - basically, plan to spend a few hours waiting in A+E (Casualty, ER, whatever you want to call it) and a few weeks waiting for surgery. And that's a good run. Some people wait quite a number of months for non-elective surgery.
Anyway, I got to the hospital around 11 AM and finally got to see a doctor at about 3PM. At least there was some decent tennis on the telly in the waiting room. I should have taken a bbq, a few loaves of bread, some onions and a few kilos of sausages and made some money with a sausage sizzle while I was waiting - something to consider for next time.
The doc looked at my wound and decided that he needed to make it hurt a little more just for the fun of it - I'm sure doctors are sadists (just like physiotherapists, but that's another story). He debrided and cleaned it after anaesthetizing it and then decided that as it was quite deep, he'd jab me again and make it a little deeper.
Then, after all of this, he told me that he'd put 2 stitches in it as he'd need to leave the bottom open for it to drain, and that there was a better than remote chance that it will get infected, in which case they'll admit me to hospital and clean it out thoroughly in surgery.
At least the xrays showed that I didn't damage any bone! However, I need to keep it at right angles, no bending until it starts to heal, and then try to get it used to bending and moving normally whilst the missing meat grows back. That should be fun. :-S
Anyway, I get home and look at the offending screen door. Its standing there, gloating at me. So I give it a little jiggle and notice that the bottom hinge doesn't seem to be functioning - it seems that the 3 rivets that held it to the door yesterday are missing. To top it off, the door seems to have twisted or bent about a centimetre and a half so that the top now juts out and the bottom sits in closer than it used to.
That is when I knew I had gotten the better of the deal - the door may have put a hole in me, but in the process I extracted three of its teeth and bent it somewhat out of shape. Oh, the sweet taste of victory!
Regards,
The Outspoken Wookie
No comments:
Post a Comment