As promised.
When installing a cat-door here are some key points to remember:
- make sure batteries on drill are fully charged, so as to not get stuck in a door mid-drill
- make sure you have a saw. Any saw. Somewhere in your house.
- Note: Circles do not a cat-door make.
- Once you've made the run to Walmart to buy a jig-saw.....returned home....and cut the shape out properly.....one should pay attention to which side is the FRONT and which side is the BACK of the door.
- Shoving a cat through a cat-door will not make her use it willingly. However, taking the flap off the cat door and leaving a gaping hole works.
Now....on to the Darwin Award section of our presentation.
I was happily making dinner last night. Lasagna was in the oven, and I was cutting carrots to make a casserole using this.
It's probably important to note that in the instructions, in nice big letters, they warn consumers to "Never use fingers while cutting with this product". Which I ignored. STUPID.
Slicing carrots on the 'thick' setting and the first one was uneventful. The second one...not sure if it's because I wasn't looking, maybe I was grooving along to the music too much. Maybe I was just lost in la-la land. Next thing I know I felt it cut my finger.
Immediately I turn on the cold water...squeeze my finger at the base and run it under the tap. The blood was pouring pretty good - so I stopped looking. Tried calling for hubby. He was in X-Box world...on the third try I got the response, "What!"....in that tone. "I NEED you. FUCK!". He picked up the Slicer after I told him I'd cut myself....and said, "Oh! You cut it right off!"
To which I replied, "What! It's right off?!"....and he held up the tip of my finger. I went into shock at that point. It's a hard feeling to explain...sick.....breathless......unable to really form a co-herent thought. He got on the phone and had Grandma come over (she's 20 minutes away) and then got on the phone with the health-link people. On hold of course. He was opening every cupboard in the kitchen looking for the first aid kit. And I started laughing. I'm sorry - but it was pretty funny.
"Yes honey, that cupboard that you look into every day and don't see a first-aid kit has magically transformed our drinking glasses into bandages!"
I told him the little kit was in our hiking pack hanging on the stairs. He pulled a bunch of stuff out but I was in no position to let him wrap me with bandages yet. So he threw a towel at me, I wrapped it up fast, held my hand over my head and walked around in shock. Crying a bit. I alternated between walking around and laying on the couch. With my one hand applying pressure and the other arm right up in the air. It was special.
Grandma showed up - hubby was still on hold - and she wrapped the finger with gauze and tape. And there was almost no pain. I'm not complaining - but it was strange. My finger-tip was sitting on the counter....and I was hardly in any pain. Once in awhile a sharp pain and throbbing would show up....but then it went away. I looked at the clock and realized that the casserole had to go in pretty soon.
So, I got up and finished it with the help of Grandma.
As hubby said, "It's not her being brave. She's just stubborn beyond all belief. The most stubborn woman I know."
I think he's right.
The nurse picked up the phone and he talked to her for a bit. Then I talked to her. It was alot of useless questions...but in the end she had looked up my records and I had a tetanus shot in 2002 so I didn't have to go to the hospital right away. They wanted me in the next 4 hours.
So we ate dinner. I had decided that I didn't need to go to the hospital - seriously it seemed fine - and Grandma went home. Around 7 we went to the drug store for supplies as the first half-assed job was carrot stained.
We got home...hubby unwrapped the finger...and thankfully I was holding it over the plastic shopping bag. It started bleeding hard. And my tummy went, "Whooooo....blurb......uuuuuuhhhhh!". He put on 3 gauze pads...and it bled right through. And of course I had to pee right at that moment. Sigh. One handed bathroom trips are an exercise in invention. We took that set of bandages off....replaced them....and went to the hospital.
It wasn't too long a wait really. I didn't have to stay in the normal emerg waiting area - got sent to the minor wound area which was much quieter. They made sure there was no bone cut, put some stuff on it and wrapped it properly. I have to leave this stuff on for 10 days. And not get it wet. Uh-huh. I'm sure that will happen.
If you want to see the grossness scroll down......way down.






































