Decrepit Old Fool

P2 screwdriver bit penetrated thumb, went some distance under surface. Took 1 second to happen, 2.5 hours for first aid and PromptCare visit

Got a little boo-boo today when electric screwdriver slipped and the P2 bit jammed itself into my thumb. It penetrated about 10mm under the skin along the thumb. I went into the kitchen, cleaned it up, bandaged it, and then did something that in the past I would not have done.

Previously I’d have just splinted the digit and let it heal under my deft bandaging, but not this time. Because the bit went so far under the skin, rotating all the way, I couldn’t be sure the wound was fully cleaned out – and there are some very nasty bugs running around now that were much less common 25 years ago. So I went to PromptCare.

The physician’s assistant did a great job irrigating the wound  (which is what I went there for) and stitching it up. But the nurse who applied the post-op dressing needed some updating on her sterile procedure. She put on gloves, then opened the cabinet door, then opened the bandage and folded it with the gloves that just opened the cabinet door and applied it to the wound.  I didn’t say anything because the wound was already closed, but what are they teaching kids these days?

NOTES:

• My first-aid kit is pretty well-stocked. My standard treatment is: let it bleed a lot, then irrigate with water a lot, then irrigate with Betadine solution. Then bandage and a spot of Neosporin cream and, if big enough to require butterfly stitches, splint.
• I left with a scrip for generic keflex. It was so cheap they didn’t even bother collecting a co-pay at the pharmacy.