Newborn House Restoration

Today’s work at the Newborn house was cut short (so to speak) by a minor incident with a biscuit joiner. Don’t worry. There’s no permanent damage, but our momentum was slowed for the day.

The first order of business today was to finalize the construction and installation of the countertops. All of the hard work was completed yesterday. All that remained was joining of of the pieces and attaching them to the cabinets. The “incident” (as we’ll call it from here on out) happened on the second cut of the day. When the biscuit joiner cut into the wood, I lost my grip and the blade came in contact wirh the tip of my left ring finger.

As you can see from the picture at left (click the image for a larger version), I was not amused. I also was not overly concerned. The wound didn’t seem that severe. I still counted 10 complete digits, only one of which had been nicked by the saw blade. The problem is that even slight nick by a saw blade spinning at 10,000 RPM tends to bleed a lot.

The good news is that I did learn (or, in some cases, re-learn) some important lessons.

Lesson 1 is that you should always respect your power tools. Duh!

Lesson 2 is that you should always listen to your wife when she says you need to go to the emergency room. When she saw fhe little pulses of blood pumping from my finger, Andi insisted that I needed some stitches. I insisted that I didn’t, and that I would not be going the the ER. Besides, I further argued, the bleeding would stop soon and she could go back to work.

The fact that our friend Holly (a long-time nurse with more practical medical knowledge than anyone I’ve ever met) sided with Andi did nothing to support my position.

(This very much reminds me of the “popcorn incident” that led to eight stitches in the top of my head. I said the big gash in my head didn’t need stitches; Andi said it did need stitches. She was right that time, too, but that’s a story for another time.)

Lesson 3 is that the uses for duct tape are, in fact, unlimited. After washing out the cut finger we wrapped it with paper towels and duct tape. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked until we could track down more suitable bandages. Lesson 3B is that you should probably have a first aid kit handy on a construction site. I’ll see if I can take care that need this week. (By the way, a first aid kit also would be a handy item to have in your truck when you go mountain biking. In particular, this refers to the “granite drop-off incident,” which, again, is another story for another time.)

Lesson 4 is that when you start to feel faint, you really should lie down. Witnessing medical treatments always makes me feel woosy, and I’ve nearly passed out several times when family members were in the hospital for treatment. Today, I carefully watched Dr. Mullis as he inserted the long needle into four spots around the knuckle of my hand and pumped in the lidocaine. Early signs of imminent woosiness convinced me to lie down for the remainder of his handiwork.

(My Mom used to have this same condition. Every time she would take one of us boys to the emergency room for stitches [are you starting to notice a trend here?], she would do great until it was all over, and then she would pass out. Thanks, Mom!)

Lesson 5 is that the good folks at Rockdale Medical Center are very much appreciated. Susie and Katherine in the triage area were pleasant and professional. Bernard is the best nurse ever; his tetanus shot didn’t hurt at all; he anticipated the doctor’s needs; and he was full of good cheer and optimism. And Dr. Mullis did a great job of closing up my finger with eight tiny stitches.

Overall, I am very grateful that I ended up with no permanent damage, and that my finger will be as good as new in a week or so. Before “the incident” we had made a lot of progress inside and outside of the house last week. Stay tuned for your regular construction updates.