On Wednesday morning I cut myself doing the dishes. A glass exploded in my hand. I screamed a few obscenities (good thing Em was in school and Elliot doesn’t yet know much English) and then yelled for Toby. I have no clue what I would have done had he not been there. On most days, he’d have been at the office already. But that morning our routine unfolded a bit differently. (Thank goodness.)
You know how when you cut yourself, you know immediately whether or not you’re going to need stitches? There’s no question as to whether you can wrap some duct-tape around it and continue working. Well, I knew before that shard finished its slice I was going to need stitches. All the blood was just punctuation.
So Toby took out a baby bib (oh, yes!) and we wrapped it around my bleeding hand using an ACE bandage. (Note to self: buy boo-boo supplies pronto.) I called a car service and headed to the ER.
A visit to one of New York City’s ERs leaves a person with many stories. There are the usual characters: those begging for pain medication while putting on one of the worst performances of their life; those looking for some attention because they don’t get any elsewhere; the crackhead; and the homeless guy pickling himself in years and years worth of booze. You don’t see the people who are actually in need of immediate emergency medical attention because they’re off getting said emergency medical attention. You see the rest of us, myself included, bloodied baby bibs and all.
But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about my stitches.
On Thursday I was picking up Em from school and I ran into a friend. She happens to be awesome and she has a cool job. She does the art direction for the blood and guts in movies. She’s kind of like Dexter but for movies. And, like Dexter, she’s really, really good at what she does.
“What happened to your hand? Pastry knife wound? Making roach wedding cakes?” She asked.
“I cut myself doing the dishes. Nothing cool, unfortunately. Just the boring old dishes.”
“Can I see it?” She asked, possibly looking for inspiration for her next project.
“Sure.” I pulled down the bandage.
“Oh, wow!” She sucked air in through her clenched teeth. For a second I thought I made the blood and guts artist feel squeamish. “Wow!” She said with amazement. “That looks like work done by a really bad makeup artist! But it’s the real deal. Who sewed you up? Where on earth did you go?”
I laughed. “It was a 10-year-old med student with no sense of humor. Terrible, right? I thought so too. Good thing I’m not a hand model.”
“Good thing it’s not on your face! Although, that have been great for Halloween. It actually looks like you did this for Halloween. It doesn’t look real at all. Terrible work.”
“I know. I was kind of surprised he’d only given me 4 stitches. It seemed to warrant more than that.”
“Definitely.”
Then she went on to say that I needed to go somewhere else, that the scar was going to be awful and that I may even get an infection since pieces of the wound were still open.
So, my wounded warriors. Do you think he did a shoddy job as well? Have you ever had stitches? What are your thoughts on my latest boo-boo?
Taken right after I got the stitches.
Taken today.
Sorry if I’ve officially grossed you out with all my skin issues lately. Happy Halloween!
Oh OW!
I’ve had stitches quite a few times.. and to me, it looks like this one could have used at least one (maybe two) more.
Now I’m going to be paranoid every time I do the dishes…
I got thirteen (13!) stitches in the tip of my middle finger after I slammed it in a car door. I’m thinking this could have used at least half that many. I don’t know the rules for adding stitches after the fact, though.
That’s the thing. I have a cut (also got while doing dishes) on my other hand. It’s less than half the size and I had 8. WTF?
Holy crap! I had more stitches when I got a mole removed (that was about the size of a chocolate chip). I really hope that heals well.
My husband cut his hand once and we waited 8 hours in the ER for him to get medical grade crazy glue on the cut. Really? No stitches?
Though I’ve never had stitches, the job they did on your hand looks horrible! I’ve seen others with stiches and they didn’t quite look as haphazard as that. I’d say you could’ve definitely done with more stiches.
I would get into your doctor’s office and potentially get a referral for a plastic surgeon. But likely your doctor’s office can take care of it. That’s not nearly enough stitches for decent healing. Call now.
Hmmm. I don’t think it looks that bad. It looks like your wound was curved. If it was a straight slice then yeh…it’s a bad job. Otherwise, it looks pretty good. I’ll bet it hurts like the dickens, though. :(
yuppers…. gonna be a gnarly scar!:)
I am by no means a medical professional, but that does NOT look right. I know I am more confrontational and paranoid than other people but SERIOUSLY, that looks like a drunk monkey did it. I got a deep cut on my finger that was 1/4 inch long and I had 6 stitches. That were small and evenly spaced and neatly done.
Please, get a second opinion at the least. I would be calling a lawyer but that’s me. Infection hurts like a mother and will make the healing take WAY longer. Plus, we humans like to use our hands, especially when there are small creatures around. I hope you feel better soon.
It does seem like there should be more stitches and the suture material looks like a too heavy “gauge”. Oww… hope it’s healing well!
Haha @WickedOpinion. It’s healing fine. No lawyers will be called. I’m not dying.
That was a pretty piss poor job, the corner alone would need 3. I really hope it doesn’t get infected.
You only have about a 5 hour window I think to get stitches. If this needed to be redone, they would actually have to recut, reclean and start over, so essentially – surgery. You might want to call your primary care and get some preventative antibiotics.
I feel like some of you are holding back a bit here. Can you tell me how you *really* feel about my stitches?
aww nah. i showed my lovely irish boyfriend and he said it looks grand and ye shall be fine. have another guiness and take a few anti-b’s and it wont seem so bad in the mornin :)
me though, i think it looks a bit ouchie as most cuts on the pad of your hand would… you could get the stitches redone but so long as you dont mind a scar and it doesnt get infected i’d live with it.
My husband did the same thing – cut his hand in two places on a drinking glass that hit the sink and exploded. He got 13 stitches, for two cuts… I think one had 8 and one had 5. I think your cut is about the size of his cut that had 5 stitches. So, maybe it could have used one more stitch. It looks pretty much the same as his did, though. I used to say his hand “looked like Halloween”. Now, 6 months later, you can see the scar if you look for it. It’s visible but not horrifying. Just take good care of it. You are lucky you didn’t cut up higher, like my husband did. He had to go back for surgery to fix a severed tendon and nerve.
I’m not sure how stitches are supposed to look…I just have to ask – how on earth did a glass EXPLODE in your hand?! Scary!
Rose: I don’t know! But it really did. I think it was a combo if the heat and the pressure from my sponge. But it actually exploded. Very odd. Very shocking.
Damn you mihow and your stitches! Do you know how long it has taken me to finally start using real glass glasses again?
I did the same thing as you right after we got married and couldn’t even touch a glass without having some major flashbacks. We just bought a new set of real glasses a few months ago …. and now they are going to give me nightmares !!!