True Stories of the ER

Got up super early this morning, got in the shower at about 5:50 AM and during my final hair rinse, eyes closed, in the zone planning my day phase of the shower I heard a loud crash! I looked down and the entire tub was a sea of red. My heavy duty glass soap dish that has lived in the windowsill in the shower for the last few years decided to commit suicide during my morning session leaving me lacerated and bleeding. As I cleaned up the glass and rinsed my sliced ankle, I realized I may need stitches, but really did not even want to go to the ER and deal with that mess. The cut was only about an inch long if that, but when the water hit it the right way I could see how deep it was, like someone unzipped my foot a bit. I kept my foot up in Vriksasana (left) hoping to stop the bleeding to no avail. Crazy thing, Tim slept through the entire thing, the glass crashing down, me calling him from the bathroom, etc. I went in to tell him and he said I needed to go to the ER and get it checked out, I called my Mom and she said the same thing, all I could think was CRAP! I was trying to get a early start to the day, get to work by 7:30, leave right at 5, blah, blah, blah and now my plan wasn't looking so good since I was leaving a trail of red where ever I walked. I get to the ER, which is only 2 minutes from our house, they check me in right away and I get in a room where they separate the cut and irrigate and clean it - EEEEEEeeeeek! Then the Dr. walks in, now, you know you are getting old when the Doctor looks young, I am talking Doogie Houser MD folks. He takes a look and tells me I missed the major vein that runs down the inside of your ankle, Achilles tendon area by about 2 mm and was pretty lucky, but had a pretty bad cut that needs to be put back together. Now my brain is running through him trying to sew me up and it coming back open since this area is constantly getting stretched by the natural movement of the foot. He can't stitch it he tells me, or it will come undone, phew, no stitches. Then he tells me he will be gluing it back together. So crazy and a nice alternative to getting sewn up I have to say. He squeezes the flaps of skin together and seals it with this "glue" he has in a small tube. I had to wait for it to dry, about 10 minutes and then they gave me instructions for keeping it clean, told me to start taking Motrin because it was going to start throbbing and hurting after while (when it first happened, it didn't hurt at all, I didn't even realize I was cut until I saw all the blood) they also told me not to drive today to keep the glue sealed as long as possible (it is on my right ankle in the back where the skin folds above the heel) and keep it elevated. I hobbled out of there and Tim was waiting to take me home. I was in and out of there in less then an hour. The ER staff at St. Luke's is awesome, when I told them I was embarrassed about coming in for a cut, they said it was a good thing I came in because it needed help sealing back together and could have gotten infected, broken back open, etc. They got me in and out super fast (it was early in the morning, but still, you hear nightmare stories of waiting for hours). I know you are not supposed to take photos or use your phone, but of coarse I had to! Here is a non graphic photo of me waiting for the glue to set, you can't even see the cut very well in this photo due to the angle, but it is better that way.PS - on a side note, Tim had his review at work yesterday and over the year only called in one time unscheduled and today he looks at me at the hospital and says, "well, there goes my record for this year". So funny I almost fell over!