Ouchie! Ouchie!
 

Damn!! I was cleaning the kitchen. My sink is one of those old fashioned huge cast Iron porcelain jobies. There was a glass sitting towards the front edge and I knocked it over. Of course it broke when it hit the edge and a piece fell down on my foot. That was bad enough but by the time my daughter got in there to help me by sweeping up the glass around me so I could move....I was standing in a puddle of blood. A piece had not only hit my toe next to my pinky toe but had actually stabbed and cut at the same time. Why couldn't my foot be numb *then*? And of course it hurt like hell. I took some Tramadol before the pain could really set in and now it feels fine. The cut, however, probably could have used a stitch as deep as it is. It stopped bleeding fairly quickly and easily. I'm *not* up to having a doc poke and prod and then numb (needles!) it to stitch it. It's probably at the point where the doc would have a difficult time deciding whether or not to stitch it to begin with.

Anyone want to kiss my tootsie and make it all better? Yeah, yeah...I know ----> :nopity:

Oh God, you poor thing!!!!

Well, if you wait and THEN go to the ER, they might tell you, "no, we can't put a stitch in". That happened to a friend of my son's when they both went through the glass window when they were 14 years old.

Louis had come into my house, dripping blood all over the living room floor and told me "Frank is around the corner, there are ambulances and police cars, the glass cut his eye". So of course, I dropped the frozen peas I had in my hand (odd how you remember these things), I ran around the corner and it was as if time stopped dead in its tracks. 6 police cars, two ambulances, my son sitting in a chair in the middle of the sidewalk and some man holding my son's eye in his socket. It was absolutely surreal. Louis had sustained cuts between his fingers. I told him to hop in the ambulance with us but he said "no, just go".

So after Frank got 75 stitches over his eye, and we all went crazy that night, the next day I ran into Louis and said 'what happened with your hand?" and he said "Oh, I went to my doctor but he said "unless you come right in when the injury happens, we can't put stitches in it". Something about scar tissue forming where the cut is.

Now this was 12 years ago, so I have no idea if science and technology have advanced to the point where they can put a stitch in a wound that has closed up already.

Just make sure you disinfected it. And get your feet out of that kitchen.

I don't have anything made of glass in my home whatsoever. I have arthritic hands and a frozen shoulder so I can't lift anything heavy and I once dropped a glass vase. That was it for me.

Everything is made of plastic or rubber, or whatever the new materials are today. There is nothing ceramic, glass or breakable. I only buy 4c Cranberry and Pomegranate drink mix (with splenda). I take out my big plastic drink thinggee. I put in the water, open up a packet of the drink mix. Mix it up. And Alan puts it in the fridge. I don't buy any cleaning products if they are in glass (such as Pine Sol). I only buy stuff in plastic.

I've learned to let Alan mix up stuff in the bowls if it's too much for my arms or hands. Only when it's 100 degrees outside and there's no humidity, well I could run a marathon, but then, when it is 100 degrees outside with no humidity???

All of my glassware is tall plastic stuff. If I go out to dinner, I won't even pick up a glass. I don't want to drop it and have glass going all over the place. Now I'm not talking about a glass of wine. THAT I WILL PICK UP.
But only on my birthday. lol

Melody

P.S. Oh, I forgot, there is one thing made of glass in my house, but no one can bump into it. It's a giant vase in the middle of my big dining room table. It's filled with those big Bamboo plants and magenta colored flowers. I designed it myself. I put it together myself also. Alan hates it because he thinks everyflower will bring a bug. I made him carry it into the computer room so I could take a picture of it.
So here's a picture of it, and I hope it makes you smile to see something pretty. Take your mind off of your feet for a second.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...se_flowers.jpg

Steri Strips
 

If you dont get to the doc with a fresh cut it often starts to close up - and unless your concern is a scar - usually ok.... Steri-strips are a good thing to have on hand for us PN'ers - a cut that in the past you might need stiches as long as you can clean up wound and nothing needs picking out etc.... they work great - "plastic stiches" help the wound close quickly, and saves a trip to the doc.... (if you're cut with somehthing that has potential to infect however like animal scratch etc, important to go to doc)

Yikes!!!!!!!!
 

Plus many other words that could probably make all the guys blush? :Soapbox:

All I can do is give you an electronic equivalent of a pat on the head?

Keep it clean and I'll cross my fingers as best I can! - j

:icon_eek: Kisses for your tootsie.

rose

Thanks, Mel! The flowers are lovely!

Yep, cleaned it immediately. Stood in the bathtub and let water run over it then soaped it and rinsed it real well.

The stitching thing is if it's more than, I *think*, 24 hours they won't stitch it because of the risk of infection. Bacteria and such can get down inside and then they'd be closing it up with that inside the cut. Never heard that about the scar formation before. But who knows...different doctors say different things as we've all come to know. If I hadn't been able to stop the bleeding I'd have hopped on over to the ER for sure. It pretty much stopped bleeding on it's own after the first few minutes. The only reason it bled as much as it did is cause I was stuck standing there til the glass around me had been swept up. But I really hate it when I hurt my feet, period. I know most people with PN would agree.

The odd part about this is that it wasn't a heavy glass. It was thinner than most I have. It was apparently just the way it fell and the distance I suppose. The glass shard hit so hard it didn't even stick in my toe, it bounced right back out. It's a bit sore today but nothing like I thought it might be.

I'm so sorry. Maybe you should call your doc just to make sure about infection or so on. You don't need that but I so understand not wanting to be played with. Maybe stitches wouldn't even be needed but could recommed something for healing. I'm sending thoughts

I have or had some steri-strips at one time but couldn't find them. And it's closed up rather nicely. Just a glass that had had iced tea in it. It was from the top rim of the glass as that's the part that broke out.

That was the first thing I did. Had my other half check to make sure there wasn't a piece of glass stuck in there...though the way it was bleeding I was pretty sure there wasn't.

I have some bandaids that are clear all the way around and seals the wound off completely from the air. Before going to bed I put some triple antibiotic on the bandaid and slapped it on my toe. Today there is no swelling or redness at all. Can't hardly tell there's even a cut or anything there. So it would appear it's healing well. Of course I'll be keeping an eye on it.

All this brings me to the conclusion that my PN isn't affecting my circulation. If it was I wouldn't be healing as quickly or as cleanly as I appear to be. At this point I'm thankful for small miracles. :D

It's amazing. I didn't cuss up a storm. Course I think there was a bit of delayed reaction going on there. I did cuss when washing it out! :o

Awww! Thanks, Rose! :hug:

Thanks. :) My doctor is about a 30 minute drive away. It would have had to be the ER or nothing. And of course with my doc being the way she is she'd want to see it before telling how to treat it or giving me anything. I have triple antibiotic cream. And I'm not afraid to use it! :ROTFLMAO:

and,
 

hydrogen perioxide - buy several bottles every time i shop! great to cleanse - just keep dumping it on fresh cut to disinfect.... the docs always recommend it..... on stiches - i've waited until the next day when the cut :winky: was in a prominate place like my face - have some interesting scars caues i did wait until next day - cause had already started to close and they would have had to re-open and stich close again -- in those cases probably worth going to have stiched as soon as possible if the scars will bother you....

isnt pn fun?

Kisses
 

for you sweet little toe, when my Mama did that miracles happened!!
Besides a stitch would of caused more nerve dammage,which would
of caused more cuzing,with would caused you not to be amused. If is
turns red cut it off, :eek: what did i just say,never mine. It must of
been the fever. Why i would never tell you cut off your toe,i'm just
in a state of :confused: . Let's see,kiss ,kiss,bad stitches,bad cut
:mad: :mad: rotten glass. There that's it,and Mel your flowers look
purty as a picture. Sue

Jarrett, from what you reported today--
 

--it's looks like you did the right thing; considering you were fairly sure there was no glass in the cut--likely if the bleeding was free, but then stopped during a normal clotting time--the protocol of cleanse and protect seems to have done the job.

You'll likely be sore for a while, but that shouldn't be anything time won't fix. Feel good.

How are you healing and feeling? I was just thinking about how for many of us isn't it scary how we have to fear going to the doc because it may flare up are other issues. Well I hope your hanging in there.

J
 

Tell me and tell me now, say the kisses worked or did the dang toe
fall off????? :eek: please tell me???

ROFLMAO!! Yep, mama's kisses were the best medicine. The stitch, yes, exactly my thought. More nerve pain and damage when I have more than enough to deal with it as it is.

Today, the actual spot is still a bit sore but it's healing quickly and no redness or anything to worry over. :hug:

Toe is still attached! Doing well and healing nicely. Sorry to worry you! :D This has made me laugh much!

That is *so* true. If my cholesterol isn't down a good bit by Jan I think it is, my doc said she was putting me on medicine for it. Ummm...no, you're not. I already have PN and those kinds of meds are known to cause PN. Is she nuts?? More likely uninformed. I'd rather have high cholesterol than PN. I'm working on the cholesterol with diet, exercise and supplements/vitamins. That's as good as it's gonna get. ;)

Good. She can't put you on it unless you agree. You may know more about it than she does.

A doc "put" my aunt on a statin. I had her taken off it immediately, got her to take an excellent fish oil with extra EPA and DHA, cut down on transfats and take other carefully chosen supplements.

The changes in her labs amazed me. I know there would be good changes, but didn't dare hope for that good. Her "bad" cholesterol came down a little bit, but her "good" cholesterol came up a lot. We got her blood pressure down too.

If you have the collection of cardio problems and high cholesterol, drugs may be helpful. But if not, they could be disastrous.

rose

Jarrett - you got me
 

thinking about 'connections'. So I thought back a long time ago about when the only med I took was for my thyroid, then my BP and cholesterol #'s were going up but I was very active and healthy and all that.
Soo, I webbed up 'statins + thyroid' and this is the very first thing I find:
http://healthletter.tufts.edu/issues...08/statin.html
I was on the statins for about 3 months, it didn't lower my BP or Cholesterol 3's, only a migraine like headache. I stopped the statins and just cooked w/less oils and salt. It helped a lot!
Hope this helps! - j

Good catch, Dahlek--
 

--with that article link; the fact that this doctor discusses statins/cholesterol in the larger picture of metabolic concerns and diet is important, as too many doctors only see a one-factor cause relationship for elevated cholesterol levels.

I particularly like the comment "I think it’s difficult for doctors because they don’t have a lot of time. They’re trained to diagnose things and give people pills. They’re not really trained to do nutrition." Now where have we heard that before? ;)

Its so true I forgot what amount they get in nutrition education but like a semesters worth. I may be wrong but I know when I was recovering from anorexia the feedback I got from many docs were so off base. I have found that docs are trained in a certain area many anyway and they don't want to step out of that zone. I had one doc everything was not his area. I understand that to an extent but really they have to have some knowledge. I really encourage and I know I have said this before but a nutritionist that specialises in the area you have issues with. It gives you a road map for good health but just like any professional there are some good and some bad so you have to shop around.

Thanks for the article! Is brings to mind a point I've made before: Many doctor's are too darn quick to throw medication at a problem before trying common sense methods first. High Cholesterol? Try lifestyle changes first. And isn't there a difference between just a little high and very high? Lifestyle changes will correct the underlying problem/cause of the high cholesterol to begin with. Many people who are given meds for this purpose are quick to believe that because they take a med to lower their cholesterol they don't have to make any other changes. Used to be that meds were the second line of defense rather than the first.

The thing missed, forest for the trees kind of stuff, is that for people my age drugs are about the worst choice to make. Especially if there are no other problems along with the high cholesterol readings...yet. Catch us early enough, make the proper changes and we will probably never need to take a statin or other type of cholesterol med. Of course this all depends on other health factors. For me PN was making it difficult to walk as much and as often as I would like to. But that's another post and another subject altogether which I'll be posting on a bit later. Good news, though, so no one worries in the meantime. ;) Giving people my age these kinds of drugs when we're capable of correcting the problem ourselves ends up creating *more* and worse physical problems than the high cholesterol we started with!

I especially like the Doctor's point about people needing to be taught a healthier lifestyle. Two visits to a dietitian is not going to do the job. Granted there are people that are more willing to do it on their own, read about it, study on it and apply what they learn. But for others they need more help. Insurance companies...*BLEH*.

It is a shame that so many people are being put on statins. Not only is there the research showing that more older people die when cholesterol is low, now there is this:

[This is from LEF, which is in general an outstanding source of information. Whether or not one chooses to purchase their supplements (it's a non-profit organization with a fabulous mission), the well cited research is available to all. Even their magazine content is available free a bit later than members receive it. http://www.lef.org/)

Thank You!
 

It was your post that got my own brain whirring and popping about my [now] Immune thyroid and the PN immune issues...So I just plugged in 'Statins+Thyroid' and got a bit of illumination?
I fear many docs can't see or want to see if there IS a forest around the single 'tree' part of you that is their specialty. Your GP is supposed to know about this 'oversight' stuff, but systems these days aren't conducive to writing a letter to the primary after each visit from the specialists. We have to be our own gatekeepers -sigh...
Daneilla - yes how much other docs are informed about 'US' and how much exposure they get/have after med school is usually long ago and far away?
Some docs and [I am newly finding due to a new dentist?] dentists are much more familiar with all the connections than others.
As long as a doc remains curious, caring, and progressive in our treatments they are the good ones? To me it seems that the lazy ones write us off. I have to guess and ask - HOW often and on what are these docs continuiously 'recertified' in? I admit, that I got awfully totally and blessedly LUCKY that I have found the docs I have [90% of them at least]. I just wish you find yours and everyone else here! - j
PS: So many 'patients' these days are of the mind that IF they get a PILL problems will go away. We do know that's not the issue - we are proof?
Super good thoughts for the weekend -everyone may you remain cool and dry in all of the good ways!