I guess you could say that the chances of an accident are higher anyway the more you do, but experience should counter a lot of that, but hey, no-ones perfect eh? and i'm certainly not now!
So i'm under a 155 rear wheel arch, struggling for position and vision, and the 3" grinder i'm using, one handed, snags in the mixture of rubbery underseal and rusty metal.
It manages to spin out of my grip and i only just manage to get my Be-Goggled face out the wheel arch, only to have the trigger locked grinder run down my right hand and onto my left forearm!
I was gloved up, but it made no difference whatsoever, but could see and feel all my hand was in place and was more worried about my forearm still hidden but hurting with a twisted sleeve or two.
My concerns were completely misplaced, my left forearm being grazed, not life threatening, but my right index finger had been sliced right down to expose the knuckle!
Surprisingly little blood, i suspect most of the blood vessels were quarterised by the 2mm slotting disc at 22,000rpm, but not nice and i still got the typical gauntlet of claret!
So cleaned up a little i presented this to those around me and asked for idea's?
It doesn't look much at all really, but once i got it cleaned and the bleeding stopped, i spotted the knuckle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmJrwj62UTA
Now being a typical prat of a bloke, i ignored the advice of needing to have it cleansed and stitched down at Newark Hospital, and deployed the workshop first aid kt, consisiting of tissue, pvc tape, double latex gloves and much grimace and moans later, i'm back under the 155 to finish welding her up.
Dedicated to the core you see!
Some days later, the swelling and lack of movement start to give me a bit of concern, and i'm thinking that i should really take it easy having completed that particular phase of the 155 repairs, but work had other idea's, so soldier on eh chaps, but i knew not resting it was starting to impact the healing.
Check out the sausage fingers! ha ha!
The swelling starting to reach beyond my wrist, the immobility and throbbing told only one tale, infection, and so finally i succumbed to the advise, and got myself down the Ozzy.
9 days after the incident, i was lectured on my lack of intelligence many times over, nurse after nurse, doc after doc, reinforcing what i already knew, that i'm a jackass!
So here we are today, day 12, with more sterile patches and plasters than Boots plc, and a rack of antibiotics the size of oxygen tanks (i wasn't sure they were taken orally at first! Gulp!
It stinks to high heaven too, absolutely disgusting it is, and i now have no idea what the healing process is or how long it will take
So let this be a lesson to all of us, get any kind of injury with a even a slight serious nature to it, seen to properly and immediately.
I would have lost a days work, 2 maybe 3 at worst imagine whilst immobilised with stitches, but this way looks like its going to have a much much larger impact on things yet, so i'm feeling rather foolish to say the least!
