Coulda, Shoulda, Wooda... (old post, for some reason reposting!)

That's not a misspelling!  Wood can get you - and yesterday it got me!

Coulda:  had a chili and cornbread dinner Sunday at my good friend MK's.  I haven't seen her, her husband and son in what seems like ages.  The invitation came and I accepted.  But, I'd loaded a cabinet on to the truck on Saturday night.  Later my back began feeling the effects of that effort.  I took a muscle relaxant and went to bed.  I woke up Sunday in worse condition than the night before, so took another pill and hoped I'd be better soon.  I wasn't and was concerned that I shouldn't drive while taking the medication.  I called MK and explained why I couldn't come visiting.    COULDA SHARED A MEAL WITH MY FRIEND.

Shoulda:  I stayed pretty much prone all day.  Until I was hungry and my craving for Super Bowl fare got the better of me!  I got up, felt pretty much stable, and drove to the Colonel's.  Made it home safely and scarfed down several wings dipped in my secret wing sauce (Tabasco and melted butter - really secret, huh??).  I was tired and thought I'd sit in the spa for a while, BUT instead, I went out to the garage to see if I had enough wood for another doll bed.  THEN, I decided to trim up the pieces so tthey'd be ready when I wanted to start the project.  SHOULDA SOAKED IN THE SPA.

Wooda:  Trimmed up a few pieces and cut the last piece.  As I pushed it through, the small, waste piece pushed back and tried to shove my finger out of the way.  The hard way - right through it!  So, the saw didn't get me, but the wood did!  Chewed up the right edge of my left index finger and gouged the skin off as it traveled down to my knuckle.  WOODA GOT ME GOOD!

Hmmm, what to do??  Don would have wrapped the bleeding digit in duct tape and finished the work.  I don't have duct tape.  I had the sense to turn off the saw, hold my finger tightly and raised it high to try to stop the bleeding.  I'm new to Kaiser and had no idea where, in their system I needed to go.  I didn't think I should drive myself to the Baldwin Park urgent care.  I decided I'd best get assistance at the local ER.

San Dimas Community is only about 2 miles from my house so reading material in hand (the good one!) off I went.  Seems that Super Bowl Sunday is a busy night in the ER!

I'd tried to contact both local kids to see if I could get a ride, but they were both incommunicado.  However, Cara did call while I was waiting to be seen.  She decided to come keep me company. (well, I think it was probably just a good excuse for her to be somewhere where she could read without disruption!).  In any case, I'm glad she was there.  When I finally did get into a "room" the gave me a tetnus shot, antibiotics, and a pain med that within minutes had me pretty looped!  I wouldn't have gotten myself home, that's for sure!

Bottom line is that there isn't enough skin to stitch it up and the Doctor thought Kaiser would want to do a skin graft to fix the tip of my finger.  They wrapped it up and arranged for me to see a Kaiser hand surgeon today.  Cara's on her way to pick me up and take me to another waiting room!

COULDA, SHOULDA, WOODA!!!  Will catch you up later...