March 06, 2005
My First Injury on the Job
Well, I did it: I pulled a Dolan. For those not familiar, a Dolan n. is an injury sustained to oneself in the course of making house improvements to the Phi Kappa Theta house. A Dolan is of course named after Jason Dolan, an alumnus of the chapter.
It happened about 3 PM today. Chris Cancian and I had deactivated power to the entire 3rd floor so that we could modify some connections in the 3rd floor circuit panel. In my hurried pace to restore power to those on the floor, I asked Chris to borrow a knife to cut shielding off a 12-3 wire (something which my Klein wire tool doesn't do, unfortunately). He gave me his pocket knife, which is different from the utility knife I usually use. Holding the wire with my left hand, I made a slice... right through the wire and into my left middle and ring fingers. I immediately knew the cut was deep and ran to the bathroom. Holding my gushing blood hand in the sink, I waited for Chris to return with the First Aid kit from the basement. I pressed paper towels over the wound until the gauss arrived. I tightly wrapped my fingers in gauss, held my hand above my heart, but the blood kept coming. After about five minutes, it let off long enough to put something more permanent on. I painfully wiped the wounds with alcohol and wrapped and taped my fingers. The bandage would hold. Being a diligent worker, I went immediately back to the task at hand, except this time, I let Chris strip the wire.
Six hours later, I took off the bandage. It was still oozing blood. Oh well, I thought, guess I need stitches. I drove to Burger King just before 10 to grab dinner. After eating and taking a short break, I walked on over to the E.R. at University Hospitals. I went to the back rather quickly (20 minutes after entering the door). About 30 minutes later Alison appeared at my room (not 30 seconds after I checked my phone and saw she had called too-- her timing was impeccable). Much to my dismay the lacerations were "superficial" and stitches were unwarranted. All was not in vain, however. I received a tetanus shot (which I should have had a long time ago considering the amount of home repair I do). Also, I received a prescription for an antibiotic and some cool skin repair cream.
Lesson learned: 1) Use your own knife. 2) Don't be in a hurry when using a knife. 3) Alison can gain access to the back of the E.R. by just winking at the security guard.
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