Just was in the ER for a...

[John Coloccia]

splinter. A stupid splinter. It was long and deep, and broke off under the skin so that we couldn't even see it. Some local anesthetic, some cutting with a scalpel, one tourniquet (believe it or not), and an x-ray later, she found it and got it out.

How ridiculous is that? No stitches ( risk of infection too high). That would have been the final touch.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

John....watch that finger for infection!

3 years ago on my birthday I was turning a bowl from a gifted blank from a guy in Houston. I ended up with a splinter in my finger. The next day I had to go to the ER.

I ended up in the ER 3 days in a row...they left an needle in my hand and each day I got IV antibiotics.

Watch it closely!

[glenn bradley]

I had blood poisoning from a poke on the wrist from a thorned plant in the yard once. Don't feel foolish, infections are serious business. Glad you're OK.

[Gene Crain]

well come on dude...this is a real ER visit...be careful, stay focused

4 hr surgery, 6 months of rehab

...and still crank out the product!

plantasymaderas punto com

since 1997

http://www.plantasymaderasgardenbenches.com/1/post/2009/10/post-title-click-and-type-to-edit3.html

[Bill Huber]

You know John you could get the new Splinter Stop for only $999.99.:D

Well I am glad they got the thing out, what kind of wood was it?

[Raymond Fries]

Ouch - I hate those things - especially soft wood. Glad all is well now.

Take good care of it...

[Larry Frank]

I hope that it is better as a splinter can really hurt.

And yes, I softwwood splinter is much worse and harder to get out. I had one from some plywood that I ended up using needle nose pliers and a razor knife. That was a lot of years ago. I am paranoid now about infections about such things as I have some implants and they make me take antibiotics to even go to the dentist.

[Lee Koepke]

Well, I consider myself lucky then ... I had a good sized one on my left hand, me being left handed had to rely on LOML to extract it. I am sure she inflicted the pain intentionally!!!

[John Coloccia]

It was just comical. My wife and I were laughing as she brought out more and more stuff, and then announced that an x-ray was in order. LOL.

[Lee Koepke]

Please come up with a different story for your guy friends ... a simple splinter is just embarrassing !!!!! hahahahahahahha

[Jeff Dorlan]

As several others have said, that could be quite serious. Infections can come out of no where and cause unimaginable damage. I heard of a guy who had a simple blemish on his backside...he woke up a few days later and had to be rushed to the ER. His entire mid-section was black. It turned out to be a life-threatening staph infection. He was rushed into surgery and lost his genitals. Doctors said they could actually see the infection spreading as they were operating. Scary stuff...!

It seems trivial, but not always. We're glad you are okay, John. Also, thanks for the reminder that we need to constantly keep an eye on safety.

[Peter Luch]

Hey it's no joke and if you cannot get it then the ER it is!

When I worked in commercial building I got a splinter shoved under my thumbnail and my boss could not get it out. Well off to the ER and the doc had to cut a "window" in my fingernail to get it out. Pretty odd as my fingernail grew out but did the trick and cannot tell today.

Aloha, Pete

[John Coloccia]

I blame Home Depot. I got it on a piece that they had just cut for me on their panel saw. They really should sharpen their blade, oh I don't know, once a decade or so. :rolleyes: They were all out of splinter outs, so I was kind of out of luck there too, not that it would have helped. Shoot, it occurs to me that I could probably sue HD if I really wanted to. What a world we live in! I wonder if anyone has ever really sued them for a splinter? I wouldn't know how to reliably look this up. Maybe one of our lawyer members can look this up. You know they shut down the Dunkin Donuts that was in the HD. I walk in today and it's gone...poof. If anything, I like to sue them to bring Dunkins back.

Anyway, yes yes I'm taking good care of it and I'm taking anti-biotics :) I can't wait to see the statement from my insurance company with the cost. It was quite a production!

[Stephen Tashiro]

There is something very satisfying about seeing a small splinter that buried itself in you weeks ago finally grow out of you and surface surrounded by dead skin. If only, I could predict which splinters are going to behave this way.

[Belinda Barfield]

Sorry about your owie, John. Hope it heals well. Must have been a slow day at the ER, otherwise you would still be waiting.

[John Coloccia]

Sorry about your owie, John. Hope it heals well. Must have been a slow day at the ER, otherwise you would still be waiting.

You know, I seem to get stitches or otherwise end up in the ER for some reason or other about once a year. I don't think I was ever in and out in less than three hours. This time, they called me in about 20 minutes, I waited another 5 or 10 for them to show up and start taking info, and then zip zip zip! Very fast. I was in and out in under two hours. That includes about 15 or 20 minutes of cutting and digging around, another 10 or 15 minutes waiting and taking x-rays, etc. My wife and I were both very surprised to say the least. Maybe it's like any other business...frequent customers get better service :)

[Bob Turkovich]

I blame Home Depot. I got it on a piece that they had just cut for me on their panel saw. They really should sharpen their blade, oh I don't know, once a decade or so. :rolleyes: They were all out of splinter outs, so I was kind of out of luck there too, not that it would have helped. Shoot, it occurs to me that I could probably sue HD if I really wanted to. What a world we live in! I wonder if anyone has ever really sued them for a splinter? I wouldn't know how to reliably look this up. Maybe one of our lawyer members can look this up. You know they shut down the Dunkin Donuts that was in the HD. I walk in today and it's gone...poof. If anything, I like to sue them to bring Dunkins back.

Anyway, yes yes I'm taking good care of it and I'm taking anti-biotics :) I can't wait to see the statement from my insurance company with the cost. It was quite a production!

Hmmm....you sure those are antibiotics, John? Seems to me more like hallucinogenic pain-killers...(e.g., global warming post);)

[Jim Mattheiss]

John - hopefully everything is healing well. At least they didn't call for an amputation saw!

Back in the day I got a splinter - playing golf. I had a golf pencil in my pocket -point UP. I stuck my hand into my pocket and impaled the tip of my thumb on the point of the pencil and broke it off. It was just the little tip of lead-graphite stuck in the middle of the pad on my thumb.

I couldn't get it out and left it in place for several days. We were down the beach and spent a bunch of time in the ocean. The sea water softened the skin and one day I squeezed the finger and it POPPED out. It was festering and probably would have been a disaster had it stayed in there much longer. This was the New Jersey shore - job only konws what was in the water at that time.

I was probably 18 at the time - old enough to know better.

I believe thats why they say "Sometimes - It's better to be lucky than good".

Cheers

Jim

[John Coloccia]

John - hopefully everything is healing well. At least they didn't call for an amputation saw!

Back in the day I got a splinter - playing golf. I had a golf pencil in my pocket -point UP. I stuck my hand into my pocket and impaled the tip of my thumb on the point of the pencil and broke it off. It was just the little tip of lead-graphite stuck in the middle of the pad on my thumb.

I couldn't get it out and left it in place for several days. We were down the beach and spent a bunch of time in the ocean. The sea water softened the skin and one day I squeezed the finger and it POPPED out. It was festering and probably would have been a disaster had it stayed in there much longer. This was the New Jersey shore - job only konws what was in the water at that time.

I was probably 18 at the time - old enough to know better.

I believe thats why they say "Sometimes - It's better to be lucky than good".

Cheers

Jim

When I was in high school, I got a thorn caught under my fingernail. Pretty deep. I couldn't get it out so I figured if I just left it alone, it would come out on its own. No such luck. A day or two later, it was kind of greenish and was hurting so much that I just dug in there with my pocket knife on my way to school and got it out. Very disgusting, but boy did it feel better once it was out! I learned my lesson about leaving stuff like this to fester...literally.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Glad it all worked out John. Splinters can be a PITA. I recently had a thorn from a plant in the yard in my hand - very deep, straight in, and almost impossible to see. *almost*. we could see it but could not get it out no matter how hard we tried. I was *this* close to going to the ER or my PCP, but figured I would give it some time. Monitored it for infection - was lucky there. After about 3 weeks, I dug around again and it seemed like it got pushed out enough for me to get it out. I suppose I should have done the ER route, but......I was a little hesitant, having been there about 4 months ago for - ready? - a small whisker that had gotten stuck in my eye. it must have flow up while I was trimming my beard. I'm guessing it was not more than 1/32"-1/16" or so, but it got stuck in my eyelid and just irritated my eye. With my luck I would have gotten the same ER doctor....

[Ruhi Arslan]

I guess size doesn't matter when it comes to splinters...

I had one several months ago right on the fold of the digit. I couldn't get it out so I decided let my body to reject and push it out. Got encapsulated, enlarged and lost the motion on that digit. I had to interrupt that little darn splinter's plans and remove it eventually. It took some serious digging... (I have the tools and the training to accomplish the task). On the other hand, when I nailed my thumb with a 16ga 2 1/2" nail which entered by the nail and exited by the first digit, against my better judgment and all the training I have in regards to penetrating objects, I yanked it out. In between the two, splinter was worst.

[Steven Green]

I slapped at at splinter that was left in the hole of a plywood cutout I had just done. Hit it too. It went in the fold between my first and second joint on my middle finger. Hurt like crazy and made my wrist feel very odd. I could just see the end of it and tried to pull it out with a pair of tweezers. Nope, took an exacto knife and made a small slit so I could get a better grip on the thing. Working left handed all the time. Still couldn't move it. I went home to my BSN wife and she said, ER I told her no way and to try to get it out. She couldn't do it either. We went to the ER finally and an MD buddy of mine sliced it open further got a grip on it and pulled the thing out. It was five inches long. I still hear about that one from him on occasion. Put me on antibiotics and was seriously considering opening up the wound track all the way to the end to clean it out.