Part 1
September 16, 2011
i want to get this out before the details fade and while the details are vibrant on oxycodon.
over a labor day climbing trip i managed to punch a hole in my palm with a big impact fall while hiking.
the key details is that the wound was deep — I must have landed on a sharp rock — and that it stopped bleeding fast. these are ingredients for infection.
so i watched my cut for any signs. apart from forming into an ugly puncture-bruise, the thing was fine. I climbing in the gym, I felt great, etc etc.
cut to seven days later — saturday night — I wake up repeatedly from pain in my hand. things have suddenly gotten a lot worse: I notice new redness, its quite painful. As this is a weekend and the student health center is closed, I go to an “Urgent Care” clinic as directed by Stanford insurance. Here, they bide their time, but eventually open it up, eventually take an x-ray, eventually get me some pain medication, finally get me antibiotic. At the emotional high point of the story, my right hand is being tightly bandaged to a hefty splint, my left hand is finally poked with an IV needle, and I burst out crying with no palms free to hide my face or wipe tears. next, to distill my entire experience at the clinic into one moment, one nurse asks the other: “where are the tissues? do we have any facial tissue in this room?” the second replies: “um.. no, no.. I think we are all out, remember?” and I continue bawling, tears unhindered. preceding this moment was a very long hour during which a comedy tag-team of nurses each took a turn at briefly entering my room, makeing a statement/question like: so you got your pain meds already?, and then leveing confused.
finally, i’ve had the cocktails slipped into my vein and i’m sent home. by this time my hand and arm are both bloated, red enormous. what started as a red lick at my wrist has crawled to my elbow, leaving an obvious trail. i take a lot of Vicodin that night. everything is worse in the morning.
To Be Continues In: Part 2
(Spoiler: the heroine lives to tell the tale.)
