Felt kinda silly this morning as I went to er for a splinter in the hand from treated lumber. Doc said it must have hit a nerve ending and was straight in. He gave four shots each time shaking his head it wasnt numb enough. Happened yesterday and had trouble sleeping from the pain and had swelled considerably. Doc thought that was from the chemical in the 4×4 tr. Also got a techna shot.
40 yrs at this and this is the first time I havent been able to retrieve a splinter. Dw tried last night and sent be lunging against the back of the chair. Finally got sick from repeated tries and had to stop. Sounds pretty stupid I know. Ever happened to you?
Tim
Replies
I've had a thorn in my foot for a year and a half -- finally got it all out, I **think**. Was tilling the garden and it got in my shoe. Could feel it but it felt like a small pebble, so I didn't stop and take it out. Musta doubled over 5-6 times as it went in and broke off, judging from how much I've dug out.
No electrons were harmed in the making of this post.
If it was ACQ, then I'm right there with ya. Swells up every time. Good luck.
Who heard the Big Bang?
The Ironclad and CLC "framers" gloves I wear, don`t last nearly long enough.....but the idea of an ER visit because of a splinter will keep me purchasing them.
Lemme get this straight....
YOU BANNED REZ?!?!
Holy bagels and lox Batman!
Those CLC gloves have a lifetime warranty. We have guys that come in the store and trade their old pair in for a new pair on a monthy basis.
(The original pair they purchased like 2 years ago...) I didn't get a splinter, I got a 3/16" x 1" chunk of the old PT in the back of my calf from a raised flower bed while I was mowing the lawn. Bob made me lie on the bed and he performed surgery with a steak knife.
Nasty scar!
Yer sh!ttin` me?!
This I gotta look into.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
I was hand planing a board once, and brushed my forearm on a 2x4 sitting close by, hard enough to put a splinter in. Went in like a needle, so there wasn't anything more than small puncture. Couldn't get it out, so I went to the Dr's office the next day. Numbed it and started poking around until they found it. Measured it out of curiosity, about 1" long. I could only try so much before I started feeling queasy, so I finally gave up and let the pros do it.
Guess that was one DIY project over my head...
had a similar experience last spring
got a splinter in a finger, and after a couple of days of digging at it, and it starting to get infected, went to the local ER.
they first took x-rays, and couldn't see anything. I knew something was in there, so the doc said he could give me a local, make a small incision, and "feel around" for it.
After poking around a bit, he felt something, and pulled out the splinter.
He seemed surprised to find something; like I really needed the attention!
but the finger felt better almost immediately. And it was only the second time in 30 years I've had to resort to seeing a doc about a splinter
I ran a splinter under my thumbnail one time, a big one that went all the way to the base. It didn't hurt all that bad but there was no way I could dig it out myself, so I went to the ER.
It was on a Saturday night, and the closest hospital is right in the middle of the 'hood so they're usually pretty busy with gunshot wounds and that sort of thing on the weekends. I figured they would be pretty jaded by what they normally have to deal with in a typical evening, but when I held up my thumb with the big hunk of wood sticking out of it, the doctor was totally grossed out. It was pretty funny.
That treated stuff or cedar hurts. I shoved a 2 1/2" splinter of oak through my palm as I pulled my hand back across this board. It was about the size of a toothpick, it didn't hurt that much. I couldn't close my hand because it ran through those fold lines in your palm that felt weird. I was able to pull it out with some pliers, now coming out that hurt.
I once was doing a tricky bevel cut on my table saw. It was a trim piece made of semi-rough pine. The piece kicked back, my first and only time, and my life flashed before my eyes. As I started checking to see if my eyes were in tact and if all the digits still felt attached I had a very warm sensation in one of my fingers. When the kickback happened my reaction must have been pretty good as I was able to clear my hands and body from the ejection area. Unfortunatly the index finger on my left hand didn't get out of the way quick enough and road the edge of the wood as it shot past. So I'm looking at my nail wondering why it now looks like my truck when the hood is open. A 2mm diameter 2 inch splinter went through the the palm side of my finger about 5/8" in. Popped the nail right off. I was pretty suprised that there was very little blood at all.
Went inside and told my wife I was going to go to the ER and she was like "let me look at it, I can pull it out." She was ready to go to the ER quicker than I was. At the ER the Dr. told me it would be less painfill to just pull it out than all the shots it would take to numb it up. RIGHT. After 3 tries I figured it would be less painfull if I passed out. The Dr. realized my intentions and finally gave up on his plan. The Dr removed everything and sent me on my way. After a month and a half the would still wasn't healed and it was still sore. I started digging around in it and wouldn't you know it, I pulled a small chunk of wood out. Wound healed right u after that.
Had a bizarre one just the other day. Got about a 2 1/2 long splinter, not too deep really but straight across my palm. The only way I could dig it out, and keep it from burying itself deeper was to keep my hand stretched waaay open while I dug for it. That was fun, but if I relaxed the hand even minutely, I could feel it pushing in deeper. Lovely...
PaulB
i'm suprise Jeff buck isn't here yet to advise us on self-surgical techniques! I usually get the sharp knife out and take care of it myself.
But one time, my wedding ring finger got swollen suddenly right at the knuckle. no visible penetrations at all, but I couldn't bend it and the way it was going for two days, in one more, the circulation would be cut off and the finger would start turning black so I went in...
Doc said he knew right off what was going on. He figured an old sliver was liodged in there irritating the cartilage in the joint. Whatecver...
So he yanks the starter cord on his scalpel and dives in. Sure enough, there was not a sliver, but one of those ceramic crystals that make up the surface of asphalt shingles. You know how sharp some of them are...somehow, it had worked its way in when I wasn't looking and the skin had healed over it. The joint was doing something like trying to make a pearl around it so doc trimmed tjhat down some too. It was interesting to watch.
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Jeff huh?
Actually Im expecting Gunner . Been waiting on him all day to tell me how I could have performed surgery. Do I have that mixed up with Jeff? I thought Gunner was the surgeon extranordanaire[I screwed that up] .
Figgured Junkhoud would come along and say , Ah, that aint nuthin , I taped a 2x4 to my broken leg after sittin it and it would have been perfect if the duct tape would have held.
Ive been feeling pretty stupid going to ER but as someone said they got quesy or somthin like that. I passed that point because DW wouldnt quit. Belive me "I" would have quit! I got very sick and just got up and walked away. Shes done some tough ones and thinks she could have got that one to if I had not been a wimp. She called my cell phone this morning and was amazed I was sitting in ER. Oh well.
Today after the drugs wore off I went to work and Im thinking no one will see my naked hands again. I dont know how many pair of gloves I loaded in the truck of different kinds. I guess Ill go through that for a while yet. I was looking at wood all day before I reached for it even with gloves on. Some of that will have to pass . <G>
The doc said the good thing about it was that he would rather see me with his problem in ER than what he had been treating me for and I had to agree .
Tim
I thought Gunner was the surgeon extranordanaire
I am. Jeff cheats and uses super glue. I have actualy done my own stitches. It doesn't hurt as bad as you think.
http://bootliquor.com/
It doesn't hurt as bad as you think.
LOL
I have actualy done my own stitches.
You oughta pick up one of those skin staplers for your toolbox if you're gonna do that. Heck of a lot easier than theading a needle with one hand....
I ran the back of my finger across the blade on my circ one time (don't ask how; too dumb to be recounted) and wound up with four stitches. Coulda been worse. But I was shipping out the next day for a 30-day hitch as Chief Mate on a tug with a new crew. Doc in the ER had told me to come back in ten days to get the stitches pulled; I told him, Um, not possible. He said, Do Whatcha Gotta Do but get them stitches out after 10 days or you'll be sorry....
275# tough-as-nails 25-yr veteran Able seaman on my watch the night I had to pull those stitches out; so we're tied up to a mooring bouy waiting on the tide to bring the barge up the Connecticut River, and I say, let's do it. I pull out my rigging knife, wave the blade through the flame of my Zippo and start trying to saw through that damned synthetic catgut the surgeon used. It kept moving around and I couldn't get a purchase on it with the knife, so I told the AB to pull on the tail of the stitch with a pair of pliers while I cut it.
He passed out cold right there on the galley floor....
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
I've gotten much more careful around sharp instruments as I've gotten older. (Well Buck will argue about that.) So I don't really need to invest in one. But in my younger days I would have snatched one right up.
I've only paid to have stitches removed after surgery, They have to do the follow up anyway so what the heck? I always use finger nail clippers. Cut em by the knot and then yank em out. No biggie. I've never tried it on a tug rocking and rolling though. That could add a little tension to it.
http://bootliquor.com/
Wasn't rocking and rolling much; we were hanging out in a pretty sheltered spot. Worst part of the job was waking up 275# of deckhand...who kept sitting up when I slapped him a couple of times, taking a fresh look at the finger, and passing right out all over again....
I finally left him there until I had the stitches pulled out (used my teeth to pull and sawed through the catgut by feel) and the finger wrapped up again. Then I poured a mug of water over him and hollered "WE'RE SINKING! TO THE LIFEBOATS!!!"
Woulda been funnier if I hadn't a woke up the Captain hollering so loud. (Oooooooo....)
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
I've never put my own stitches in, but I've -always- pulled them myself.Reeeaaal easy when you do it the right way.Soak em in hot water for about 10 minutes. Then use fingernail clippers to cut them right next to the knot. Grab the knot betwixt yer fingernails and pull.Do it right, and you don't even feel it.
"Other than telling us how to live, think, marry, pray, vote, invest, educate our children and now, die, I think the Republicans have done a fine job of getting government out of our personal lives" -Craig Carter.
Actually, if you were to soak the area in ice water just before pulling, it would tend to numb the surrounding nerves a bit. But in truth, as you say, pulling stitches--if done at the right stage of healing, of course--shouldn't be any more painful (and often less) than yanking out an easy splinter. What hurts is if there is any dried blood stuck to the catgut which pulls on the wound edges when you try to withdraw it through the hole. That's why the hot-water soak is a good idea to do first...followed by a gentle scrubbing of the stitches to brush off any scabs.
It isn't a bad idea at all, BTW, to add some disinfectant to the soaking and scrubbing water. No point in letting any gnarly little microbes hanging out on the exterior surface of the catgut hitchhike their way into the wound....
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
years ago, my wife volunteered to pull some stitches I had on my wrist. Everything was going well; the threads were cut, and she started pulling.
Unfortunately, she grabbed the wrong end of the thread, and was trying to pull the knotted end thru.
That was the end of her surgical career; at least as far as I'm involved.
she grabbed the wrong end of the thread, and was trying to pull the knotted end thru.
Ouchie!
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
ANother good practice is to rotate the stitches a little every once in awhile. It keeps them loose so you don't get that scab tear whne you pull them.
http://bootliquor.com/
Like rotate yer tires? back to front? who puts em back in when ya rotate them? (G) Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"I don't think it's funny no more" Nick Lowe.
Don't that cause scar tisssue?
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Chicks dig scars.
http://bootliquor.com/
Years ago when I was framing cookie cutter houses in Pa. We were setting trusses and sheathing a colonial. Trusses set, braced and sheathing began when lunch time rolled around.
My buddy Bill was up at the ridge and decided to scoot -slide the 4/12 pitch trusses down to the roach coach..he made it half way when all of a sudden he squealed like a pig.
Seems he impaled his buttocks on a BIG split of yeller pine..he was stuck. I went and used a handsaw to cut the offending spear ( not an easy task).
After a visit to the liqour store for whiskey, we went to the ER..the docs started to extract it..it was no lie as big as a carpenters pencil and very pointed...gawd that hadda hurt. Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"I don't think it's funny no more" Nick Lowe.
Was the whiskey to help him get over the embarrassment?
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
No, to settle my nerves from seeing his predicament! Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"I don't think it's funny no more" Nick Lowe.
No, to settle my nerves from seeing his predicament!
LOL.
Went to get whiskey first before ER .
Thats funny right there I dont care who ya are! Roar.
Geter done!
Tim
splinters can be more trouble then you think - particularly from treated wood - starts as a little "mark" then all of a sudden there's a red line from the injury site traveling "up" towards your heart and the docs are talking IV antibiotics, hospital stays and maybe the surgeon doing a little "work" - oh, and then there's that tetanus thing
When I was a student I lived in the attic of a very old house. The floor was rough planking with lots of splinters sticking up. I stupidly walked thru in bare feet one evening and got a heinous splinter jammed way into the webbing next to my big toe. I couldn't do anything about it, it hurt so much all I could do was holler. A couple of my housemates held me down and pulled it out.
You have webbed feet? Time to move to a drier locale? (G) Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"I don't think it's funny no more" Nick Lowe.
Yer hot tonight! Can I play straight man for ya?
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
LOL..I mighta been hot, but a bright flame don't last long..was asleep by 930. Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"I don't think it's funny no more" Nick Lowe.
we nodded out together
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I first started construction while working at a HVAC supply house. While there I was building an addition (some offices & a second floor conference room). Part of this job required moving a doorway in one of the existing offices. As I pulled an old and very dry piece of paneling off the wall I ran my hand down the edge.
I ended up with about an 1.25" splinter right under my thumbnail. It was in far enough that I could see it but could not dig it out.
Amazing what will freak out a counter full of contractors.
Ok, what's a good cure for a queasy stomach ?I know. Probably try eating before you read a thread like this one next time. LOLGotta go eat.
"Other than telling us how to live, think, marry, pray, vote, invest, educate our children and now, die, I think the Republicans have done a fine job of getting government out of our personal lives" -Craig Carter.
Doing some work for my nephew this summer, and somehow jammed a needle-size splinter under my fingernail, all the way to the moon (isn't that what the white arc is called?). Anyway, i took one look and decided I couldn't do it, so I took a pair of tweezers and went and found him by the pool. He's a family doc, and the first thing he says is "These are the wrong kind of tweezers for this". Fine, now just pull it out, ok?
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt