Ouch!

Last weekend I was working in the yard and decided to cut back the 3 tall grassy plants we have hiding the utility cabinets in our front yard. They had grown to about 7' tall and would lay down on the lawn whenever it rained. It was getting hard to mow the area, so I thought it would be good to do the normal fall pruning a little early this year.

I had a plan to make the task go a little smoother. I wrapped twine around all three plants and cinched it up tight. My thought was that I could then cut the plants off at the bottom and they would be bundled and ready for the trash man. I plugged in my electric shears and started cutting the 3 plants. It was going well until I completely cut through all the grassy blades of the first plant. That allowed the entire bundle to compress further and introduced slack into the bundle.

The twine sagged down close to my shears. I reached down to pull the twine back up, but stupidly did not stop cutting thorough the next plant. A finger on my left hand found its way into the business part of the electric shears. My first thought was that I had cut my finger off. I immediately applied pressure to a couple of deep cuts. After a few moments I ventured a look at the damage. I was able to peer deeper into my body than I had ever before. The cut was laying open, flapping in the breeze, and gushing blood.

More direct pressure was applied and I headed into the house for some first aid. Terri helped me get it clean and for the most part, we stopped the bleeding. We taped and bandaged the area tightly. I then went out to finish the job and cut the grass. It's like I always told my daughters when they would get a scrap - "Rub some dirt on it and get back out there." I was walking the talk.

The injury is affecting me more at work than anywhere else. I work in front of a keyboard. I have found that with one finger out of action, I no longer type like I could. The injury is to a finger on my left hand. I would normally type with all 4 fingers on my left and right hands, but have not been able to adjust to only 3 fingers ready for service on the left hand. It's funny how difficult it is to adjust to an 8 finger task using only 7, so I am reduced to typing using 1 finger on each hand.

So do you want to see my finger?

Really?

Okay, here it is: