It's only a flesh wound!

Well last night was... something. They stress safety at FedEx a lot. This hadn't been a problem for me until last night when I made a kind of stupid mistake. We were unloading one of the canisters (they're about 12 feet square) and were almost done with it. Since it's a good distance from the back of the canister to the conveyor belt, it's not uncommon to toss boxes to someone closer. So I was catching boxes for this guy and dropped one, so my natural instinct was to bend down to get it. The guy threw another box and it hit me on the head. Then my head felt wet and I saw blood pouring down.

I was kind of in a state of shock. I have never had a head wound before, but since there are a lot of blood vessels up there, even the smallest cut can bleed a lot. My team leader and manager rushed to help me, of course, and got pressure and ice on it to stop the bleeding. I started praying for peace, because all these scenarios were going through my mind. I don't know what's a “lot” of blood, but this sure was more than I'd ever seen. Plus one of the first things I thought was “holy crap, I don't even have insurance.” I hadn't thought about worker's comp, which did take care of it. I've never had to use it, so I just didn't think of that. Thankfully I didn't pass out, and I was fully conscious of where I was and everything like that. God did give me peace as I could have easily freaked out, but didn't. So we walked over to security, where they rode us over to St. Vincent's Occupational Health.

After filling in the paperwork the doctor came in and took a look at it. He was... interesting. A bit different manner than one might expect from a doctor. He asked how it happened of course, and I told him. He said something like, “I didn't think they threw boxes, I thought they were pretty strict about that at FedEx.” I'm thinking “Gee, thanks. Trying to make me feel bad?” I already felt pretty stupid, honestly, since I should have just told the guy to hold on while I got the other box. Truth be told, throwing boxes to each other is not uncommon or against the rules. It's throwing boxes onto the belt with a lot of “air” that is a no-no.

So then I ask the doctor if he's going to use staples or stitches. I've never had staples, just stitches one time. Honestly stitches sound better than staples. Heh heh. He tells me staples are pretty easy and probably quicker. Then he opens a drawer or two... then a couple cabinets. Finally he's looked in every drawer and cabinet in the room, and tells me he can't find the stapler. That's reassuring! He goes to check with the nurse, but apparently she's in the darkroom. So instead of waiting on her, he comes back and decides to do stitches instead. “Fine, whatever, let's just get this done.”, I think.

Now the cut is towards the back of my head, so thankfully I didn't have to see needles or anything else. He gets all prepared and starts giving me the anashthetic shots. After like the second one I comment “I'm glad this is at a place where I can't see what you're doing, I hate needles.” He tells me assuringly, “It's a real small needle, the smallest one I could find. See?”, as he then holds it in front of my face. Thanks, Mister. It was small, but I still hate seeing them, especially when there's a bit of my own blood on it.

Otherwise it was pretty uneventful. I only got 4 stitches. He had me do all the coordination tests to make sure I was OK, and thankfully I was. The only other “fun” surprise was that after I head out into the waiting room, ready to leave, the nurse tells me, “We've arranged for a tetanus shot since you're right on the edge.” (The last time I had one was in '95; they're good for 10 years) I thought maybe she meant in a couple days when I go back, but no, she meant right then. So I head back in and she gives me the shot. It was one of the best shots I've ever received, actually, barely hurt at all. Which was good, because I'd had about enough pain for the evening.