If you follow along on Instagram or Facebook, you will have seen this last week, that Adam was injured at work. A small injury, that at the time seemed rather insignificant. Who would have thought, that a splinter could be the cause of surgery and nearly a week off work?
Last Wednesday, while moving timber from the ground floor of a job up to the next floor, Adam felt a splinter go into his thumb. Annoyed at the time, he continued to work, feeling as though he just couldn’t spare the time to do anything about it. He sent me a text just before leaving the site, “I have the mother of all splinters! Prepare for removal!” I rallied the troops and prepared the dining table as a site for excavation. This scene is not unfamiliar to our family, splinter removal is a regular occurrence at the dining table.
I set up the variety of tweezers, pointed, flat and angled, a splinter picker, saline, and a dressing. Half an hour later, the splinter remains firmly wedged in Adams thumb joint, though bits of his skin and tissue were missing. An appointment was made at the local private hospital to see a doctor to have it removed.
The doctor was great, he gave two local anesthetic injections, removed what he could see, a 10mm x 2mm piece of timber, gave Adam antibiotics, a tetanus injection and a referral for scans and xrays in the morning. The morning came, and the timing of the scans, gave the first day off work, unfortunately the scan confirmed that there was still two pieces of timber in place, now we had to trip back to the local GP. The GP, gave two more local shots before attempting to remove the pieces of timber remaining, with no success. A phone call was made to the rooms of a hand specialist and an appointment made for Friday morning, day two off.
Friday came and an early morning trip to the Wesley to see the specialist resulted in surgery being booked for Monday which was to be day 3 off from work. It was thought that the deepest piece was actually quite small and would be easy to remove. On Monday we arrived at the Wesley for Adams 8am admission, he was taken away 30 minutes later, as his surgery was scheduled for 9am.
Self medicating with a glass of wine ?
I waited for 3 of the longest hours I can remember, before finally receiving a call to say he was well and in recovery. I could go and sit with him until he was ready to go home. Those were some very sweet words indeed. When I arrived in his room, Adam was proudly showing me his splinter that the surgeon had kindly kept for us. It was a another large piece, a further 8mm long!
He is recovering well, with little or no pain. Back home, we are still shocked that a splinter of all things has seen the need for surgery and with today included a total of 4 days off work. It just goes to show, that there is potential for anything to go wrong and even the seemingly small things, can cause great inconvenience.
Have you ever had a small thing cause a large disruption? Splinters a problem in your home?
Nicole xxx
Wow! That was one doozy of a splinter!
Who’d have thought a splinter could be that lethal!
Oh my gosh! What a saga! I hope he is feeling better and his thumb is healing well.
Wow! What a lot of trouble that splinter/s caused! I hope he recovers well now. Maybe he should start wearing work gloves! ? x
Oh wow what a small thing and lots of effort. Goes to show how little you can plan sometimes.
So true Vanessa!
Oh my god… the never-ending splinter! It’s amazing isn’t it that something so tiny can have such an impact!
It has been such a surprise!
Gah! That’s horrible! Poor Adam.
It’s crazy!
Ouch! That was one big splinter!!
Crazy! x
OMG that sure escalated quickly! I’m sure that surgery was the last thing on your mind when it happened. Glad it all went well, and hope he’s back on his feet soon!
So, so true, not at all what was expected! He’s back to work today, all is well again. x
I am forwarding this to my husband so he will never complain about a splinter ever again!
YES! xx
Ha! Wow, a splinter surgery huh! Who knew!
I know! I still can’t believe it. Four stitches as well!!
Glad it’s all out!
My husband once got a splinter in the top of his thigh whilst working under our very old home. We didn’t treat it immediately and he ended up with blood poisoning, very, very sick. He still has the scar from it today.
It’s amazing how dangerous the little things can be!
Oh no what a nightmare glad to hear that he is on the mend now though
Thanks Vicki, he’s back to work today. xx
Oh boy, that is terrible! Who would have thought one splinte could cause so much trouble! Hubby is also home this week, with tonsillitis….I kept telling him it was man flu and now I am feeling bad! Lucky these men have us lovely ladies to look after them! ?
You’re right, very lucky men indeed. I do hope your hubby recovers quickly. xx
No, can’t say we’ve ever had anything major develop out of something major like this!
Oh my goodness! That would have been so so painful. I’m glad he’s feeling better now xx
I didn’t realise splinters could be so deep and hard to retrieve. That’s a story and a half! And puts you behind with current projects. I hope Adam heals quickly and you can catch up on work. Unfortunately life doesn’t stop when you’re forced to because of an unforeseen injury. Xxxx
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