Car Maintenance and Injury

While replacing the starter on my car, a bolt came loose (finally) and I gashed my right thumb on metal on the bottom of the engine. One look was enough to tell me that I would have to have stitches. The father-in-law called the bride and she and the daughter came back to find me still working on the car. I wanted to finish putting on the new starter. All was going well, until I bumped my thumb again and it really began to hurt.

We left the daughter with the in-laws and headed out to find an urgent care or an Emergency Room. Keep in mind, I had watched the premiere episode of 30 Days on FX back on 6/15/2005 and I'm thinking that even with insurance, that I'm going to get a bill for $500 for just walking in the ER. As it was, we paid our co-pay and that took care of everything. Yeah insurance! But I still think there should be some form of socialized medicine.

I ended up with 4 and stitches and the nickname "FrankenThumb" from a friend at work. The Novacain hurt more than anything else.

Looking back, I should have put some ice on it to help with the brusing and swelling. Of course, mechanics gloves or just heavy work gloves would have prevented it.

(Written on 7/14/2005; back-dated to 6/28/2005)
(Minor edit on 9/8/2005)