The Story Behind the Balloon-aid:
Okay, I have to start this post by confessing that my husband is always getting after me for my inappropriate use of tools around the house. It is like I have my very own Work Place Health and Safety Officer ~ lucky for me, that he has not yet fired me. My motto is not so much “Safety 1st!”, but more so “Get ‘r done!”. For the most part, I have been seemingly unscathed other than the hidden effects of self-inflicted lead poisoning over the years. (I am much more cautious now and always wear a mask, but not so much in the past. Yikes!!) So, my husband was not surprised when I cut my thumb on Sunday evening preparing supper. Just so you know, those handy little “mandolin” slicers do thumbs as well as carrots! Yep! Took the end of my thumb right off. I wouldn’t really describe his response as sympathetic, more of an “u-hu…”, you know kind of like “I told you so” without using the actual words. He did help me bandage it up and attempted to reassure me by telling me not to bother going to emergency as they wouldn’t be able to do anything and that there was really no need to keep the tip I had so carefully dug out of the carrot bowl. Ugh!
He had to leave for work shortly after it happened and I was supposed to get my son to hockey practise, but thought I would phone Health Links to see what kind of pain killers might help. In the end, I had to lie to the nurse and tell her I would find someone to drive me to emergency. She said they would stitch it or glue it, but I knew that wasn’t happening because the end of my thumb was already in the garbage by that time. I did take her advice and continue to apply pressure in an attempt to stop the bleeding and tried to keep it elevated. The bleeding had slowed, so I packed Shay up and got in the van for hockey, but as soon as I began to move and stopped applying pressure the bleeding started all over again. We came back in and Shay texted the coach to say we wouldn’t be able to make it. I called my cousin, a nurse practitioner and my own personal medical consulted, and she agreed that there was no point in going to the ER. She gave me some suggestions and it seems better today.
Luckily, it is my day off, so I am able to sit around and not do much. I am even able to type using the side of my thumb without too much pain. However, I was in desperate need of a shower and feeling a bit worried about breaking it open again when the wound is still so fresh. Suddenly, I had a wave of brilliance and thought of a possible solution. My first thought was a balloon of a more personal nature, but we don’t have any of those, so I opted for the bag of dollar store balloons I still have from the snow lanterns. It worked! No wet soggy band-aid falling off and I didn’t re-open the wound. Yay! You might just want to add a balloon to your first-aid kit. Although you could use latex gloves, I was really not wanting to wear a whole glove and the elasticity of the balloon neck really helped to seal it off.
My Balloon-aid:
Warning: Although this is a great way to protect your bandaged wounds from getting weight, it also means that you may be back on dish duty!
I am not claiming to be the inventor of this idea, but thought it up all by myself and thus have no one to offer credit to. So, to those like-minded individuals that may have had the same brain wave, prior to mine, I apologize if I have stolen your thunder. You know what they say “Great minds think alike”!
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