I cut my finger tightening the lawn mower blade after running into an unforseen hidden stump in the grass that loosened the blade which was now rattling back and forth as it turned. I had a work glove on the hand holding the blade but neglected to glove the hand holding the wrench. I thought i could grip it better without. Well the wrench slipped off the nut and the blade went into my middle finger on the wrench holding hand. I considered myself very lucky that the mower had run into many rocks, branches, and stumps before running into my finger because it had dulled the blade considerably over the years and it wasnt as sharp as it could have been. Immediately after i did this i checked my finger for blood and did not see any so i thought maybe i had gotten lucky and missed all my digits when the thing swung round. However upon second glance, there was a new dent in my middle finger. Inside the dent i could see layers of skin that looked like thin rice paper or phyllo dough stacked on top of one another. All the thin little layers were just stacked there, chilling. I was fascinated with the sight but then i thought maybe i needed those layers and perhaps they should be chilling smooshed back together rather than apart where i could see them. When i went to the house for a band aid, thats when the little cavity began to bleed. Not wanting to fuss with cleaning it just yet, i wrapped the band aid around the finger and left it tight until i figured it was done doing its thing. When i removed the band aid the bleeding was done and i had a little dent in my finger where you could look in and see the sliced rice paper layers of skin. It was not something that needed stitches and i could still bend my finger all the way so i considered it a non emergent matter and decided to just keep it clean and wait for it to close. Though i could bend my knuckle, every time i did it would pull the two sides of the cut apart and thwart any gluing together of the area that was trying to happen. So, i got some of that foam medical tape and a cotton ball out of the first aid kit and made my own band aid that stretched over the knuckle to prevent it from bending. I would keep the finger straight until the cut closed so that i wouldnt constantly be undoing the progress. I abandoned band aids after hour 2 for the reason that you cant buy any without antiseptic cream on them these days. The problem is, bacteria likes moisture and scabs dont. If you want a cut to scab up, you need to let it dry. If you want bacteria to congregate, go ahead and keep an area perpetually wet and sticky. Everyone thinks that antiseptic cream or gel is the way to go but in my experience it is not. Every time ive put and kept a gelled band aid on, the injury in question has gotten infected. Clean it, dry it, leave it: you’ll have better results. I got my hands on some saline solution and cleaned it well while it was still open. The cotton ball was dry, not sticky, so i unwound it until it was a flat strip and then just fashioned my own gel free band aid from cotton and foam tape. The cotton did dry into the cut once and i had to pull it out but it only happened once and i had no trouble with it after that. The closing began at the corners with the middle bit still open until the whole thing scabbed over. When i had a nice scab i breathed a sigh of relief. Fixed it.
Over time a top layer of papery dead skin began to show itself. I trimmed it up with nail clippers. Beneath that was new pink shiny skin. The cut healed smooth so that all that was left was a pink line across my finger. The side project was over. My finger was healed. I tested it out by digging a hole for a tree with the metal stick and shovel. The new skin held up just as if it had always been there. My cut was officially just a memory. Next time i will wear gloves on both hands.
