Carrot Flute gone wrong

First there was the text from Andi yesterday, inviting me to help out on a "fun" school project for Keegan. It was when I read her comment, "Nothing can go wrong." that I should have felt some sense of doom. But, I didn't.

So today I found myself trying to help Keegan make a flute out of a carrot...and that's when the day took a decidedly bad turn. Andi, Keegan and I watched multiple videos on how to make a carrot recorder. We read helpful hints and looked at picture tutorials. We made our way through a large bag of carrots AND a zucchini, but despite our best efforts, no recognizable sounds came from our veggies. Unless you count the sound of disgust and defeat.

It was frustrating. Keegan and I discussed trying to make one out of wood just to see if it could actually be done as the videos showed. He asked if I had the right wood and I went off to check. I found a 2 inch thick dowel rod, which should have been perfect. I was just going to make the first cut to start it for him and let him do the rest with hand tools.

It was a decent plan that went way wrong. As I made the cut, on a saw I had used hundreds of times, the saw threw the wood out and it smashed into my hand. Immediately, there was blood and a lot of it. I didn't think I had cut my finger, but I just grabbed it tight and headed for the house, leaving an easy to follow trail of blood behind me.

*Leaving out gruesome details* By the time I actually look at it about 2 minutes later, it is badly bruised. There is a cut down the side of my finger, but obviously not by the saw, but just from the wood hitting it. A few hours pass and I can't get it to stop bleeding while the pain remained very intense. I decide to go get it checked out.

I call my doctor, who told me to go to the ER, after I told him I was pretty certain my finger was broken and it may need stitches. I went to the Urgent Care (where you jump right to the front of the line when you have uncontrolled bleeding). In a few minutes, I had x-rays which showed a comminuted fracture... which means the bone is broken in three or more pieces. In my case, about 10 pieces. Which certainly explained the level of pain I was experiencing. The doctor at the Urgent Care said I would need to go to an ER or Ortho Urgent Care to get stitched up.

Vicki comes to pick me up to take me to the ortho urgent care. The doctor there agreed with Dr. #1 and after a lovely nerve blocking injection, the stitching commenced. After stitching the side of my finger, he put some stitches in a big X over my entire fingernail to try and compress the nail and get the bleeding to stop that was coming from under the nail.

I have an appointment with a hand doctor on Monday and I will be sporting a lovely finger splint on my middle finger (naturally) for awhile.

As for the carrot flute, it was scrapped and Keegan made a harp out of a cardboard box.