One you augment with duct tape.

Paul

It looks much worse than it is. I was holding an object in my left hand and cutting towards it with the force vector of the the knife pointed directly at my left hand. I knew full well that I was doing it 'wrong', and if I wasn't careful and controlled the knife well, I would stab my hand. I have knowingly done MANY things 'wrong' in my life. Most of them turn out just fine. In REAL life, (as opposed to nanny-state OSHA life), sometimes you have to do things 'wrong'. You HONESTLY assess the risk and if the cost/benefit ratio is right, you take the calculated risk. (HONESTLY assessing the risk means not lying to yourself because you're too lazy to do it right.) Again, most of the time things work out fine. When they don't, like this time, you pay the price. In this case, it was worth it. The cut in my palm would hardly have needed ANY bandage, let along this monstrosity, if it weren't for the blood thinner I have to take. As it was, I had to put this thing on to the stem the bleeding so I didn't get blood all over my work-pieces and bench. I'd do 'it' - cut toward myself - again if necessary. That's how REAL LIFE works.

Paul

Warfarin sodium changes everything involving trauma to the body.
From impacts and bruising to stemming the flow of a bloody nose, to taming the flow from lacerations.


Take care of that one.  I hate it when I get one there.  I always seem to pull them back open repeatedly before they finally heal.

I use the same procedure!

Actually, I don't take warfarin or any of its derivatives. I take clopidogrel or xarelto, both of which have much fewer adverse side effects, and I take the lowest dose prescribed. Still, prior to taking these drugs you had to hit me with a baseball bat to give me a bruise. Now I bruise if you look at me cross-eyed. In fact, when I first started with the clopidogrel, I could pinch my arm and make a bruise. That doesn't work any more.

As a result of the cardiac stents, I have to take the blood thinner, anti-cholesterol statin, and blood pressure lowering drugs. I resisted the cholesterol and BP meds for a LONG time. Both my cholesterol and BP values were right on the 'edge' of the value needing medication. (That is unless you WANT to prescribe drugs, which it seems most doctors do today!) However, after "the event", as 'they' call it, I didn't feel it was the appropriate time to argue about drugs, AND they prescribed them in the lowest possible doses. They all 'worked'. Cholesterol immediately went WAY down. BP immediately went down significantly. And of course, I started bleeding like the proverbial 'stuck pig'. However, there were some positive "side-effects". All of my life I've suffered from bloody noses.  When I was a kid, I was taken to the emergency room more than once to get the bleeding stopped. Prior to the stents, I had a nose-bleed at least twice a week. Nothing 'serious', but a nose-bleed nonetheless. Since starting the drugs, I HAVE NOT HAD ONE - NOT ONE - NOSE-BLEED! and it's been a year and a half! In my opinion, that's a POSITIVE side-effect! I find that 'unintended consequence' quite ironic. Prior to the meds, I get multiple nose-BLEEDS weekly. I start taking drugs that facilitate BLEEDING, and the nose-bleeds STOP! That's just plain weird.

Anyway, the cut is right in that major crease in the heel of the hand, so as you pointed out, it will take a while to heal. In the mean time, I have to keep it covered.

Paul

I am kind of surprised by that.  Usually, the presence of foreign bodies placed in the vascular system precludes the use of anything other than warfarin.  Things like heart valves, stents or artificial arteries etc.
I was given the impression by the specialists at OHSU that drugs like Clopidrogel were only for prevention of recurrence of DVT when artificial pieces/parts weren't involved.

I can't address those points with any specific knowledge. However, I have read a great deal about stents, and there have been HUGE changes in them in the past 20 years. Early ones caused lots of problems. New ones are made of different material and most importantly, have a special coating that causes the lining of the artery to 'grow over' the stent, essentially embedding the stent in the artery wall. (They're called "DESs" - drug-eluting stents.) This may have something to do with what you were  told.

Paul

Quote from: gitano;154848I can't address those points with any specific knowledge. However, I have read a great deal about stents, and there have been HUGE changes in them in the past 20 years. Early ones caused lots of problems. New ones are made of different material and most importantly, have a special coating that causes the lining of the artery to 'grow over' the stent, essentially embedding the stent in the artery wall. (They're called "DESs" - drug-eluting stents.) This may have something to do with what you were  told.

Paul

Good to know.
 Well, the stent I was referring to was installed in 2016.  It was probably different than the typical one though, as it was used to plug/cover a dissection in the descending aorta.  From the inside.

It's gone now though, as the entire aorta has been replaced with an artificial Dacron version.

"dissection of the descending aorta" - YIKES!:eek:

Mortality rate is high in those!

Paul

Quote from: gitano;154850"dissection of the descending aorta" - YIKES!:eek:

Mortality rate is high in those!

Paul

There were 3 LARGE aneurysms.
One at the Aortic root (atop the heart).
One just below the aortic arch on the descending side.
And one below the ribcage where the renal arteries and a number of others branch off.


The one in the upper portion of the descending aorta is the one that tore.
That necessitated a helicopter flight to OHSU, and 2 weeks in the cardiac ICU.


Yeah, mortality rate for that one is high.
If you know anyone with Marfans Syndrome, they can explain how and why this happens.
We were very fortunate.

Paul, I did about the same thing when I was around 14 years old but I cut the inside of my wrist all the way across. I could see  the ends of the blood vessels before the blood started squirting. Grandpa laced  it back together with a big C shaped needle & wool yarn I sprinkled alum on it & smeared tt with stinking black salve he made from something. No tendons were cut Nothing but a scar across my wrist left from it.

I know nothing about stents except the one the doctor put in my "widowmaker" artery close to my heart. He took me off clopidogrel & put me on two other med's. So far, so good but I have low energy now. Still bleed a lot even from a little briar puncture or scratch. ......Paul H