Yuck-weird ER stories

[dakcp2001]

I accidentally cut my thumb pretty bad last night on a can. It is pretty deep and prob could use a few stitches, but I have no health insurance at the moment so I had to butterfly bandaid it myself with my left hand (I am a righty). It looks awesome. So annoyed. I am feeling grateful that I had a tetanus shot last year. I am also thankful that I do not have to explain to the er that I nearly cut my thumb in half on a can of beans. lol. How ridiculous.


Ever have to tell the ER something ridiculous? I have heard a few good ones in my day.

 

[paintnolish]

A few weeks ago, we arrived home late and were locked out- my house key had fallen off my keychain. I told dh one window was not locked but had been painted shut for 50 years. When I turned around to look for the key in the car, dh attempted to open the window- his hands went right through it. He got cut up pretty badly. We didn't have any towels or anything, since we were locked out, so I attempted to give him a feminine product from my purse. He needed more, so he went to the ER with a pair of cotton Victoria's Secret panties around one hand and a pair of exercise pants around the other hand/arm. I kept telling the staff that both items were clean! I swear! Anyway, dh got his wounds irrigated and dressed- no stitches. Th worst cuts were on his pinkies but were on angle so the skin was laying closed. He had to big, banaged pinkies!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Can you go to urgent care? It won't be cheap...about $100 for the office visit plus the cost of suturing. I had a wound scar on my hand from a freak thing while washing a glass. It took a long while to heal as my parents wouldn't take me in. Instead of a "line scar", the scar is a quarter of an inch wide. Not a big deal now---but since it was much deeper than a scrape---it had difficulty scabbing and kept opening for about 2 weeks. School nurse said it should have been butterflied, but by the time I saw her...she said it was too late to go and have it done.

If yours is quite deep--the butterfly may not be enough. I used them on a cut my dd had once. Very neat they are available OTC.
ETA: I was washing a glass and out my hand in it no problem...but then it busted. The reason--I was washing it in hot water and glass expands when heated...so it was just enough for me to put my whole hand in and it didn't occur to me to be a potential problem. When I pulled it from
under the faucet into the much cooler air..I felt the glass slightly squeeze my hand (contracting) and then it suddenly busted and a shard of glass sliced the top of my right hand. As I look at the scar, it is bordering the edge of a vein that runs the middle of my hand. No idea if I cut the vein as I was 13 or 14 at the time, so my hand might have been a little smaller.

 

[BEloveDisney]

My mom once cut her wrist on a can. Looked exactly like she was trying to kill herself. She had a hard time convincing the Er that she wasn't! She still has a scar from it almost 30 years later.

 

[BCV513]

We don't have urgent care around here, so you have to go to the ER for stitches, etc.

When I was a teenager, my cousin drove her mother's old Chevy Caprice. Huge old car with two doors. She dropped me off one night and when I went to climb out of the back seat, I had to drag my leg across another girl to get out. There must have been a wire or something sticking out of the back of the front seat. I cut the side of my leg from the knee to the ankle. I took twelve stitches and the doctor at the ER told me "that's what you get for hanging out in the back seats of cars!"

 

[Dax]

ETA: I was washing a glass and out my hand in it no problem...but then it busted. The reason--I was washing it in hot water and glass expands when heated...so it was just enough for me to put my whole hand in and it didn't occur to me to be a potential problem. When I pulled it from
under the faucet into the much cooler air..I felt the glass slightly squeeze my hand (contracting) and then it suddenly busted and a shard of glass sliced the top of my right hand. As I look at the scar, it is bordering the edge of a vein that runs the middle of my hand. No idea if I cut the vein as I was 13 or 14 at the time, so my hand might have been a little smaller.

I have done this EXACT thing...I stuck my hand in a drinking glass as I was washing it...then suddenly I hear a *POP*..I look down, glass is broken in half, and there is suddenly a lot of blood gushing from my hand.

I basically cut my right hand, right under my pinky joint. It took forever to heal, as I also had no insurance. I now have a scar that is pretty noticable.

 

[ckay87]

My best friend is the BEST mother ever. A pillar of society, great role model, you get the picture. Which is why I thought it was sad and funny at the same time that she had to take her son to the ER for cutting himself on a broken beer bottle.

 

[imabrat]

I had to go to the ER for what I thought was a broken right big toe after I dropped my laptop on it.

 

[disney_mommy]

When I was much younger, my mom was cleaning out the garage and told me to stay out of it. So what did I do? You guessed it.

I was sidling along one wall around a big trash bag when a stick suddenly poked itself out of the bag and stabbed my leg. 8 stitches because a stick attacked me.

 

[Nette]

Years ago we went camping and were in a lot next to an ER doctor. We spent a good amount of time in the evening talking with him, and he told us lots of stories about crazy ER visits. The best one was about a guy who came in with a persistent nosebleed. It had been gushing for a few hours and he couldn't get it to stop for anything. Well, they ended up doing a CT scan or some other imaging technique and found that the guy had a whole that went clear up through his sinuses and into the space between his frontal lobe. Turns out the guy had fallen off a fence and landed just so that a pitchfork tine went up his nose!!!!! And he *and his wife* neglected to mention that to the ER docs!

 

[lovin diz]

when dd was about 2 or 3 yrs old, she got a small kaleidoscope at a b-day party. well instead of looking through it, she stuck her finger in the hole.....Needless to say, we couldnt get the thing off her finger for nothing in the world, so we went to the er....

around the same time, we were eating pop corn, and the second i turn away from her, she sticks a kernel up her nose...She blew and blew (yeah like at that age they know how to blow ) somehow we got that thing out of there...Gee what memories...I can laugh now

 

[lovin diz]

I will tell you another one, just from working as an xray tech. THis may be TMI, but here goes.... A man came in with "stommach Pains"...So we took all sorts of xrays...when the xray came out of the machine, every was dying laughing...How the doctor went back into his room with a straight face, i have no idea......

He was doing something with a toliet paper rod and went too far up...His rectal muscles took over, and poof it went up his intestines....

 

[Mickey527]

Well at this point it is too late for sutures so just keep re-applying the butterflies and watch for infection. Use Triple antibiotic ointment if you have it, or Bacitracin. Apply it right over the butterfly, it won't stick if you put the cream on before the butterfly.
Ok, my stories.
When my son was 4 we were at a picnic and he tripped and fell face first on the beer keg. Got 4 stitches in his chin. ER report said "fell over onto beer keg". He is 31 now and still has the scars from his beer keg incident.
My brother was constantly in the ER when he was young. Always falling or dropping stuff. Little did we know that he would be diagnosed with MS when he was 24. anyway, when he was about 8 he decided to make some spagettios. He opened the can and there were some noodles stuck on the lid. He licked the lid and cut off the tip of his tongue. It never grew back but they did give him stitches to stop the bleeding. Boy did we make fun of the way he talked for a month or two. We called him Suzi Brady.
And ok, my experience. When I was 6 I was cutting paper dolls for my sister and needed more paper. I left the scissors on the bed and got the paper, ran back to the room and jumped on the bed. The scissors were open and stuck right in my back. I can still remember the ride to the ER lying face first over my mother's knee. She was afraid that the scissors had punctured my lung and left them in my back.
there were 6 of us kids and our family was well known at the local ER.

 

[tiggger1]

I will tell you another one, just from working as an xray tech. THis may be TMI, but here goes.... A man came in with "stommach Pains"...So we took all sorts of xrays...when the xray came out of the machine, every was dying laughing...How the doctor went back into his room with a straight face, i have no idea......

He was doing something with a toliet paper rod and went too far up...His rectal muscles took over, and poof it went up his intestines....

I have another TMI, my friend works in an ER and had a man come in carrying a huge vacuum, can you guess what happened...... When they asked how come he brought the entire vacuum and not just the hose, the look of the guys face was priceless!!

 

[Heidict]

When I was about 6 years old we were just finishing up dinner around the dinner table and my father started throwing pieces of bread into the air for our dog to catch. Being 6 years old, this looked like fun.

I knelt down on the ground next to our dog to see if I could also catch the bread. My father tossed up a piece, aiming it directly toward me. I caught it!! However, no one thought to hold the dog back and she of course lunged for the piece. A couple of her teeth went straight threw the skin below my lower lip.

Off to the Er we went. Imagine trying to explain to the doctor that you normally don't make your 6 year old daughter fight over the food with the dog.

 

[indimom]

These have always been my favorites.

A high school friend and her brother decided to ride their sled down the basement stairs (around Kindergarten age) and she didn't take the building block out of her mouth. When they crashed at the bottom, she started to gush blood from her mouth. Her parents took her to the ER and were told by the doctor that their daughter had just received a partial tonsilectomy.

Another friend was hanging on her mom's leg as a toddler when her mom was digging around in the freezer looking for something to thaw for dinner.
A whole frozen chicken fell out of the freezer - 20 stitches in the top of her head.

I'll also share my embarassing "bad mommy" moment. My daughter wrecked her bicycle last summer at the local bike trail. Every single person from the receptionist, to three nurses, to the doctor, to the x-ray tech to the cleaning lady in the ER asked me the same question. Can you guess it???
Was she wearing her helmet?? One broken nose later, we were back home, with a new helmet donated by the ER.

 

[DisMN]

These are great stories! LOL

Worked in an ER once and remember a child coming in with his nose *bleeding* BLACK!! It was horrifying!!
Child had been at a matinee and he started crying and couldn't breath well. Lots of panic when he started bleeding.

What he hadn't told anyone is that he had stuck a black jellybean up his nose. LMAO!!

 

[MommaSnowwhite]

A couple of years ago I spent overnight in an ER due to an infection after a surgery. I spent 6 hours having antibiotics pumped into my system thru an IV.

The funny/gross part was the 22 year old guy behind the next curtain from me. He came in with his Mom complaining of rectal pain. I could hear the whole thing (curtains don't provide much privacy when someone is moaning and crying). As the doctors were asking him questions he told them that he had been assulted the week before and they asked him if it was sexual - he almost yelled NO. After about 3 hours thye figured out the guy had hemeroids. If I hadn't been listening to him moan the whole time I might have laughed. Don't ya thiink his Mom might have thought of that?

 

[belledreamer]

I have an almost ER story...

One time I had my best friend over at my house and we were goofing around, dancing to children's music. Well, I was showing her the moves for one of the dances that involves a jump-kick. When I did the move and came back down, I didn't land right, and three pops from my ankle later, I'm laying on the kitchen floor gasping for breath.

My friend had to go run next door for help, and my neighbor had to come help me get to the sofa. We almost went to the ER (didn't because it wasn't broken and no insurance) and I'm kinda glad we didn't because I didn't want to explain how I almost broke my ankle dancing to a song from a kids show...

 

[Maridw]

Over Memorial Day weekend, my DH & I both had to go to the ER but for two different reasons. I was practicing my dance solo at the dance school when I twisted my foot doing a step. I was alone in the dance room with the music on and the door closed. I fell right near the beginning of the song and had to wait until the music stopped to get someone's attention. Thankfully I was not completely alone.

When I called home to let my DH know he said that he would have to go in as well because he had a severe poison sumac rash that was not getting better - just spreading.

We happen to pick one of the busiest nights. He got into the express area and was in and out pretty quick. I ended up on a bed in the hall (Hall 3 was the exact bed name. ). Next thing I know they bring in this woman by ambulance who sounds like she is really drunk, but supposedly hasn't been drinking. They had security standing by her at all times. One poor security guy had another relieve him because he had to get away from her for awhile. I was glad when she finally fell asleep but then the doctor came and woke her up again. One minute she was complaining about her back, the next she was saying she just wished that they would take out her thyroid.

I was glad to get out of there.