A bit tongue-in-cheek
Injured myself pretty badly this weekend.. Big picture, got lucky it wasn't worse, and all will end with just a scar and a story..
I was cutting on some pretty beefy steel on a flatbed that I'm modifying for my truck.. No worries, just using my trusty 4-1/2" angle grinder and, you know, cutting steel.. no biggie..
Well, something happened.. I wasn't being overzealous or binding things up or any of the 'normal' mistakes that can get you in trouble (I've done all of those too
).. All of a sudden the disc caught an edge, and kicked the grinder back into my face..
You just winced, didn't you
? the grinder struck me in the right cheek (yes, this time I had safety glasses on), then it caught my right shoulder, shirt, and got bound up and stopped..
I turned it off, and for a second I thought I'd gotten lucky and had no/minor injuries.. then I noticed the blood coming from my cheek..
You don't want all of the gory details, but I didn't know if I could get myself to urgent car, or maybe the ER (no one else was home), or if I should call 911.. I put a clean t-shirt on my face and drove myself to Urgent care (didn't know how minor/major things were)..
Here's a tip.. If you're bleeding profusely, Urgent car will usher you in right away!
Very nice doctor took a look, excused himself, then came back with doctor #2.. they both looked things over.. learned that while it was very deep, it was still a few milometers from having gone all the way through, and it was too much for them- gotta go to the ER.. Weee! Who doesn't love the ER?!
Here's a tip.. Even if you're bleeding profusely, you will sit and wait the requisite 8 hours, just like everyone else
So what have we learned? I feel blessed it didn't catch an eye or an artery.. In the big picture it's not that bad.. 3 'inside' stitches and 13 'outside' stitches and a big thank you to a very nice and very skilled ER doctor..
I still don't know what caused this.. I'm wondering if the disc just fluked and failed for no reason.. so odd- I had no warning or indication on this.. a little freaky really
Again, all is well now.. just a good scare, and a reminder to try and never go back the the ER
I don't want to be one of those people that posts really bad looking injury pics online.. you know, the kind you can't unsee.. so instead, I'll post a pic of the offending wheel, and say please be careful while working on your project..
--ccrunner
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Dean
1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"
1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=163091959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com