I've been a happy pruner since we moved toour current home some 12 years ago. I wear gloves if i'm tackling the spikey or treacherous plants, or if i'm pulling out nettles, but if i'm tackling the friendly plants I only wear gloves if I already had them on. IYSWIM.
On Friday, I decided to cut back one of our enormous shrubs. It had been gradually creeping forward (and backwards, and sideways, and upwards) and was now obscuring the chickens. It's a fairly placid natured shrub. No prickles, bit dense.
Afterwards, my finger hurt a bit. I thought i'd probably scratched it when pulling out some of the pruned branches. Later, my finger hurt quite a bit. Much later I couldn't move it and it had swollen up.
DH suggested i'd maybe strained it. "You didn't get any splinters did you?" he asked. "No". Then "Oh yes, I did". Flash of a memory, me pulling something out of my hand with my teeth, whilst still pruning, and spitting it on the ground. Couln't picture where on my hand it had been. Slathered finger with Savlin, covered it in lint, went to bed.
Rough night. Next morning, hand was purple and finger hurt non stop, whether I was trying to move it or not. Feeling a bit sheepish, I got DH to take me to the local Minor Injuries Unit (MIU)
Upshot, it's infected. Fingers taped up, arm in sling, on antibiotics. Felt a bit of a drama queen, then friend sent me this:
http://www.hamiltonadvertiser.co.uk/news/local-news/hamilton-news/2008/05/01/ex-nurse-dies-after-thorn-pricks-her-finger-51525-20849920/
Don't feel so silly for going to MIU now!
But I will make sure I wear gloves next time!
On Friday, I decided to cut back one of our enormous shrubs. It had been gradually creeping forward (and backwards, and sideways, and upwards) and was now obscuring the chickens. It's a fairly placid natured shrub. No prickles, bit dense.
Afterwards, my finger hurt a bit. I thought i'd probably scratched it when pulling out some of the pruned branches. Later, my finger hurt quite a bit. Much later I couldn't move it and it had swollen up.
DH suggested i'd maybe strained it. "You didn't get any splinters did you?" he asked. "No". Then "Oh yes, I did". Flash of a memory, me pulling something out of my hand with my teeth, whilst still pruning, and spitting it on the ground. Couln't picture where on my hand it had been. Slathered finger with Savlin, covered it in lint, went to bed.
Rough night. Next morning, hand was purple and finger hurt non stop, whether I was trying to move it or not. Feeling a bit sheepish, I got DH to take me to the local Minor Injuries Unit (MIU)
Upshot, it's infected. Fingers taped up, arm in sling, on antibiotics. Felt a bit of a drama queen, then friend sent me this:
http://www.hamiltonadvertiser.co.uk/news/local-news/hamilton-news/2008/05/01/ex-nurse-dies-after-thorn-pricks-her-finger-51525-20849920/
Don't feel so silly for going to MIU now!
But I will make sure I wear gloves next time!
