So who has tried to scalp themselves while making the bed? (other odd house injuries)

[EyeTeaGuy]

I've punched myself in the face opening a wine bottle...and I regularly walk into the walls of the townhouse I've lived in for YEARS and should therefore know where the damn things are by now

The wine bottle thing reminds me of a story from my wedding night...and don't worry, it's not rated X.

As a wedding gift since my wife and I were doing a stay in the city honeymoon, my mom's quilting group paid for the hotel accommodations for a 1 night stay at The Oxford, a VERY swanky old hotel in downtown Denver. I never knew what they paid for the room, but the "Max charge" sign on the back of the door was around $500 per night.

Luxury all around....the room and the hallway honestly reminded me of the 1st class section on the Titanic....save for the plasma TV on the wall. Important to the story.

Since it was our wedding night, about 10 minutes after we got in they delivered a complimentary bottle of champagne - with a corkscrew. Again, that's important to the story.

Not being much of a drinker myself, I thought 'hey, they put the damn thing there for a reason', and start to use it to un-cork the bottle. The neck of the bottle broke, thankfully I did not get cut.

But the cork flew out at something approaching 'ludicrous speed', and hit the wall - about 2" away from the very nice plasma. THAT would have been one hell of a way to start a marriage, with having to pay for that...!

[DGoddessChardonnay]

And I'm sitting here with a pinched nerve in my shoulder from getting out of bed today. >.<

Been there, done that with the pinched nerve - hurts like Hell.

And how did I get that pinched nerve in my neck years ago, combined with a slipped disc and tendonitis in my left rotator cuff?

I was crazy enough to move an old tabletop tv (one of those 80's RCA colortracks with the knobs on it) off a dresser in a bedroom and carried it to the living room for my aunt (she'd just moved into a new trailer and the cable guy wasn't scheduled to come out until the following Monday.)

As soon as I lifted that tv, I felt a pop in my neck. Three weeks later I was at the doctor's office, being treated for tendonitis . . . then referred to a specialist, who did the MRI and found everything else.

Other accidents around the house include:

Trying to run across a tiled floor in the kitchen with socks on . . . I skidded and had to grab onto the counter of the sink and jerked my shoulder in the process. OUCH.

But at least I didn't fall and bust my butt.

At least a couple of times in the shower, I end up bruising my elbow by banging it against the fiberglass wall when washing my hair. That funny bone ain't so funny after all.

Then there was the time I accidentally tried to slice off one of my fingers while washing dishes . . . that one took months to heal up and stayed tender forever it seemed. That one involved a knife that had been put in the sink blade upwards.

Then there was the time I was getting clothes out of the dryer and I threw my back out . . . never sneeze while you're bent over trying to pick up stuff that's fallen out of your arms, that does it to me every time. Stayed partially locked up for almost 2 days.

Same goes for locking up your shoulder while trying to reset the side of a queen size waterbed onto the platform b/c the idiot who set it up didn't brace it properly. This happened way back in middle school . . . twice.

Needless to say it finally got fixed not long after the 2nd incident . . . .God took care of that (he was a friend who rented a room from us - his real name was Bruce but somehow he got the nickname "God" - I'll explain how he got his monicker in another post.)

And I lost count of how many times I would stub my toes on a particular coffee table Mom had in the living room when we were growing up. This particular coffee table was made from a Conostoga wagon wheel and she had the guys at the glass company across the street custom cut a sheet of glass to fit over it. The base had curved legs that stuck out and if you didn't watch where you were going or went barefoot . . . it'd reach out and grab you!

Those are the ones I can think of right now . . . I might think of more later to add, right now it's shower and get ready for bed. *yawn*

[protege]

I've managed to injure myself while working on the car...

First time, I was lying under the car, trying to take the front bumper off. Thoroughly rusted bolts meant I was lying on my back, had a wrench on the bolts, and was pounding away on said wrench with a hammer. That wouldn't have been a problem, but it was cold as hell in the garage (ever lay on a cold concrete floor in the middle of winter?), and I was told to answer the phone...since I was the only one home at the time. First time the phone rang, no problem. I extricated myself, grabbed the phone, and got to work. Second time...I wasn't so lucky. Apparently, I forgot about being *under* the MG, and as I got up, I clocked myself upside the head I'd smacked my head and ear on one of the bumper irons. I could have ripped my ear clean off As it was, I was left with a nice big cut on my ear and a big gash on my head. That was bad enough, but when my head hit, I literally saw stars!

Second time, was about a dozen years later. Same car though This time, I was in the process of rebuilding the front suspension. More rusty bolts meant I got to play with a torch and/or a Sawzall. Oddly enough, my injury wasn't from either of those implements of destruction. No, it was nothing more than a socket wrench. I was taking apart the driver's side suspension, and while I was leaning on a stuck bolt...the wrench's ratchet mechanism suddenly failed. I ended up punching the protruding flange on the lower A-arm...which left me with a nasty gash across several fingers

I always try to be careful when working on the cars. I don't leave tools lying around on the floor, and the work area is always cleaned up when I'm done. But, there's no way to prevent an old tool from suddenly failing, or when distractions turn into annoyances.

[Mishi]

@protege: My dad has a permanent dent in his forearm, in the fleshy part just below his elbow, from dropping a car on it (the stands failed).

I have:
- A dent in the back of my head from falling over backwards while rocking on my chair.
- Almost knocked myself out on a bedside table + got blood everywhere while getting into bed to read a book.
- Two tiny white lines on my right thumb from dropping a brick on it while repairing a garden bed. Took off a large chunk and then it tried to get infected.
- Scars on my left hand from nicking it with various kitchen knives by accident.
- Broken metatarsal and a nice scar from sitting down on my computer chair while my right foot was under its metal foot. No, I don't know how I did it.
- A scar on my right temple from my friend jokingly throwing a stack of papers at me and not realising that there was a CD case amongst them.

[AccountingDrone]

Hm, top to bottom

Alloy B bronze shrapnel in my face that they couldn't get all the teeny tiny pieces out of the eye sockets and every now and again one will work its way out. I currently have a tiny shard embedded in my left upper eyelid that is trying to escape. Catastrophic fail while machining a 1 inch chlorine cylinder valve.

Split my tongue by biting the dentist while he was engaged in drilling on a tooth when I was 5 years old without any novocain. He ended up with 5 stitches in his thumb. I ended up finally being taken to a juvenile dentist.

Knocked my front teeth loose falling 35 feet out of a pine tree. They got reset.

Broke my jaw tripping on the way out of the dental surgery after having all 4 of my wisdom teeth chiseled out. They hauled me back in and wired my jaw shut.

Broke my neck and back in 3 places cross country skiing. I got better.

Flail chest from a car accident. Also broke the left wrist and sprained the right.

Phosgene exposure twice. I can not recommend a lung flush as a fun passtime. Chlorine exposure on the order of 20 or so times ranging from a whiff to hospitalization. Anhydrous ammonia exposure, about the same. I can exhale, close my eyes and find my way 25 feet to the wall mount scott airpack, don it, clear it and start breathing again. Also exposure to all sorts of chemicals ranging from acids, bases, salts. Hazmat tech is not a job for the nervous. And I lost 6 inches of hair length to teh decontamination team at Ginnea 1 when I got valve water accidentally dumped so it contaminated my hair when I was under an intake pipe working.

Broke fingers and toes assorted times ranging from stupid kid accidents, being thrown from a horse multiple times, drop kicked a small TV that by brother set in the hallway that I didn't see because it was dark.

Got both knees wiped out - right knee twice left knee once, playing soccer. Those catholic girl schools are killers! Being spiked under the kneecap leads to patellar tendonitis. The right knee got the tendon split so they did an arthroscopy on it.

Broke the left 5th metatarsal a second time which led to the diagnosis of hyperparathyroiditis [I had lost enough calcium into my bloodstream you could have sharpened my nose and used me on a chalkboard. They caught me at 11.5.]

Probably forgetting a few. I literally have broken about half the bones in my body and jokingly refer to my time as a hazmat tech as the Jupiter Environmental Training Program.

[Blue Ginger]

Alloy B bronze shrapnel in my face that they couldn't get all the teeny tiny pieces out of the eye sockets and every now and again one will work its way out. I currently have a tiny shard embedded in my left upper eyelid that is trying to escape. Catastrophic fail while machining a 1 inch chlorine cylinder valve.

Ok. And I thought it was pretty gross having small bits of gravel still in my chin. At least mine doesn't try to escape. And they make the scar feel weird.

Bicycles and me don't mix. The above was part of an accident that left me with no skin on my knees, palms, no finger prints on my left hand and right thumb and fore finger, split lip, gravel rash and a 2cm vertical cut on my chin, blood nose and one chipped tooth. I would probably have had a broken nose too, except my helmet had a visor bit on the front. And it all happened as I was heading to school for the last day of term. I was finally nearly all healed in time to go back at the end of the 2-week holidays.

[Shangri-laschild]

My two biggest scars are from accidents in the kitchen. Once was washing a glass, holding it normal and everything. It suddenly split into two pieces and sliced the inside of my thumb open. Other time I was sitting on a wooden stool. Turned as I was getting up and ended up with a splinter in my leg big enough to almost not be considered a splinter anymore. I took a step and it broke off in my leg so there was nothing to grab to pull it out. It took two dr visits to get the whole thing out. The ER dr wasn't comfortable cutting any further after he got half of it out. That was Christmas morning too and we were supposed to be traveling to see relatives afterwards. Made for an interesting trip.

[WoodenSunshine]

I ripped my cartilage in my knee getting out of bed one morning.

In our home, we have original wood surrounding the opening between the living room and kitchen. There are some nice sharp corners on it. I had a nifty bruise on my thigh from bumping into it.

[LillFilly]

My boyfriend hesitates to give me sharp or hot objects at home.

I was sitting on the couch with a box cutter trying to cut something. The blade stuck, I gave a tug and *SHUNK!* right into the top of my thigh. Didn't feel anything, figured I only caught my pants. Pulled about an inch of blade out and suddenly a lovely red fountain started squirting into the air and across the carpet. My face was and my boyfriend looked and I had to try and stop the bleeding while hobbling to the tiled kitchen while yelling at my boyfriend "Quick, wipe the carpet so it doesn't stain! Oh, and call 911!."

Cause I was on blood thinners. Yeah, fun. Afterwards I was like "Did you clean it all up? Did it stain!?"

Oh, I was doing a hot glue project with a newer high-powered gun that wouldn't squirt. I was holding the project in my left hand, gun in my right and suddenly whatever was jamming the nozzle unjammed and just POURED a puddle of hot glue down my hand wrist and arm. It looked sooooo bad and coworkers were asking if my boyfriend had done that to me! I had to convince them no, I'm just that clumsy!

[Andara Bledin]

Ah, yes, the glue gun incident has reminded me of my most serious self-injury in the home.

See, I'm good with blades and glass and anything that might cut; I tend to stab myself, more, and almost never seriously.

The only exception was the time that I stepped down onto a lapel pin that was attached to my jacket, folding the pin in half and plunging the length of it into my heel where it stuck into the bone.

Otherwise, I've got your typical collection of household bumps and bruises with knees hitting corners, toes hitting edges, elbows whacking whatever, and headbutting a variety of fixtures that more often than not are or are attached to some form of cabinetry.

The burn, however, came about due to me not holding a foam styrene tub of piping hot soup securely enough and spilling the contents into my lap. That blistered up impressively and there is a fading interrupted scar running from just below my sternum down and outward and ending at my upper thigh.

^-.-^

[protege]

@protege: My dad has a permanent dent in his forearm, in the fleshy part just below his elbow, from dropping a car on it (the stands failed).

I bet that was painful!

When I started working on the car, I bought the highest-capacity jack stands I could find. I figure, if those stands can handle being under a city bus...then they'll work fine under a much smaller vehicle. Plus, while the front was in the air, I kicked some chocks under the rear wheels. No bricks either--I use metal wedges specifically designed for that purpose.

As for the scar on my ear, it's largely hidden. However, I have a couple that are pretty obvious. One, was left by my cat. Sally left a nice big scar on my left arm. She did that the very first night after I brought her home. She was scared, and probably nervous as hell, so I can't hold that against her.

My left index finger has a nice scar as well. This one came when I was working on models one night. I was cutting some part to size...when I not only broke said part, but the x-acto knife as well. The blade simply snapped in half, breaking the part, and cutting the hell out of my finger.

One scar that's mostly invisible...involves my jaw. Didn't break anything, but taking a steering wheel to the face in '94 auto accident. As a result, my jaw is a bit screwed up now. Occasionally, it makes an irritating clicking sound when I'm chewing. Not painful, but irritating. That's where the scar comes in--it's left over from a minor surgery in an attempt to take care of things.

Oh, and I've noticed that nearly all of the 'damage' is on my left side

[BrenDAnn]

Reading some of your posts reminded me of a couple of other things I've done, both at work.

First, I was at the store I used to be at, in the kitchen, trying to open a HUGE can of mushrooms. The can opener at the time was horrible. Well, the can opened, the lid tilted, and the edge of it sliced me right at the base of my right thumb. Cue me, freaking out, my manager freaking out, and me ending up in the back room, holding my hand to put pressure on it. Looking back, I should've gone to the hospital for stitches, but the thought of THAT freaked me out even more. I still have a small, almost imperceptible scar from it.

The other thing that happens all the damn time at work is me hitting my knees on the thick metal safe door at work. You'd think a person would realize that hey I opened the safe door, I should probably look out for it. Not me. Most recently, I opened the top of the safe, then proceeded to jam the corner of THAT door against my right thigh. I ended up with a nice bruise from that. Honestly, I'm shocked my knees aren't permanently bruised at this point!

ETA: I have a scar, of all places, on my right eyeball, right over the center of it. My oldest niece and I were hanging out when we were younger, and she managed to somehow scratch my eye. I didn't know until about four years ago that it had left a scar. Let me tell you, it's made it a bitch when I've had to go to the eye doctor, because it automatically makes my vision in that eye a bit blurry.

[bhskittykatt]

Once was washing a glass, holding it normal and everything. It suddenly split into two pieces and sliced the inside of my thumb open.

Ah, this reminds me of something last year. I was decorating a glass ornament for the holidays, and must have been gripping it too tightly, because it exploded in my hand! I had lots of little shards of glass sticking all through my palm and fingers. I had to carefully take them out and bandage up the whole hand, then clean up all the glass shards that were all over the table and carpet. Lots of fun, that day.

[Andara Bledin]

My mother had to go to the emergency room for washing a glass, once.

She had her hand inside, doing the twisting thing to clean the insides of it, and the thing just sort of shattered around her hand, which she then sliced up rather impressively because she was twisting her hand when she found herself holding just a bunch of sharp shards.

^-.-^

[hinakiba777]

My brother's bed has a bookshelf for a a headboard. It has two little cubbies on the sides and one big cubbie in the middle. A lot of people are shocked that my parents never replaced my brother's bed after the following event:

One night my dad woke up to the sound of my brother whimpering in his room. Thinking it was just a bad dream, my dad walked in to comfort my brother. Now my parents bedroom door is 90 degrees from my brother's bedroom door. At the time, my brother's bed was positioned next to his light switch so that he could just flick it on himself if he needed something. So Dad walks in the room to comfort Brotherkiba. He shushes him gently and picks him up out of bed. BK is limp like a ragdoll, though he's still conscious and whimpering. Now dad hadn't turned on the light when he walked in since the hall light was on and BK's bed was right by the door. Upon feeling how limp BK was, my dad flicked on the light. BK's pillow was drenched in blood and there was a two inch horizontally at the center of his brow. BK had to be rushed to the hospital for sitches, and he has a VERY obvious scar on his forhead. Which is why BK tends to wear tuques or bandanas at all times to cover his brow, and consequently the scar.

He split his head open on the corner of his head board when he was trying to flick on his light. I think he was 2 at the time.

I have funnier home accident stories, but none of them are as random as Brotherkiba splitting open his head on the corner of his bed. I think that's why my bed has a rounded head board.

Coincidentally, I am the exact height of my brother's scar. If you measure from the crown of my head to my brother's scar it is a completely straight line.