Ouch!

Wow! It has been a long time since my post. Work has been crazy and school is insane. I have papers due and tests almost every week. I can't wait until May 9th when I finally graduate and school will be finished.... that is until I to go back and get my DNP (Doctorate of Nurse Practitioner). I don't know who will be more excited about me being done with school- me or Robert. I think he will be very happy to have his wife back. In other news we have been working on buying a house here in Alamosa. The seller accepted our offer yesterday and if all goes according to plan we will close on April 29th. I am very excited but at the same time very nervous. It is a big financial decision. Of course, our ultimate goal is to build a house one day.

Well the real reason for my post is a little incident with my dear sweet husband. A few weeks ago he came home and said he didn't want to come into the living room where I was because he "did something bad." Immediately I asked what he did to himself because it is a typical occurrence for him to come home with minor cuts and bruises. Rob sulked into the living room and I quickly scanned his body for injuries. I couldn't see any and was immensely relieved...until he told me what happened. He was using the finishing nail gun and it went off unexpectedly as he picked it up off the floor. He didn't see where the stray nail went but wasn't too concerned about it. He continued working and then later bent down to pick something up. He felt a sharp pain in his knee and looked down and noticed that his Carhartt pants were stuck to his knee. This startled him as he realized that the nail had GONE INTO HIS KNEE. Being a typical boy he grabbed his pants and flung the nail out. Luckily, the 2" nail (see picture below) missed all bones and went into the joint space. All I have to say is that boy must be living right. Just a millimeter or two in either direction and that nail would have gone into the bone, causing massive damage. THAT would have been a serious injury but instead he got off lucky. After he told me what happened I was very worried. In this case the risk of infection and tetanus was very high. The nurse in me scrubbed and applied alcohol to his knee until it was almost raw (the hole was tiny however). He definitely needed a tetanus booster and to be looked at by a physician but of course he refused to go to the ER (it was 7pm by the time he got home and told
me).



The next morning he was leaving to go on a scouting trip in the mountains and wouldn't be able to get an appointment with one of the Internal Medicine doctors. Early the next morning he came into the clinic and one of the Pediatric Docs ordered him a tetanus shot (my Doc doesn't work on Fridays). He also was given a prescription for antibiotics to prevent an infection since the nail was 2" long and passed through his pants which were absolutely filthy from working. After this tetanus shot (I declined to give it to him) he complained more about the arm pain than he did about the pain in his knee. Dr. Sowards was going on the scouting trip so at least that put my mind at ease somewhat. All in all Robert is okay. Boys will be boys and every day I wonder what little injury he will come home with next. Never a dull moment in the Hoover household that's for sure.......