Movie night at Trappers was good fun. It seemed like everyone on hill was there and dressed up to the nines, or at least as ninesy as ski bums can get. I contemplated wearing a jumper that has red and white stripes-but only for a moment. I would never have been able to wear it again without getting 'where's Wally' jokes thrown at me. I shouldn't have worried though; I wore it a week later and the jokes came out anyway. Needless to say it's stayed in my draw since.
I stabbed my hand with the stem of a wine glass on the 10th. I was in one of the 5th floor rooms drying it off after washing it when somehow the stem snapped and I drove it into my right palm. I automatically applied pressure to it and somehow knew right away that it was deep and had done some damage. It didn't hurt as much as it should have, my pinky went numb less then a minute after it happened and from time to time odd pain shot up and down my forearm. Thankfully Beckie my supervisor on that day had just come onto that floor as I had heard her talking to Azarlia in a room a few doors down moments beforehand. Unfortunately the room I had done it in was a stay-over so the girls had to clean up the mess I left behind before the guest returned. Beckie called ERT and one of the guys rushed over to come to my aid. I felt really bad as he came into the office out of breath and seemed to be expecting something more sever then a puncture wound the doctor sewed up with three stitches. He gave me the once over, poking my back, neck and head asking if anything hurt and then starting asking me questions like did I know where I was and what was the date etc. Once he realised I was fully coherent and not dying he calmed way down. Once the paperwork was complete we headed to the infirmary to clean up the wound and get one of the on duty hill doctors to take a look at it. As we were leaving the hotel he radioed ahead to let them know we were coming and he described our passage there like this: "Transporting patient to the infirmary on foot." I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing as I thought it a rather obvious fact that we would walk-after all I hadn't chopped my leg off. Once I'd cleaned it up one of the doctors came in. He looked at it for like a second and agreed with the ERT guys that it needed stitches but for some reason he couldn't do it on hill as he couldn't access the right legal medical forms; some change had happened in the last year that meant stitches had to be done off hill now. My hand was then bandaged and slinged up, a taxi called, I went to my room to grab ID and headed down the hill in the gondola. When I finally reached base [after the gondola stopped twice due to high winds] the taxi was already waiting for me. He dropped me off at the hospital where Renee was waiting for me. She had been in Banff that morning and when Azarlia text her to inform her of my accident she offered to meet me there. The paperwork side of things [which I had been worried about] was really straight forward. I think that's because I did it at work so my injury came under the Workers Compensation Board [WBC]. When the doctor finally saw me he briefly checked out the cut and then spent a lot of time poking my hand and fingers figuring out which areas were numb/sore. From the first knuckle of my pinky up, the half closest to my ring finger is completely numb. He was pricking me with a sharp stick and when he touched that area it felt blunt as. It was the weirdest feeling. I got to watch him do the three stitches so that was a highlight and I was informed while he was doing it that if I hadn't noticed any improvement in two days I was to go back in and it would be operated on. A nurse came in after he left and stuck a bandaid over the top and sent us home. We went to Tim Hortons for a hot chocolate and doughnut before catching the staff bus back as I'd done the stabbing at twelve so missed lunch and we weren't done until four so was just a little famished. The next day my roomie Jess who works on front desk at the hotel text me to say the doctor had called for me and wanted me to call back so I headed over there and he informed me that the hand surgeon wanted me to come in the next day as they believed that I had done some nerve damage. Thankfully I had two rostered days off starting the 11th so didn't have to take time off to go in for it. Azarlia managed to swap her rostered days off so that she could come in with me on the 12th for the operation. Though the doctor who stitched me up the first time said that I wouldn't be knocked out but the only my arm would be deadened and the nurses reiterated that while they were prepping me [I had to wear one of those stunning hospital gowns] I was knocked out. I don't real mind as it was a lovely 40 minute sleep but for the next few days I felt so tired from the anaesthetic. A half cast was put on and covered with a regular bandage. I find it interesting that the hospital care here isn't as 'formal' as back home. I mean, there I've never been given a normal bandaid to put over stitches-here they obviously don't make as big a deal about such trivial things. The surgeon said that I had cut 40% of my ulnar nerve [I'll attach some photos I found of the ulnar so you can see more clearly what I've been discribing] but I didn't know the exact number of stitches until I took the cast off-there was ten. Azarlia had to leave to catch the last bus before I was discharged but I'd thought I'd have to stay in town so I'd bought gear with me. Jess and some of the other girls from front desk were coming into town that evening so I meet them at a hostel and we went out for dinner. It was quite nice to chill out in Banff as I hardly ever get down there. The next morning when I woke up I could feel the stitches catching on the padding of the cast-I hadn't realised until then that the wound site on my palm had been numb since the injury up until then. Never thought I would've ever been excited to be able to feel pain. Not being abe to board during the ten days of healing was dreadful, especially as we had a dumping and everyone was out enjoying the powder. I didn't really have much I could do at work except strip beds one handed and fetch missing items for the girls who were able to clean so I had a few days off. That was nice as I had plenty of time to get errands done but not so great for the bi-weekly pay check. While everyone else was counting down the days until Christmas I had been counting down the days to my stitches coming out and finally the 23rd came around. I had gone down to Banff for one of my English friends birthday after work on the 22nd and as I had stayed with Tracey [a Kiwi friend and one of the crowd I flew over here with] I was able to chill out at her apartment all morning before heading to the hospital. The cast and stitches were whipped out in a moment and it felt so good to be able to move my wrist around and itch my arm! I just made it to the bus and showed my scar off to Azarlia and Renee as soon as they finished work. I'm not allowed to board for another week and then I've been told to ease back into it and not rush it. I think I'll heed the doctor on that advice as The stitches came out a little too soon. The end of the incision over the heel of my palm split open a little yesterday so it's back in a bandage to protect from infection. Man I will be glad to finally get rid of all bandages for good!
It's Christmas morning here-but I've got to go and get ready for a day of work. No rest for the wicked.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!
Looked innocent enough..
Post op
After the stitches came out
I'll leave you with little panorama of the Village from one of the suites in the hotel. The buildings from Left to Right are:
[foreground] Staff Cafe/Daylodge, [just peeking out in the background from behind the far left corner of Daylodge] Laryx Staff Accommodation Building, [poking out from the right far corner of Daylodge] Daycare Centre, Gondola, [building hiding up in the trees] Arnica Staff Accommodation Building [that's where I live], [just below Arnica and beside the Gondola] Mountain Holme/Sunburst Staff Accommodation Buildings, Angel Chair Lift and [nearest you] Trappers, our staff bar.
