This past Fourth of July was truly unfortunate for me. Okay, I’m being dramatic. It wasn’t completely bad. However the part after around 10 PM was completely bad and resulted in glass exploding, me being hungry, and spending the night in the ER with a cut foot.
Today I wanted to share with you guys my experience with having stitches in my foot and experiencing glass exploding all over my kitchen floor.
Experiencing exploding glass and stitches for the first time
So you guys should know that I’ve always been terrified of getting stitches while awake. I’ve gotten stitches before when I had surgery on my stomach a few years ago, but they were dissolvable and I was asleep when I had them put in.
Anyway, let me jump into the actual story of what happened on 4th of July. I went over my boyfriend’s mom’s house. Had a great time talking with her about different things and ended up coming home with the intent of making some macaroni and cheese. I was boiling water and the macaroni in the pot. Unfortunately I had a glass casserole dish on the stove and it exploded all over the kitchen floor and into the dining room as well as the living room.
Getting a cut foot on glass
Of course my dumb self…. I heard the loud crash which sounded like glass actually dropped onto the floor… I proceeded to rush into the kitchen without shoes on to turn off the stove. I ended up cutting my left heel on a huge piece of glass. It slit right through and I started bleeding all over the kitchen floor. I proceeded to hop around like an idiot with my one foot while also apparently being able to not land my right foot on more glass.
Okay.. I did actually get a tiny piece of glass stuck in my right foot, but I was able to pull it out with my fingernails after about 10 minutes.
My blood dripped all over the hallway to the bathroom to the bathtub which is where my boyfriend told me to go when he saw that I had cut myself with glass. He gave me a few wet towels to press against my foot to stop the bleeding and he ended creating a bandage out of paper towel and electric tape. After he cleaned up some of the glass and me urging him to clean the blood off the floor (because I knew it would have stained the apartment floors), he proceeded to carry me to the car while it was pouring raining.
My boyfriend for the win ladies and gentlemen!
I have to say it would have been the most romantic experience if it hadn’t had been bleeding out from my foot.
We showed up at the ER. It took maybe 20 minutes for me to get a room. A few years ago, the ER didn’t have actual rooms so I was happy about this change at Beaumont Hospital. I recommend going to them if you ever need surgery or need to go to the emergency room for anything. They saved my life when I needed to have surgery a few years back.
Anyway, I actually was in an ER hospital room around 11:45 pm and I didn’t received my actual stitches until around 4:10 AM the next day. Apparently a lot of people were getting hurt because of fireworks which isn’t surprising, but that’s why I wasn’t seen until later.
I ended up getting a few x-rays of my foot to make sure it wasn’t any glass still stuck in and after they reviewed it, they proceeded to set me up to have stitches.
Getting Stitches
The process of getting my stitches basically went a few doctors came in to examine my foot and gave me a speech about how the nerve endings in the foot are the most sensitive in the body… just like the hands. They told me that they would use a numbing needle and then proceed to stitch my foot up.
The numbing needle is what hurts the most when it comes to getting stitches in the foot. I received one shot of sodium chloride and the another shot of lidocaine. I had a (I actually can’t think of the name of what the guy was called, but he wasn’t an actual doctor yet. He was similar to a intern doctor… I just can’t think of his actual title at the moment.” Anyway he didn’t want to hurt me so he gave me the dose of sodium chloride and then the numbing medicine, but he didn’t shoot it into my foot deep enough which resulted in the numbing not taking complete effect and me being able to feel him attempt to give me stitches. He ended up getting the other doctor who didn’t warn me about the needle. The doctor ended up shoving a a somewhat decent sized needle into my foot with the sodium chloride and then the numbing medicine. When I tell you the pain was excruciating, it truly was. Don’t get me wrong, each poke with the needle lasted maybe 6 seconds and keep in mind… I was still hurting from my foot being cut open by the glass and the wound being in my actual foot, but it was horrible and I had to hold still while getting it done. However, after those seconds were up, I was okay. Honestly, I could just be being dramatic because I am a dramatic person in general. But I was happy that the numbing medicine was taking its effect and I started receiving my stitches. The process didn’t hurt until the student doctor did my last stitch towards the outer part of my heel. The numbing medicine apparently didn’t reach that part.
I ended up receiving 6 stitches in my foot.
Pain after Stitches
The first day I had my stitches put in, it was painful. A good night’s rest will definitely help a lot. I know my foot barely hurt when I had it up on the couch or on the bed. It did hurt when I put it down towards the ground as if I was about to walk. I could feel the blood rushing to it and it did ache a lot. However this was probably for the first 2-3 days.
If you don’t smoke or drink, your body should heal at a decent rate with stitches or at least that’s what I was told.
Walking with stitches
Anyway, walking has been.. interesting. I currently have been slowly progressing from a baby deer to an adult deer. It’ll be a week since I’ve had my stitches in and I am supposed to get them removed within 7-10 days by my primary care doctor which sucks since it can usually take at least 3 weeks to get an appointment. So I am hoping that having the stitches removed won’t bother me too much. I’ll update you guys about it soon.
I know I need to lose weight for sure because I have been so tired with just walking around. It is the worst. A 30 minute grocery store trip to Walmart took an hour and 30 minutes. I will be so happy when I can actually walk correctly again.
Things I learned about this adventure of getting stitches in my foot
Exploding Glass
You can use a glass dish for baking, but when the glass has heat applied to it unevenly… the temperature causes it to shift and shatter. I am absolutely not a fan of glass baking dishes, but I recommend you all to be safe and to keep glass dishes off of the stove when it is on. Just to be safe. Overall, just don’t leave a glass dish on the stove when you have a stove eye actually on.
Do stitches hurt?
Honestly, getting stitches would only hurt if they didn’t use the numbing needle. The numbing needle that they stuck in my foot is what hurt and I had to receive the numbing needle 4 times because the first 2 times the needle didn’t take. The pain only lasts a few seconds though so it shouldn’t be too bad if you’re in need of stitches.
Getting stitches wet
In my release forms it said that I couldn’t swim or take baths, but that I can shower normally with soap and water. I know the first 2 days there was a little blood that came out after I showered, but now when I shower… There’s no blood. I originally thought that I would have to clean my foot a certain way, but I didn’t. I won’t lie though. Taking a shower with one foot is kind of difficult. I look forward to the day when I can shower with both feet again without it feeling uncomfortable.
Update
Getting my stitches removed
I was supposed to have my stitches removed within 7-10 days, but I ended up having them removed 14 days later by my doctor since that was the earliest appointment I could get. It surprisingly didn’t hurt. Well the third stitch in the middle of my foot did feel like a slight pinch, but the rest of the stitches just felt like a piece of string just being pulled through my foot. It was weird, but I am so happy it didn’t hurt having them removed because I had so much anxiety about it.
My doctor also put a prescription in for me to put some antibiotic cream on my foot every morning after taking a shower. I was just supposed to wash it with soap and water, apply the cream, and the put a bandage on it. I took the bandage off at night to let it breathe. I did this for 7 days and my foot seems to be healing up nicely.
Here’s a photo I posted on Instagram of my stitches in my foot.
So that’s my story of how glass exploded and I ended up with stitches in my foot.
I’ll try to be more careful. You guys be safe too.
