No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Beware, the pictures get ugly.

So, 2-3 years ago, the Stake got ahold of a bunch of 50 gallon drums that had held some kind of punch.  We bought 5 of them for $3.50 a piece.  Now the good intention was to clean them out and give one to each of our kids and one to us.  We even bought the pumps to go with them. WELLLL, they sat next to the shed for the last 2-3 years collecting rain and snow water and all kinds of dirt.  Keith and I have been trying to get some emergency supplies together.  Since there was no UTAH game today and the weather was nice, we (or rather I) decided today would be a great day to clean them out.  We went to Walmart and bought 5 gallons of bleach, one for each drum.  Then we went to work.  First we had to dump the water out of each drum and then we got the power washer and proceeded to clean the gunk out of each one.  After they were pretty well cleaned out, I poured a gallon of  bleach in each drum and then Keith would put some water in.  I then sealed the tops, rolled them on their sides and let them sit and then I would turn them and swirl them, over and over again.  Well on the second drum, water and bleach sprayed out of the drum into Keith's eye.  He went into to wash it out, came back out.  I told him to go to InstaCare, but he kept on working.  Then he went back in the house and took a shower to try and flush it out and since it was still burning, he agreed to go to InstaCare.  Just as he was getting ready to go, Trav came by and he took Keith. I stayed behind to finish cleaning out the drums.   Picture of drums all cleaned out.

He's a lovely picture of Keith's eye after it had been irrigated and cleaned.  He has to have antibiotic eye drops and Pain meds.  The yellow stuff is what they put on him in the Dr.'s office.  He can't stand bright lights and it is burned.

Well, back at home, the cleaning was going pretty good. I figured out a system where I could rinse out the bleach and get all the rocks out and then rinse and rinse again.  I got to the last drum and my last rinse when the power washer slipped out of the hole and the end of the wand was 1 inch away from my gloved thumb and sprayed my thumb.  You would think no big deal right? WRONG!  Pain as I have never experienced it before went shooting down my thumb.  Blood was coming out through the glove.  I ran into the house grabbed paper towels, changed clothes and drove myself to InstaCare.  Now, I've cut myself a ton in my life, but nothing like this.  I've even cut through my tendon in the same thumb.  NOTHING like this.  By the time I got there, I was shaking and starting to go into shock.  As the receptionist was taking my information, out walks Keith and Trav.  So, Back Travis goes with his other parent to get helped.  Keith sat in the waiting room.  He felt like he was going to faint.  Now, Travis says I was Hysterical.  I say I was in more pain than I ever remember being in and I was being rather brave.  I did cry harder when the Doctor gave me shots to deaden my thumb.  She said she had never seen anything like this before and there was a lot of soft tissue damage. I got 4 stitches.  the cut runs from the middle in the front of my thumb to the back. I got x-rayed and found out I also have air in the thumb and may need to see a hand specialist. I also have pain meds and antibiotics.  So, I'm typing this before the numbness wears off.  Another ugly picture.  Notice also the bruise on my cheek.  That came from the dentist on Monday and is 5 days old.  Believe me, it was worse.

So, with the money we had to pay to the docs and meds, we could have bought 3 new drums.  What drama.  All my Thanks to Travis.  He was our angel today.  It's neat to see him in his element.  He's a great nurse.  

Yep, Keith and I are going to be fun to be around.  Someday this will be a REALLY funny story.