Who knew?

There's a time limit on stitches. I had no idea!!!!

I woke up this morning and the cut on my finger was still a little open. By the time my shower was done, it was a LOT open. So, I decided to go to an Urgent Care facility near work and get it stitched up before work. The doctor told me it was "too late" to stitch it, gave me a tetanus shot (um, OUCH?) and sent me on my way.

Well, I was in a hurry, so I didn't inquire as to why exactly it was too late. So, when I was finished with work, I went to the plastic surgeon who works on our floor and asked him about it. He looked at my finger and said "you should have had that stitched up last night" (which is exactly what the doctor this morning said). Then he went on to explain that after 6-8 hours, the risk of infection is greater than the risk of not stitching it. Wow, I didn't know that.

So I have a steri-strip on it for a while. Of course, the doc said to let it air out as much as possible, so I'll do that. Thank goodness the cut wasn't nearer to the tip of my finger (it was on the nice fleshy part), or I couldn't type ;)

Priorities, people, priorities!!!