How far away is death? One wrong step
Some people are not blessed with great coordination — I may or may not be referring to myself (okay, true story, it was me) and the one wrong step I took in the garden a few weeks ago.
I watered the hinoki, the camelia, the boxwoods — all the plants between my garden gates — wound the hose up, shut the gate, turned around and fell on the edge of a flagstone, slicing my left shin open to my knee — all because of one wrong step.
Later, I wondered if the slippers I was wearing played a part in the fall.
With that one wrong step, I knew immediately the injury was bad; blood had already soaked the lower half of my clothing.
I remembered I didn’t have any large bandages or hydrogen peroxide. I did have my cell phone with me. With blood spurting from my left leg, I applied pressure and made a quick decision: I’d do a delivery order via my phone and make it “priority,” a faster delivery. I also called a doctor friend to get some advice while sitting on a garden bench and applying pressure to the wound.
Trying to remain relatively calm, I wondered if I should call 911 but then the medical supplies arrived.
I limped to the front door to get the bags of supplies, grabbed some paper towels, and applied the hydrogen peroxide.
The next day at the orthopedic injury clinic where I learned the left leg was cut to the bone. The clinic doctor distracted me with cheerful conversation while he cleaned the leg and wrapped in a castlike bandage with tons of padding.
In the back of my mind, I was considering that my job is writing how to be safe on the job and, in part, emphasizing the importance of avoiding accidents, slips, and falls. (After all, OSHA’s Fall Protection Standard has been at the top of its Top 10 Safety Violations list for 12 years.)
And, here I was, limping along, still not knowing exactly what made me fall.
So, now I advise you from personal experience to be as careful and thoughtful about your execution of daily tasks as you, hopefully, are on the job. It can save your life.
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