toes are more important than you think

It's been over a week now, but I nearly cut off my toe last Saturday with the blade to the food processor. We get invited every year to Phil's aunt and uncle's house for the big "fish feed." A friend of theirs goes to Vancouver, British Columbia (that's Canada, for those of you who aren't up on your geography) on a big fishing trip and brings back a ton of salmon and halibut. It's soooooo good.

Well, I usually take a dessert. I guess you could say I'm known for my desserts. Phil's aunt described them as "delectable." So I decided that since it's pretty much fall now that I'd bring pumpkin cheesecake. This required me to use the food processor to smash the gingersnaps for the crust. That part went fine. The cheesecake was done and in the fridge.

I was cleaning up and washing dishes. (And now for the gruesome part). . .I was holding onto the middle part of the blade that sits down into the food processor and I was drying off the blade. Well, my hand slipped off the part I was holding onto (since it was wet) and I dropped it. My reaction time, being poor, didn't allow me to get my right foot out of the way, and it landed on my 4th toe. The thing bled like crazy, and I couldn't get it to stop. That, I knew, was a bad sign. I got an up close look at it and started feeling faint. . .another bad sign. It was cut right across the knuckle. Mom told me to wrap it up and keep it elevated. When Phil got off work, he took a peek and said, "Yah, I think you need to go to urgent care."

So off we went (after I washed, dried, and curled my hair, of course! I wasn't going in there looking like a skank!) The nurse leading me back said, "Boy, it's not been a good day for you." I said, "No, and it all started with that stupid cheesecake recipe."

The doc came in, examined it, and said, "Yep, you need stitches. And in order to do that, I'm going to have to numb your whole toe." Not being a big fan of shots, I tried to put out of my mind what he was about to do. He gets the needle ready and proceeds to inject my toe. YOWZA! That hurt. Then he shoots me again on the other side, and that's when I nearly fainted. I could feel the tunnel coming on, as my vision started decreasing and my ears got all weird sounding. He goes, "Wendy, are you ok?" I said, "NOOOO." He put the bed down, and I slowly started to regain normalcy while I could feel the thread moving through my skin. Phil was there, holding my hand the entire time. He knew I was about to pass out - he said he could see it on my face.

Four stitches and a knuckle bandage later, I was ready to head home and get ready for the fish feed. I wasn't about to miss that fresh halibut! My toe was numb the rest of the day. I wore slippers to school since wearing shoes is a huge killer. It's been quite interesting. Yep, toes are more important than you think. You never think about them. Till you nearly cut one off.