Slice N Dice

More than once a week, I notice a new gash or scrape on John’s body that elicits some story about falling off a roof truss, having the nail gun ricochet into his hand, or some other accident. Often, he’s not even sure where many of them come from. I myself have accumulated more cuts, bruises, and muscle strains than I can remember, including a deep puncture wound from an exposed nail. So in retrospect, I have to admit that we were lucky that it took this long before an incident was bad enough to require immediate medical attention.

Last Friday, we finally had our metal roof delivered, and had a two hour window to unload the entire truck by hand. Our research left us well-informed about how sharp the metal was and we invested in a couple pairs of kevlar gloves designed specifically for this purpose. There weren’t enough to go around, so John was wearing thick leather gloves instead. While pushing on a piece of metal in an effort to dislodge it from the holding container, his hand slipped and the metal sliced right through the glove and all the way to the bone.

The roof pieces in crates, prior to unloading them (and John, prior to cutting himself).

The “bloody glove”. It looks like a small cut (especially after being stitched up), but it was deep. Just be glad I don’t have any pre-stitches pictures.

While we hurried to complete the unloading process, John got himself to the emergency room. He sat in the crowded lobby for about ten minutes, while no one was even called back. Frustrated, he found a nearby urgent care clinic and left; however, he was informed upon leaving that they start charging as soon as you show up, and that he would have to pay for the time he spent in the waiting room. Our health care system is seriously broken.

Fortunately, the clinic gave him attention quickly and he got five stitches and some antibiotics for a reasonable price. The doctor said that with the depth of the cut, he was lucky that no tendons were severed. And – John being John – he was back on the job site that afternoon, helping to install the underlayment on the roof.

I also can’t write about this without giving a shout-out to the people who helped out. John’s brother Reid stepped up in John’s absence, which is saying something, because John is constantly working at a level that most people can’t sustain for more than 5 minutes. Our friend Dana came to our rescue and lent a hand, even though it made her late to an appointment in the process. We were specifically told that the driver was unionized and would not be helping out, but he personally helped carry a number of panels without complaint (unless you count the part where he jokingly told Dana that if she was “thinking about not being friends with us anymore, she should make that call now, before doing physical labor”). Additionally, our neighbors let us leave a fridge sitting in the middle of their driveway for most of the day, when the appliance delivery truck had the unfortunate timing of arriving while the roof was being unloaded. Needless to say, a stressful and upsetting situation was made tolerable by the people around us.