Lessons I learned from a Mandoline

Lesson #1: Don't use it with your bare hands. If you do, you chance losing digits. Or at least large portions of said digits.

It all began a couple months ago when one of my best friends, Brigida, got engaged. Naturally, her maid (DawnMarie) and matron (yours truly) set about to throw her the most awesome bridal shower ever. Well, actually, DawnMarie planned the shower. I was there to be helpful and relieve stress.

So, the day before the big event, DawnMarie and I got together to start food prep. She made chicken salad and I sliced cucumbers. I was doing well in my slicing when the cucumber hit the blade and tipped. However, my hand continued the forward motion. DawnMarie says the next thing she heard was me saying, "No. No. NO...... NO..........." and she looked over and I was holding my finger. My hand had slipped when the cucumber fell and I had cut the entire tip (fleshy padding above the nail bed) clean off.

After that I kind of went into shock and had a panic attack. DawnMarie instantly grabbed a towel to wrap my finger in, held my hand above my heart and put lots of pressure on my finger. For a good 5 minutes I sobbed and sobbed. Then DawnMarie looked at my finger and thought she saw bone. She insisted that we go to the emergency room. She grabbed the tip of my finger and we piled into Hannah's car. DawnMarie finally prayed when we got into the car, which seemed to calm me quite a bit. We got right into the ER, which was amazing. By the time we got into our room, we were laughing and spirits were much higher. They put an anti-bacterial foam on the missing tip (which hurt like balls) and bandaged me up. Then I was discharged. And back to work I went.

I had my follow-up visit at my regular doctor yesterday. Expect I did not see regular doctor. However, I really liked the guy I saw and am now considering making a switch. He was very nice and gentle and had a good sense of humor. He thinks it is going to heal well, and it looks good so far.

So, that is the first lesson I learned from a mandoline. I won't be back for another anytime soon.

The shower ended up being really nice. We went through a lot to get it there, but it was excellent.