06.05.06
Posted in Margarita Week at 9:42 am by Kerri
Wednesday, May 25th - Window and Bombproofing Day
I woke up Wednesday morning at 6:30 again. Time to take drugs. But, the good news was that I put my bra on without help!
The door was finished enough that Kelli wanted to move on to the next project. She had a narrow farmhouse window in her dining room that she wanted to make much larger. We had actually started on this project Tuesday night. Kelli decided she wanted to center the window in that wall, and have the top of the new window in the same place as the top of the current window. So, we marked out the dimensions with a pencil and started cutting through the sheetrock. Using a carpet knife, I cut on the lines so that the sheetrock would break where we wanted it to. Then Kelli started ripping it out with the wonder bar. It didn’t take long to notice there was another layer behind the sheetrock. We finished with the sheetrock and scribed the dimension line on the next layer.
This layer was 3/8″ sheetrock, but the old kind, with wood fibers in the gypsum, and it was covered by 3 layers of wallpaper. Underneath it we found another layer, fiberboard. As soon as we started on the fiberboard, the blown in insulation started falling out. Kelli was scooping it up in her hands and dumping it in garbage bags until I had the bright idea to use the shop vac. It was still a mess when we dumped it from the shop vac into the garbage bags, but better than doing it by hand. Eventually, we got the opening cut as large as we wanted it.
Wednesday morning we started in again. The next step was to remove the old window. That was pretty easy, so now we had this huge opening in the wall. We were trying to damage the wall we wanted to keep as little as possible, so we had to suck more insulation out of the wall below the level of the window, so we could put studs and cripples in for the window. Then the task was to get the 2×4’s in the wall. We cut one about an eigth of an inch too long, and couldn’t get it back out. Kelli had to cut it off with the reciprocating saw and then use a big hammer to get it in place.
We got the window framed in (and insulation put back in the wall) right before Pam got there and she helped us cut out the opening on the exterior of the house. We were so excited to put the window in, but the hole was just a bit too small! I was on drugs, remember, not to be held accountable! So, in a couple of spots the exterior sheeting and siding weren’t cut straight and sticking into the hole, so Kelli got out the reciprocating saw and trimmed that up. Window still didn’t fit. 
It was so close, but from the outside, Kelli could see that the 2×4 at the bottom was bowed up a bit. This is where the opening was for the original window, so we just took our cripples out, cut them shorter, put them back in and sat on the 2×4 to bring it down. The window still didn’t fit, but it was SO CLOSE, so Kelli got her hoof rasp and started rasping any spot on the opening that looked like it would interfere. Kelli got tired and Pam took over.
Pam was standing inside the house rasping on the top of the window and Kelli was outside on the ground. Pam must’ve hit something hard with the rasp, and it flew out of her hands. She tried to catch it, but just missed and actually pushed it harder towards Kelli. Kelli grabbed her face and put her head down. Pam and I were horrified. It looked to me like the pointy, handle-less end of the rasp hit her in the cheek. Kelli kept saying it wasn’t that bad, but then her nose started bleeding. Finally she got the bleeding stopped and we could see what the damage was. The rasp had actually hit her glasses, scraping divots out of the lenses, and then the edge of it hit her nose. Took a triangle of skin off about ½” x ¼”, but it didn’t hit hard enough to break her nose. Kelli was just relieved that we didn’t have to go to the clinic. She didn’t want to face them again so quickly with a problem.
So, got all the high spots rasped off, and put the window in - FINALLY! It fit really tight, so I was worried about it being crooked and the window not opening, but it did. We attached the flanges to the house and breathed a rather large collective sigh of relief. It was now about 4:30 in the afternoon, so we decided it was time for supper. Pam had brought taco stuff. Since I wasn’t much help in my condition, they sent me to the shower.
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06.08.05
Posted in Margarita Week at 6:25 am by Kerri
Tuesday, May 24 More painful than the day before
Tuesday morning my hand woke me up at 6:30. Not too bad, really. I got up and had breakfast and a half a pecocet, hoping that it wouldn’t make me sick at that dose. Then I laid down for a while. I’m not sure how it happened, but pretty soon I was helping Kelli with the door again.
Turns out I had finished cutting the board, so Kelli was trying to fit it into the top of the door. Problem was, she was trying to fit the remainder instead of the piece we wanted. Once she got the correct piece, it fit fine, and she screwed it into place and we fitted the weatherstripping into it. Voila! The door closed tightly. Then Kelli worked on fixing the soffit outside the door. I was in and out of this process, going to lay down frequently. I couldn’t sleep tho, because my hand hurt, and a friend, Lyle, was there cutting down the dead trees in her back yard. Chainsaws aren’t conducive to sleep.
Kelli reminded me that I had a doctors appointment, and, did I want to take a shower? So, we put a gallon zip loc bag on my hand and sealed the edges to my arm with duct tape and I took a shower. Even though I’m right handed, that left hand does come into play in the shower. Some parts didn’t get washed very well. When I was done, I had to have Kelli come in and fasten my bra for me. Not a banner moment in my life, but at least I wasn’t alone, or worse, with strangers.
We ended up being late for my appointment. Too late! It just takes longer to do everything when you have to be careful of an injury. The receptionist said the doctor was at lunch, but we could come back at 1:30. We went to lunch and were there by 1:15, so we wouldn’t miss this one. The nurse took me back to a room and the doctor unwrapped my fingers. The bandage stuck a bit, but not too bad. They couldn’t find my x-rays and we hadn’t seen them since the previous day in the ER, (They’re probably still there, somewhere.), so the doctor asked us if it got the bone. We told him it just took the tip off of the one, and didn’t get the other. Once he looked at it, he said there was no need for surgery, and he was going to have his assistant clean it up.
I was taken to another room, and there met Dave, the PA. He said he was going to do a digital nerve block on my fingers, and then clean it really well with a scratchy pad. That’s not what he called it, but that’s what he meant. I was very apprehensive, thinking about that scratchy pad, and how much the digital block hurt the day before. Dave did great tho - the injection still hurt - but he was very good at it, and it wasn’t bad. When he was done, I told him that my fingers felt swollen like sausages, and he said he put 10 cc’s of lidocain in there, they were going to feel full.
He left me alone for a while, and when he came back, my fingers were quite numb. When he scubbed my fingers with his scratchy pad, it was almost pleasant. Done with that, he started cutting off dead tissue in order to stitch it. When he was working on my middle finger, he said, “That’s not good!’, and turned away to get supplies. My response was, “What’s not good?” He told me there was a foreign body in there, and it was already infected. So, he goes digging in there deeper, and cutting things. He pulled out a small black dot, probably another bit of my glove.
While he was digging around in my finger it really started to hurt, so he injected lidocain directly into the wound, and then rinsed the area with lidocain. The injection was very painful, but when it took affect, things were good again. When he was cutting off the dead tissue, he hit a bleeder, and that took a while to stop. Bled more then than when the saw got me. Finally, he was done cleaning me up, and put a stitch in my middle finger and two in the amputated finger. He only put one in the middle finger so any infection could drain.
Dave then bandaged my fingers with tube gauze. This is cool stuff - he put a length of it on a circular tube, and then put it over my finger. Holding the end of the gauze at the base of my finger, he then pulled the tube back, gave it a twist and pushed it down again. He repeated a couple of times and then split the remaining gauze in half. When he was done with both fingers, he tied the split ends around my wrist to make sure they couldn’t be pulled off accidentally.
I had told Dave that the Percocet was making me sick, so he gave me a scrip for Darvocet for pain and Keflex for infection, and sent me on my way. By this time the digital block was wearing off, and I wanted drugs again. My fingers hurt worse from him probing and cutting than they did the day before, so we stopped at Pam’s so I could take half a Percocet. It only took the edge off at that dose. We sat at her house for a while, with them talking and me just trying to forget the pain. John started talking about nasty accidents involving fingers and arms, and it just made it worse. I asked him to change the subject. Pam and John wanted us to stay and watch a movie or something, but I still needed to get my prescriptions, and I just wanted to lay down.
I don’t remember much of the rest of that day, except the pain. The Darvocet didn’t make me sick, but it didn’t erase the pain either. I know Dave did the best that anyone could do in that situation, but I was cussing him that night.
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06.04.05
Posted in Margarita Week at 11:14 am by Kerri
If you’re only interested in my accident, scroll down to Monday. Saturday and Sunday are about remodeling, driving horses and quilting.
Friday 5/20 Beginning
I arived at Kelli’s house in the early evening and unloaded Ian, my horse. Kelli is my fraternal twin sister, the one with red hair. We were getting together for Margarita Week to celebrate our friend Pam’s 40th Birthday, and work on Kelli’s newly acquired house. The idea was to install new windows and doors, drive, ride and play with our horses, and then perfect the Margarita in the evenings. I had asked Scott to pick me up some good tequila and triple sec for my vacation. He came home with Herrada Tequila and Cointreau Orange Liquer to the tune of $98. I was shocked, to say the least. He got the best the liquor store had available!
Anyway, back to Friday night, Kelli served Hot & Spicy Teriyaki - very good but very hot! I had to add more rice in order to finish mine.
Saturday 5/21 The Door
Saturday morning, Kelli & I started working on the new door between the the house and the garage. This house was built in 1917, according to the previous owners, and it has had at least 2 different additions. The first addition contains the laundry room and bathroom and what is being used as the main entrance to the house. The second addition is the garage, which covered up the window in the entrance. So, when she bought the house, you couldn’t get directly from the house to the garage, you had to go outside and then in through the side door of the garage, but you could see through the window into the garage.
We pulled out the window, and saved it for a shed or something. Then we cut out the opening for the door, in the same spot. For a while, our biggest problem was the asbestos siding on the garage side of the wall. That stuff is hard to cut, the reciprocating saw would do it, but it was work for it and the person running it. The metal cutting blade on the skilsaw worked better, but it was still a lot of work, and we had to wear masks (fogs up your glasses and hot).
Once we got the wall cut open and the measurements good from side to side, we realized that we didn’t have enough room vertically to put the door in. This was a nagging suspicion on my part, but by the time it hit me, we were past the point of no return anyway. Even after cutting the 2×4 out of the bottom of the wall, we were too short. There’s a soffit on the garage side of the wall (from addition #1), so we cut into it to see where we were at. We found that we couldn’t make the opening higher ‘cuz we were at the header for the wall, and the rafters were resting on it.
The new door from the entryway to
the garage.
The door frame required 81½” and we were at about 80¾”. So, we made a call to Mr. Wizard (Scott). He’s our straw boss, so to speak. Everytime we ran into trouble on Kelli’s house, or Kelli and I disagreed, we’d give him a call. We knew we had to cut the frame off of the top of the door, but that’d mean we’d have no stability when we were installing the door. Scott suggested we screw a board across the frame of the door, on the outside, before we cut the header off, and then clamp boards to the sides of the frame as a guide when we made our cut with the skilsaw. He’s a pretty smart guy. We ended up screwing scrap wood into the frame to run the skilsaw against and it worked great.
We set the door into the hole, and made it square and plumb, then found we couldn’t open the door ‘cuz the ceiling had sagged. Disgusted, we quit for the day. There was still a gap at the top of the door without weatherstripping, the door handle and all of the molding to do. Kelli stuffed a rag into the handle opening and we went to Pizza Pro. We’d worked from about 7:30am to 5:15pm with only a break for lunch.
We were too tired to play with the horses that day.
Sunday Morning 5/22 Driving
Kelli and I decided that since we’d spent all of Saturday on the door, we’d take Sunday off. We were on vacation, after all. In the morning we hitched up Ian and Carmen. Since Ian hadn’t been worked for a couple of days, I drove him around in Kelli’s pasture for a while. Then, Kelli drove Carmen near him for a few minutes so they could get used to the sounds of the other’s cart. Carmen doesn’t like pulling in the pasture because it’s bumpy and hard to pull in.
Kelli’s 13.2h pony, Carmen, hooked and ready to go.Kelli and Carmen led us out on the gravel street that runs to the west from her house. Almost immediately, we had to cross a bridge. It was Ian’s 12th drive in the cart, and his first bridge. He stopped to take a really good look at it, especially eyeing the running water under the bridge. Carmen was already across the bridge and continuing on, so I asked Kelli to stop until we got through this obstacle. With some encouragement (whip), Ian tiptoed across the bridge until he reached the dark rusted metal edge on the other side. He stopped again, but then decided it was OK. We followed Kelli down the road. Ian was uncertain whether it was OK to continue, but we made it with a few starts and stops. We drove by a herd of horses who are used to Kelli’s cart, but they thought the big wooden wheels on my cart were pretty spooky at first.
Ian and I warming up before exploring the neighborhood.
The street is only about ½ mile long, but the lady at the end was nice enough to give Kelli permission to drive through her property. She has a beautiful place with lots of trees and her gravel drive loops around through the trees and outbuildings. Lots of stuff for a green horse to look at, but by this point, Ian was sure he’d be okay as long as he followed Carmen. He walked better than he ever has, trying to keep up with Carmen - she’s a goer. He tried to break into a trot several times to keep up with her, but I kept him at a walk. We went back towards Kelli’s house and then turned off onto a side street. The road dead-ends at someone’s house, so after a short time, we turned around and did the whole trip again. On the second loop, we trotted a bit, and Ian did great.
Kelli took Carmen back home, ‘cuz she had had enough, but after she untacked, I asked her to go on another tour with me. Ian seemed to have plenty of energy left. We went again, trotting a bit more, but then Ian was tired, so we went back to Kelli’s and gave both ponies treats and put them up. We were supposed to be al Phyl’s house (other sister) around noon, so we went in and took showers.
Sunday Afternoon 5/22 Quilting
We got to Phyl’s a bit after noon and had roast beef sandwiches with Pork-n-Beans. Then we cleaned up the table and got out the material to make my new quilt.
Phyl & Kelli’s wallhanging, called Merlot © Angel Kitties Designs.
Phyl and Kelli had designed and quilted a wall hanging, and I just loved it. The idea was to make my quilt out of the same fabrics, but we couldn’t find the border fabric. We couldn’t find anything that would work in it’s place either.
Merlot © Angel Kitties Designs with the border showing, on
the long arm quilting machine.
About 2 weeks before Margarita week, we went to
Crazy Quilters in Havre. I found some fabric that I just fell in love with, a milk chocolate paisley (not usually a big fan of paisley, but it’s beautiful in this fabric). So, we started over, finding fabrics that we could make into the same quilt pattern, with the brown paisley as the border. Kelli, Pam and I spent 2½ hours there, matching fabrics. Kelli and Pam are really good at it, so I defer to their opinion, unless I hate the fabric. In the original design, the grape with gold leaves fabric is the focus, but I liked this paisley fabric so much that we made it the focus of my quilt. Scott wasn’t really thrilled that I went a new direction, ‘cuz he really likes the original fabrics.
Back to Sunday afternoon, the goal was to finish one 16″ square quilt block, so we could see it, and convince Scott (DH) and Phyl that it was going to be beautiful. We did it, but it took about 6 hours. We spent a lot of time trying to extrapolate the old design into the new design with my fabrics. In the original design, the border fabric wasn’t a part of the quilt body, but I wanted the paisley included so we put it in on the star points. Phyl had some rather large reservations about how our fabrics would look with her design, but Kelli and I were convinced it was going to be great - by the time we were done, Phyl thought so too.
My quilt square is in the middle, with the border fabric laid to the
right, and the other fabric laid on the top left corner to approximate
the irish chain. The thin border strip looks brown, but it’s actually
a dark, dusty plum.
Monday 5/23 Tablesaws and Doctors
First thing Monday morning, Kelli and I tackled the sag in the entryway ceiling. There were nails at the edge of the wall, and about 3 feet from the wall. We used two pieces of scrap 2×4 and a hydraulic jack to raise the ceiling to something approximately level. We couldn’t make the ceiling really level, because the stringer at 3 feet is bowed down into the room. There should be another stringer somewhere in the middle, so we started putting screws in at about 18″. We hit nothing. So we ranged out in all directions, searching for anything solid. We tried to find it by tapping on the ceiling with a hammer and still found nothing.
Eventually, I cut a hole in the ceiling, and Kelli stuck her hand up there. She found ancient insulation, but no wood. She finally reached up higher and felt the rafters, so we used 4″ screws and screwed through the sheetrock up into the rafters. Then we could open the door. Kelli then worked on installing the lockset while I took the header we had cut off of the door frame and attempted to cut ½” off of it, to slide in at the top of the door to seal it, and hold the weatherstripping.
I say attempted, because I wasn’t entirely successful. I carefully set the table saw fence to cut ¾” of the 1¼” board and started cutting. I was holding the board against the fence with my left hand, and using a scrap stick as a push stick. (You can see where this is going, can’t you?) I was being very careful and concentrating hard. When I was almost finished, I realized I needed to reposition my push stick. Apparently it took too much of my brain to reposition the push stick and I took my concentration off of my left hand. The next thing I knew, the board is floating up, and then kicked back, knocking my fingers into the blade. Grabbing my left hand with my right and squeezing as hard as I could, I told Kelli to shut the table saw off, and take me to the doctor. Kelli used to be a veterinary technician and an EMT, so she remained calm, got her keys, closed the house up and walked me to the pickup.
Kelli said, “Do you want to go to the clinic, ‘cuz they’re just going to send you to the ER?” Kelli works at Sweet Medical Center, so she knows the procedure. I told her, “Let’s go to the clinic so they can give me drugs.” It didn’t hurt much yet, but I knew it was going to, and the ER is in Havre, 20 miles away. So, to the clinic we went.
At the clinic, Kelli had me sit down and went to the front desk, asking for Lorraine, the PA. Kelli knew that Lorraine was a trauma nurse in the past, so she wanted her to take care of me. They put me in a room and had me lie down. I still had pressure on my hand, but had to let go so they could look at it. That’s when it started hurting. Lorraine cut off my glove and my sweatshirt. Meanwhile, she had someone else look for the key to the narcotics closet. They didn’t have one available, apparently the two staff doctors weren’t there that day.
Lorraine tells me they have to do a digital block, which is really injecting lidocain (like novacain) into the spaces between my fingers to block the pain. So far, I was holding it together pretty good, but when she stuck the neede in the soft, sensitive tissue between my fingers, I lost it. I was bawling, and Kelli was squeezing my hand. At some point, Kelli says she’s going to call Pam. Found out later that Kelli was feeling woozy, and she knew I had to go to the ER in Havre, so she called Pam to drive. Someone else took over holding my hand. Once the digital block took effect, I was doing better until Lorraine started cleaning me up. There wasn’t much blood, but she took a hunk of my glove out of my middle finger. And it still hurt, even with the block. I started bawling again, mostly because I was feeling sorry for myself, and kicking myself for being so stupid. I was also worried about telling Scott. I kept trying to picture a nice drive with Ian and breathe deeply, but I kept coming back to STUPID, STUPID, STUPID! I also had cotton mouth from the after affects of adrenaline, and they wouldn’t let me have water, in case they needed to do surgery in Havre.
Everyone kept telling me that it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I was pretty sure that I knew how bad it was, and even though it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, it was bad enough. Lorraine said I’d cut the tip off of my ring finger and cut into the middle finger, and it didn’t look like I’d hit anything important on the middle finger. At least it was my left hand. Lorraine gently and loosely wrapped my hand so that I could be transported to Havre. Pam had arrived at some point, and started making wisecracks to make me feel better. Lorraine asked if I wanted them to call an ambulance. Kelli piped up and said that, no, she and Pam could drive me. I agreed, no need to pay an ambulance too (I’m cheap). Before I left, they took x-rays to send to the ER, and found that I had just cut the tip of the bone on my ring finger. For the morbidly curious, you can see pictures at NOT FOR THE FAINTHEARTED!
About halfway to the ER, the digital block started wearing off, so when we got to Havre, I wanted drugs. The ER doctor was stitching up someone else, so it was some time before she got to me. Meanwhile, Kelli’s checking me in, and Pam’s trying to get my mind off of the fact that I needed drugs. Finally the doctor showed up, and had the nurse give me morphine. She took the bandage off and took a look at my hand. She said they were just going to look me over, because she wanted me to see the orthopedic surgeon the next day and have him assess my hand. She had another nurse bring me some water, too. It was full of ice, and it was so cold I couldn’t drink it fast enough to quench my thirst, so I had Pam dump it out and give me tap water. It was warm, but I could drink it as fast as I wanted.
After the morphine took affect, they took me to another room to rebandage my hand and they took a picture. They asked me if I wanted a picture, and I said no. I hadn’t even looked at it by that time. Now I wish I’d gotten a picture. It took them a while to rebandage, and Pam (if you can believe it!) started to get woozy. By the time they were done with me, the morphine was wearing off, so they gave me another shot to get me home. The doctor gave me a scrip for Percocet and sent me home. I also had an appointment for the next day to see the orthopedic surgeon. BTW, lying there, the morphine didn’t seem like much, but when I stood up and walked to the pickup, it felt like my neck was a long string, and my head was a balloon, bob-bob-bobbing along on the end of the string.
I called Scott as soon as we left the ER. He was in the shop at work, tin building, so I made him go outside so he could hear me. All he kept saying was OW really loud. I told him I knew it hurt so he could stop saying that.
We dropped Pam off at her house and then went to the Pharmacy in Chinook. I sat down on the bloodpressure testing machine until I had to sign the check. I was still in pain, but kinda woozy from the morphine. At Kelli’s house, I think we had lunch, but I don’t really remember. I know I was supposed to take the percocet with food and lie down afterwards. I snoozed for a while, and then Pam brought supper. Monday night was supposed to be the night to try out the Margarita recipe, and have tacos. Pam thought I might not be able to handle the tacos, so she brought roasted chicken and garlic potatoes. While she and Kelli were cooking, I lay on the couch feeling sick.
Supper was delicious, at least my mouth thought so, my stomach didn’t. I’d eat a few bites, a wait to see if it was going to come up, or just feel like it. Meanwhile, Kelli and Pam are trying out the tequila. They thought the recipe we got from a cookbook was too strong and too tart. Kelli decided it needed limeade instead of lime juice. They added sugar to their drinks and seemed much happier. We ate in Kelli’s porch, so I just laid down on the futon and listened to them talk. Emily, their farrier stopped by and chatted for a while, I tried to be sociable, but failed, I’m sure. After Emily left, I went to the bathroom and threw up. I felt much better then. Apparently my system doesn’t like Percoset.
Will be continued in Margarita Week, Parte Dos, including ‘Bombproofing Day’
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I can do pretty much anything else, tho. They still feel really wierd, because the nerves haven’t learned their new jobs. They’re still rather sensitive, and get stiff easily. I do excercises everyday to keep the tendons limber. Typing helps, too.