Memoir of a 5 year old

The Big Accident

       As luck would have it, I have been home alone with just my oldest brother and my dad. My brother who has a mini apartment in the garage goes out there to do whatever it is 16 year old boys do and my father has fallen asleep on the couch while waiting for my mom and brothers to bring home dinner. With so many older people in my house, I have never been really left alone to get into my own trouble as I am usually always left in the care of someone who is enjoying telling me what to do. So for me to be hiding in the kitchen with a bag of chocolate chips, I am excited at the idea of having them all to myself. With a house full of 5 other people besides myself, I am never left alone long enough to really get into trouble. I am the youngest of 4 and the only girl so I am constantly the one being blamed for things to minimize the outcome for my older brothers.   

     Today, however, I am alone looking through the cupboards at our home for something sweet as my mom didn’t really buy a lot of them. I finally find a bag of chocolate chips that my mom had on hand for cookies. I excitedly look around for something to open them with. I cannot find scissors and at my age, am not strong enough to get the bag open myself. I spot on the counter our set of knives and even though I have told a hundred times not to play with knives, I remember none of those conversations at that moment. I climb up on the counter and retrieve a serrated knife which my mom still has to this day. I grab the knife and while holding the back with my right hand shove the knife through the bag, as the knife tears open the bag it also slides down and rips through my finger.

  

 I am in total shock and for a minute or two just stare at my hand as the blood begins to pour down it. I then somehow find my way to the bathroom and try to rinse the blood away. As the blood continues to gush out, my mom comes home and just stares at me in shock as I stare back at her in fear. She screams for my dad to wake up and manages to simultaneously yell at him while putting pressure on my hand to stop the bleeding. After about 10 minutes, they decide they have to drive me to the nearest hospital for help. As they drive towards Starke, FL which is about 15 minutes away from where we live, I remember sitting in the backseat of our car wondering if they would punish me when we got home. 

            When we arrive at the ER, I remember spending about 10 minutes arguing with my dad because I did not want to ride in a wheelchair into the hospital! They rushed me right back into a large room and after 5 different types of bandages, they manage to get the bleeding under control. They schedule me surgery as I have cut a nerve and artery in my finger and fear that not repairing the artery as soon as possible may lead to more uncontrollable bleeding. I remember hiding under the sheet as they wheeling me around the hospital towards the operating room and only wanting my mom. As they took me back to surgery prep, all I could do was hide and hope they would just leave me alone. A really nice nurse came to talk to me while they took me to the operating room and I remember seeing about 10 people in the room which was sterile and white. They put the mask on me and told me to count to 10, I remember getting to 3 and from that moment on everything is blank until I am getting ready to go home. They were able to repair the artery but the nerve was not repairable so while I only have partial feeling, I go home with a large cast on my arm and a follow-up visit in a week. 

     My mom gives me a lecture on the way home about knives which believe me was understandable but not needed. The lesson I  learned through-out this whole ordeal that sometimes it is better to ask an adult for something than to try and use something that I have been told not to use. I did not try to use a sharp knife again until I was much older and wiser.