After breakfast I was in my room making something using my pocket knife when it slipped and sliced my left pinkie. Ouch! It was a deep cut! I quickly wrapped a clean cloth around it and ran over to the ashram medical center. Luckily it was about 11:30 am and the wave of morning patients had all cleared out and the doctors were all available. They took me in right away. I felt chilled and clammy so I was in a little bit of shock. They cleaned out the cut and gave me a shot of local anesthetic (lidacane). Ouch again! The anesthetic injection really hurt! But I was definitely appreciating when it kicked in and the doctor (a young Indian man) sewed me up (2 stitches) and I didn't feel a thing. The nurse was a very sweet and kind American woman. She gave me some Bach Flower Essence Rescue Remedy under my tongue. Seemed to help. So 45 minutes after the cut happened I was all sewed up, bandaged up and on my way with some antibiotics in case the knife nicked the bone. The nurse said she was generally opposed to using antibiotics, but a bone infection is serious business. I took her recommendation with no hesitation and will take all the antibiotics (Cipro) as prescribed. Cost of the stitches and dressing came to 50 rupees (about $1.10). 10 Cipro pills came to about $2.00.
Peter was at the compost work today and it was great to have his help since I couldn't do much work with my cut pinkie. I just stood around and directed everyone while Peter watched and gave pointers. Peter recently spoke with another compost expert and that person gave him a lot of ideas. So now we've made some changes in how we make the piles. Just slop everything on and don't worry about making layers. The changes actually make it a little easier. Yay! Peter and I (just like when he was here last time) had some nice long talks about compost techniques, other ashram enviro projects and organic farming. People have been telling me that Amma mentions the compost project often and especially talks about the worm composting project. Ramping up the worm composting operation is one of Peter's projects during his stay here (about 4 weeks this time). I plan to learn as much as I can about worm composting while he's here.
I took a shower with my left raised up high the whole time. Gotta keep the dressing totally dry. I looked like one of those "one arm raised" sadhus you can see in India. There are sadhus who spend years with one arm constantly raised. A type of 'tapas' or austere spiritual practice. Putting up with my noisy neighbors is plenty enough tapas for me, thank you.
As I'm typing this (being very careful not use my left hand much) my left pinkie is really starting to throb. Ouch! Not a sharp pain, just a strong dull ache. I'm pretty sure that's normal for a cut like this. I'll see the doctor Sunday so he can look at it and change the dressing.
My hand was really hurting as I was trying to fall asleep. I put out some prayers to Amma for Her to help me. I finally feel asleep after a while.
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