Splinters and book-thoughts

[hawkwing_lb]

Today is day three of the splinter.

The tweezers are locked in a suitcase in the Attic of Doom. I am not going looking for them alone, since Dearest Mother hid them - well, forgot that they'd stayed in the suitcase - and I haven't a hope in hell of finding them without her. I tried using a nailclippers (gently, gently), but, alas, the amount of pressure sufficient to get a good grip is a hairsbreadth away from the amount of pressure needed to snip right through, and I am falling on the wrong hair.

If I can't get rid of it soon, I'll be poking around with ye sharpe kniveses, out of desperation. (It itches. Like hell. And stings.)

In other news this week, I read Jim Butcher's Furies of Calderon*, and I'm now quite miffed that I can't get the sequel, Academ's Fury**, without resorting to Amazon and the hundred thousand ills of shipping***.

Furies of Calderon is a solid fantasy in the epic tradition. There are no real surprises, but what sets it apart is interesting world-building - the magic system is new and unusual in its twist, at least to me - and interesting characters. Apart from the 'bad guy' - the sections written from his POV are a bit boring, to me: I'll have to go back and re-read to figure out precisely why that's so.

(Something else that sort of irritated me: it's written, I think, in a rather distant version of limited third POV, and I prefer to get somewhat closer to the characters than Butcher's style brought me. Also, the women, as characters? There's something slightly off, to me, about their reactions, all of them. Which again I'll have to re-read to figure out exactly what.)

It's fast-paced, fun and interesting, but hardly ground-breaking. That said, it's enjoyable enough that I want to read the next one ASAP.

ETA: With thanks to the advice of etumukutenyak, ye splinter has been removed. At least, I think it's been removed. Hopefully. At least most of it has.

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*Which was, amazingly enough, available in Hodges Figgis for less than the price of an arm and a leg.

**Which I saw a couple of weeks ago in Forbidden Planet, but has since disappeared, leaving me miffed, to say the least.

***We wants it now, precious, damnit!

Comments

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

For the Splinter of Doom, might I suggest a topical anesthetic? Lidocaine -- as spray or cream -- or the related EMLA cream; pick one and apply to the location for at least 15 minutes, then begin the excavation process. If you reach an area of sensitivity, re-apply topical anesthetic and wait again before continuing the surgery. :-)

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

It's not pain that's the problem: it's getting ahold of the little bugger without taking a chunk out of the underside of my foot.

Pain? NP. Digging through a layer of callus (sp? broken brain today) and removing the bugger (about half the length of my thumbnail, I think, but it went it obliquely so it's hard to tell) without getting rid of a chunk of bloody flesh* (this is something I do not want to do. I have memories of how long it takes a hole in the foot to heal) at the same time?

Well, the impossible always takes a little longer. *g*

Plus it's day three, so the skin has sort of regrown over the top of the splinter. Well, at least it's not infected. Yet, anyway. :-)

But, thanks for the advice.


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*This would all be so much easier if I could just find the tweezers.

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

It would also be so much easier if you could pop 'round to my office, and I'd extract it. I'm getting good at that, as a boy always seems to end up with splinters.

You don't have to dig out a chunk of flesh if you can make a simple incision over the splinter. If you can, get a needle of some type, as long as it's sharp enough, or a razor blade. Make the incision, and pry or squeeze out the splinter. The incision will heal much faster than a missing chunk. ;-)

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Amazing. Medical advice that worked!

I am in your debt.

Astoundingly, once out, the splinter turns out to be quite tiny, really.

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

That is because I have actually done this, for myself as well as The Boy..:-) And yes, they are almost always teeny tiny things, hardly worth hurting over, and yet they cause so much pain and distress.

I once had a cat hair jammed under a fingernail. It was excruciatingly painful. You would never imagine that a soft fur hair could get jammed in, but it did, and it hurt. Oh, my, how it hurt.

Congratulations on your successful surgical maneuver. You are one step closer to certification as a "household surgeon". ;-)

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Equipment: one paring knife and one desk lamp. :-)

Surgeon, me? Nah. I'm better at breaking things than fixing them. :-)

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

Well, then, I wouldn't suggest neuro for you, but it sounds like you could have a successful career in plastic. ;-)