Head wounds bleed!

Not at all related to my upcoming time in Japan, but dramatic never the less.

A little background. At work (Canadian Tire), we have these stock carts. They are 2 metre tall open-faced cages, with a metal partition that divides the cart into top and bottom (effectively a shelf). The partition can be swung up to the back wall of the cage in order to accomodate tall objects, and the cage itself is wheeled to allow people to move stock from the warehouses below to the sales floor.

Normally, the partition is secured via a locking pin. I'm sure you can see where this is going. As I was collapsing an empty box of antifreeze and putting (albeit ungently) onto the cart, the metal partition, about 30 pounds of steel, slammed into my elbow and head. At first, I thought I just hit my head, but then I felt blood trickle down my face. I had instinctively grabbed my head, and when I felt the wetness, I pulled it away to find my hand covered in blood. My coworker Tony, grabbing tires, took one look at me and cried out "Holy shit!" I was promptly moved to the back area, where the store general manager Steve happened to be walking by. He is a man prone to bouts of excitability, so when he saw me, he moved into overdrive. Our HR manager John came down, along with my supervisor Mike, and soon the Service Bay manager Inaki had arrived on the scene. Starring at my bloody headwound was a total of 5 people. To his immense credit, Steve took charge and even had the sensibility to don the latex gloves that come with the first aid kit. A gauze and a large wad of paper towel was used to keep the pressure on, and I was driven to the hospital by John.

I went to the Women's College Hospital, mostly because it was the closest, but as well because it is the quickest. Within minutes I was being seen by the triage nurse, and though the wait to see the doctor seemed long, it was really no more than 30 minutes. All the while, the blood had clotted, but my head was stinging. My shoulder and elbow were hurting too, and by the time the doctor arrived in my examination room, the pain in head had receded to a dull ache.

A quick inspection, to assess if any other physical/muscular/perceptory damage had been incurred (none was), he looked at my head. It was a 2 inch long diagonal gash, quite standard. The treatment? Staples.

Staples. I've had stitches, but staples were a new thing. The doctor poked and prodded, cleaned and sanitised, and freezed my scalp before applying the staples. I, and probably many others, can rationalise and deal with pain if they can see what is going on. I was...more anxious than normal at the prospect of having my head stapled back together, but a few click-clacks later and it was done. By this time, the adrenaline had worn off, so I was pretty tired. John was gracious enough to drive me home.

If I consider my tenure at Canadian Tire, it's kinda hard not to think I was illness and accident prone. I started my time there suffering from pneumonia. A year later, I was treated at the hospital for an asthma attack. I fell through my patio staircase about 8 feet, and just 2 weeks ago had to see a doctor about my asthma. I injured my back foolishly stepping off a ladder, and now I've had a metal shelf slam into my head.

Head wounds, as the halo of blood, iodine, and saline solution I left on the pillow while my head was being stapled will attest, bleed.