The Not So Greatest Fishing Story

Last Sunday Chris and I decided to go fishing. Here is our story: 

So we ventured out on the confusing Texas roads to find a specific lake to fish at (which I don't remember the name of). We reached the lake but our GPS led us to this crazy giant factory thing which is located almost inside of the lake. We had to go around the whole thing and we went around like twice before we finally figured out how to get into the lake area to actually fish.

We had to pay a small fee to get into the "park" area where it was completely crowded. There were tons of boats on the water but all the shores were surrounded by people are cooking and fishing. Chris was super upset about there being so many people and we didn't get in a good spot but we got one, Chris hooked up his pole and let it out into the water.

Then he worked on my new pole, we got it set up and he put a worm on it and cast it out... but it got snagged. So he worked really hard to reel it back in (I'm totally helpful while fishing huh?). We ended up losing the hook and he was all grouchy and upset. He was getting super annoyed with this zip-tie on my pole, because it's new. So he, very smartly, decided to take his fillet knife and cut it off.

But, as luck would have it, the knife slipped cutting the back of his hand. I didn't see it cut him. I just looked up as he shouted and angrily threw the knife at the ground and then rushed to the water to wash his hands, and that's when I noticed to large amount of blood spilling from him.

My adrenaline was pumping, I didn't even think about how blood sometimes freaks me out, I just knew I had to help my husband right away! So I kind of stripped in front of all the people and took off my under tank top that I was wearing and gave it to him to soak up the blood and keep pressure on it, and then I put my shirt back on. I then reeled in his fishing pole, he took the worm off because I hate worms and I cleaned up all our stuff and packed it away. Again, this was like 10 minutes into our actual fishing trip.

So we rushed to the car and drove to the front of the "park" thing where we had paid. We went inside to see if they had a first aid kit and if they could help us find the nearest hospital, because even though I hadn't seen the cut yet, both of us were pretty sure he would need stitches.

Okay, this is the part that irritates me, the people in that office/gift shop MADE US BUY A CRAPPY LITTLE FIRST AID KIT!!! They didn't have one to just help us???? They didn't even offer to help!! They made us buy this little one, and I handed her my debit card and she was all "no cards for purchases under $4". Seriously???? This woman could see that both of Chris's hands were covered in blood and my tank top around his injured hand was soaked in blood! And she seriously expected us to be fine with a tiny little first aid kit???? And not even offer to help??? They were basically "park rangers", aren't they supposed to be prepared to help with first aid problems, or is that seriously not a thing? Shouldn't park rangers know basic first aid and have a first aid kit available for emergencies? Is that not a thing? I worked at a gym and they made everyone learn CPR and basic first aid! This is a lake! People are fishing and boating and very likely to get injured and they don't have the necessary equipment to help someone who cut his hand open????

Yeah....  I was really ticked off about that.

So we purchased the stupid kit and went to the bathroom (I went in the men's bathroom!) and Chris run his hand under water, tried to clean himself up, it was still bleeding but not quite as much. The first aid kit had these antiseptic wipes that were incredibly tiny they were probably made for like paper cuts, and we used like three of them to try and disinfect the area. After it was cleaned up we could see the cut wasn't nearly as bad as I had dramatized in my mind. I was thinking he had cut the whole back of his hand! However, it was about an inch long but it was deep so we decided to still go to the hospital to play it safe. And it was still bleeding so that was probably a good idea.

So I had to drive on the Texas highways which is something I absolutely hate (we've been here a month and I hate them so much already!!). The whole time I'm still in adrenaline pumping/freaking out mode because even though it was a smaller cut, this was still my husband and I love him and never want to see him hurt or sick or injured in any way so it was difficult for me. Chris said that it didn't hurt though so I was able to relax a bit more.

We reached the nearest hospital and it was like a baptist church hospital or something and honestly Chris and I were the only white people in that building. No lies. All the paperwork was also in Spanish and everyone around us were speaking in Spanish. It was clear we were no longer in Utah.

So the first male nurse guy helped clean Chris up and wrapped up his hand. He was really nice. When he asked Chris on a scale of 1 to 10 how bad his hand hurt Chris replied with a 1, so we really were doing fine.

Then we went in to the actual hospital area and Chris got to sit on a hospital bed and watch TV. The doctor's came in and joked "are you ready for surgery?" So they looked over Chris's hand and decided instead of stitches they would just use skin glue. So the woman took care of his hand, showed him how to apply the glue and sent us home with some extras.

And that's our fishing story where we never actually did any fishing. And now Chris has to wear a bandage on his hand. But the other day we had to replace the glue and it really does look like it's healing and we really did get lucky, it could have been a lot worse.