The Cream-o-Wheat Debacle

So, if you have been reading this here blog for awhile, you might be familiar with my oh so talented manners of injuring myself. I think it is genetic. Truly...my family has more, ahem, creative ways of injurying one's self...but I am getting ahead of myself.

My morning started off like many mornings do. Me...fighting with myself over A) getting out of bed and B) going to get my workout in. This morning was the same it went a little like this in my head:

Get out of bed! Get OUT

noooooooooo, let me hit the snooze.

Get OUT

(snooze is hit and shortly there after when the snooze goes off) come ON you only have so much time before you are going to miss Crossfit.

More grumbling.

I actually briefly lost this argument this morning, RESET my alarm for later and had planned PERFECTLY to skip crossfit, and when I went to lie down...I said no way and forced myself up and out of the door. I have no idea how it happened...but I did win in the end.

I got to Crossfit for a pretty nasty workout. First we lifted HEAVY (that's all the board said) Overhead Squats (OHS). These are my not-so-favorite type of squat. I still only managed to increase my weight from last time, but only to a measly 42lbs. Then onto the workout. It looked like this:

OHS 21
Pullups 42
OHS 15
Pullups 30
OHS 9
Pullups 18

Women were supposed to lift 65lbs, but since I could barely lift HEAVY 42lbs, I changed it down to 32lbs. Oddly by the last set of OHS, the weight felt lighter.

The pullups...well they sucked big time. I managed to do the first two sets of them kipping style with a middle amount of assistance from a rubberband, but by the time I got to the last set of 9, my left hand was having none of that. In the past I have sorta torn my callouses on my hands, but it was more like the callouses separated from the derma below the skin but didn't actually rip the skin on my hand open. Not so lucky this time. The callous on my left hand ripped itself open and now my hand had a rip in it. This lead to the debate...what now?

I could: Quit (but I didn't want to nor did I think that would fly), do the pull ups kipping style anyway even though my had was hurting like no other or do strict pullups. Strict pull ups won...so I grabbed a thicker rubber band to assist and pathetically attempted 18 strict pullups. Those were pretty pathetic and I think I got more 'oh I tried therefore that counts' than actual pull ups done. But whatever. I was in pain at this point and starting to run late for work.

I finished the workout in 24 mins and raced off to work. Some days I will have some breakfast and eat it in the car and some days I just wait til I get to work and go to the cafeteria where they have breakfast to buy. They have Cream-o-Wheat or Oatmeal and even have many other options like fruit and yogurt or even a breakfast burrito or eggs/bacon/ect. I typically will head to the large soup container that has the Cream-o-Wheat in it. Lately I've had a crush on the Cream-O-Wheat.

As I am ladle-ing the cream-o-wheat into my bowl I look away for a moment and then manage to ladle some VERY, VERY HOT cream-o-wheat onto my index finger and my middle finger of my left hand. Strange conversations go through my head in a time of crisis.

OWWWWCH....MAKE THE PAIN STOP.

Hmmmm...really should the cream-o-wheat be that hot that it really hurts that much?

OH MY GOSH I DON'T CARE IF IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE THAT HOT OR NOT GET THE FREAKING CREAM-O-WHEAT OFF OF THE HANDS. THE HANDS...GET IT OFF OF THE HANDS.

oh...um...so...how?

GRAB A FREAKING NAPKIN...PULL IT TOGETHER GIRL!


I manage to get the cream of wheat off the fingers and have enough wits about me to also grab some ice before I head back to my cube. Now my fingers are throbbing. The only way I can even keep the pain mildly manageable is if I keep them in the ice. During the incident I immediately lost about 1/4 of an inch of skin from just about the finger nail on my middle finger and my other finger I was already getting a blister. Yes...I had second degree burns on my skin and it FELT like it.

Over the next two hours I attempt to do my work and mainly keep those fingers in ice. It is only after I go and fill up with some ice again that I bother to google the First Aid on treating 2nd degree burns. I forgot you aren't supposed to put ice on second degree burns and it turns out that if you have them on your hands you prolly should see a doctor...IMMEDIATELY . Instead I ask the certified first responders at my office to have a look and see if I really should see a doctor. I am told that as long as I am able to keep an infection out of the burn area and since the burns are on the back of my fingers that I should be OK and not need to see a doctor unless the pain is unbearable or I get an infection down the line. The pain, I'll be honest, was borderline unbearable. For most of the day, if my fingers weren't in ice or above my head they felt like they might explode...literally. It was more like that feeling when you slam your fingers in the door...but it wouldn't go away...at.all.

So today was one of those "sliding doors" moments (ref the movie Sliding Doors) in life where I just thought...well...if I had just climbed back into bed like I had attempted to, I wouldn't have ripped my left hand callous open or dumped Cream-o-wheat on my left hand either. Sigh. That's how it goes sometimes though.