So far I have been fortunate not to have any serious accidents in my classroom. I feel blessed as there are gas stoves, knives, small appliances and sewing machines abound. Now that we are focused on students learning 21st century skills and working more independently, I am always watchful and careful when any of the aforementioned are used. I did have one minor incident several weeks ago. I was carefully putting away my brand new Ninja blender when the extremely sharp blade cut my finger. My students felt bad at first when they saw the blood, but as I walked around with my bandaged finger above my head, their sympathy turned to laughter.
Thus, there was no way I was going to tell any of them about my second FACS injury. Feeling elated about getting a great deal on fleece material and the fact that I wouldn't have to spend any of my own money on this trimester's projects, it didn't dawn on me how long it would take me to trim and cut it for all of their pillows. Yesterday as I wrapped up my second straight hour of cutting with my new gadget (basically, a pizza cutter for material), I felt great that all students would now be able to start on their pillows. About 7 p.m. last night, however, it dawned on me that I might have wanted to take a little break between cutting or leave some for today. My thumb had cramped to an unusual state and a sharp pain was shooting from my wrist to my elbow. Luckily, I had a wrist brace from when I had carpal tunnel syndrome many years ago. That and Ibuprofen helped get me through the night.
Today as I helped a student trim his pillow to a more manageable size, he said, "Mrs. Heinisch, your cutter is not working as well today as it did yesterday." He was correct, but I didn't tell him that it wasn't working as well, because I could barely grip the handle. I made it through the day, however, with no one the wiser. I did put my brace on as soon as I left the building. Tomorrow there should be no cutting left to do, so I think I survived my first major FACS injury.
No comments:
Post a Comment