BattleBot Cactus and the Home Lobotomy 2...

The Story Continues...

So I finally get BattleBot safe and protected from the elements,
and I look down, and sure enough, there's blood all down the front of my
chest, on my neck, my hair on the right side of my head is soaked. And I
have really long, thick hair, this was a lot of blood to be soaking my hair.

Blood all over the place, and even as I look in the mirror to see the damage,
it's coming out the side of my head. The flow was slowing, because the entrance
wound was squeezing shut as it swelled.
But when it was fresh, when the needle was first removed and if I'd cared to want to
look, I would've seen blood spraying or spurting out in a relentless flow. I could definitely
feel it pouring down my neck and chest.
It really WOULD have made an excellent little video to pass around in email.
Can't you picture it? " Cactus Needle Through Temple "

Um, let's see...the aftermath...

I waited a few minutes, and tried to just clean it up, assess the damage. I was pretty
freaked out. Traumatized, whatever you'd want to call it. Stunned.
As time went on, the area swelled hugely. It was only a few minutes, but it was hugely
swollen and what's worse, I was having problems with ear and sinus pressure. I was beginning
to feel pretty uncomfortable, in truth. The swelling was causing all kind of pressure problems
and adjustments, and my whole side of my face and head was hurting.

The thing that was really concerning me was the area where it entered, and that orange
stuff in the base of the needles. Surely that pumps the substance through the entire needle.
And I know how even the slightest contact I've had with those needles, minor scratch or poking of the fingertip, irritated my skin badly.
And here was a deeeep puncture wound, the radius of the entrance was now swelled to the size of a small egg, almost. I went ahead and called the ER.

I forgot! This happened on a holiday, where everyone had Monday off! It was a Monday.
And raining very hard, and a mudslide blocked off the street one block over that I
wouldve needed to take to drive myself to the hospital. News vans and helicopters and looky loos were swarming all over the place. Covering the mudslide for TV.
I didn't feel like it was really an ambulance or ER situation, but I wanted to talk to a nurse to
have her tell me if I should be putting on it, and also I wanted to know if there were any glands or nodes or
any sort of important organs in there ( the cochlea?), at the needle entrance site. Um, I haven't really explained
properly where the entrance site actually was.
My ear was really hurting, as I said. It got worse and worse. My jaw and ear were hurting and
feeling odd.
So that is why I called the ER. My docs office was closed, etc. Holiday.

I'm leaving out some details.
I had examined the cactus, the section that fell against my head. The thing is, it had to be
one of the longest spikes, because those stick out the most. Literally. The shorter, younger
spikes by design aren't as protruding.
So I examined the section of the cactus and discovered one needle that looked a little darker
at the tip. I figured it was the one that stuck me. So I clipped it off the plant, and measured it, etc.
I was trying to figure out how far it actually went into my head. And how thick the needles were. The hole looked huge, when I initially looked. Now it was swelled shut.
I also did an experiment where I poked my fingertip with very little pressure, to see how far
the needle would go in.

The results of all of this stuff made me call the ER. I figured out that it had actually gone deep
into my head, I didn't want to believe it, but the evidence was there.
So I get a nurse and explain what happened. She asks me a few questions, and I laughingly
tell her the answers. It's like I can't really believe what happened myself and I know it sounds funny in the retelling.
"How far do you think it went in? "
I lie " About a half inch"
" What? You HAVE to come in. You say that it went in just above your ear, slightly
in front of your ear."
Yes.
" You have to come in."
I actually had thought the needle went in an inch at least, based upon the evidence,
and was trying to downplay the injury after realizing that she was actually wanting me
to try and go down there. I didn't have anyone to take me, as I said before, I was pretty
shaken up by the whole thing. I was afraid I'd have an accident.

So, I just basically let it go, watched it so see if any infection developed. The nurse was
worried about an infection from the cactus developing deep. Because it wasn't
sterile, and because the poison in the cactus.
If any symptoms developed, or anything, I would've gone the next day or after. But I seem to
be ok.

I learned some neat things, though.
BattleBot has given me some wonderful weapons, I discovered that I could walk up to someone
and theoretically drive a spike astonishingly deep into their forehead before they knew what
happened. Eyes? Forget it. Artery in neck? Too easy.
The spikes are so amazingly sharp.
So that's the story. In between my temple and my ear, a giant needle was driven into my head.