I shot a nail through my finger

The basement foundation repair job has claimed its first casualty: Me. During the work week, I occasionally get a few hours in the evening to labor in the basement. Tonight I was planning to make a form and pour concrete for the last footer before I can put in retaining walls and seal up the basement.

I hit a jackpot by finding three 2x12 scraps about 20 feet long by the side of the road and chopped them up into pieces for my forms. I was nailing the forms together when ***POW*** my finger started hurting severely. It only took about a quarter of a second to realize that I'd nailed my finger but I was in denial.

I grabbed my poor finger and squeezed it hard. It bled freely, which is always a good sign for me - gotta get it clean. About 30 seconds later it hit me: That nail right there had gone through my finger. Here is the entry wound and there is the exit wound. The next 20 minutes went like this:

Oh man I gotta sit down.

No, I need to sit on the ground cuz I feel really woozy.

Holy shit this finger really hurts.

Let me finish those last two nails on the form. POW POW.

Maybe I need to go inside. The nurse-wife will help me.

Man this chair is painful but oh my god this finger hurts like shit.

I think I'm gonna puke.

I'm passing out.

Did someone turn out the lights?

Can I get some supplemental oxygen?

Yeah, thanks for the trash can. I think I might puke.

Oh, I'm drenched in sweat. I haven't passed out, right?

Okay I'll go to the hospital but I can't move right now cuz I'm going to pass out and puke if I stand up.

I don't doubt I look yellow. I feel horrible.

Yeah, okay call 911 to ask them. But put me on the ground first in case I fall out of this chair.

And then it slowly got better. Of course 911 said to go to the hospital since I had severe shock, but we didn't. I stopped feeling like I was going to puke. The lights came back on in my head, I got myself together. The finger still really really hurt, but I could bend it and had a lot of strength in it, so don't think it's broken or any ligaments are severed. I probably lost about a quarter-teaspoon blood - classic double puncture wound.

I'm all better now, I feel fine except the finger hurts. We called a friend who is in his last year of med school to be an emergency room physician to ask him what all those shock symptoms were about and he explained that the body can put itself into severe shock via a psychosomatic response based on the cognitive understand that, "Yes I just put a nail clean through my finger." That's all it was, but I really did go as far into shock as you can get without passing out. My lips were white, my skin was numb all over, I couldn't see and could hardly hear, I had that horrible ringing in my head. Phew.

I'll go get a tetanus shot tomorrow just to be safe, but my finger is a-okay. The lion helped me put antibiotic cream on the two wounds along with a gauze bandage and some tape. She very well may end up being a veterinarian like she claims.