Kinda scary...first time for me.

[walkin jack]

Everybody knows that getting older comes with some new things to adjust to and learn to cope with and that all of them are not wonderful. I can remember when my dad started getting older one of the things that happened to him was that he would frequently discover a minor bruise or cut on himself and have no awareness of how or when it happened.

My turn.

I was in WalMart earlier today and I was walking along in front of the electronic department and one of the ladies in that department came running up to me and put her hands on my shoulders and asked me if i was alright. Scared the heck out of me.

I followed her eyes down to my right forearm and was startled to see blood gushing down my arm and dripping off my middle and ring fingers. WHOA! I couldn't see, for all the blood, what was wrong with my arm. The lady escorted me back to the restrooms in the back of the store where I went in the mens room and she went into the employees area. I washed the "gash" in cold water and applied pressure with wet paper towels. When the bleeding had stopped I went back out and the lady had alcohol wipes and band aids waiting for me.

The injury looked like a .22 caliber bullet hole except that it was very shallow. The thing about it is that it is right over a blood vessel. My blood vessels are very close to the surface on my bony forearms and that it why it was bleeding so profusely. All I can think of is that I walked passed something and swung my arm just wrong and it hit....whateveritwas.

A very, very minor injury but I SHOULD have felt it when it happened?! Guess I'll have to start being a little more careful. Sigh..... Anyway my thanks for the first aid rendered my the nice lady at WalMart.

 

[vytoland]

hope you are all right and good to know that there are still caring folks around to help us.

 

[rwsmith]

My wife is always.....

She's always saying, "WHAT DID YOU DO?" I say "What??" Your _____ is bleeding down your_____!" And I look at it and say "AGH!" With diabetes and stuff the skin on my legs especially is thin as paper and looses feeling and if I knock anything, it bleeds." Then, since I'm taking blood thinners, I bleed like a stuck pig." It takes forever for things to heal over and I'm always knocking the scab off again.

 

[ditrina]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WHAT HE SAID!!

 

[Bkreutz]

Welcome to the club When I was young I could almost watch a cut heal, now it seems like they never heal. Oh well, beats the alternative.

 

[shouldazagged]

That's why I always have three or four Band-Aids in my wallet at all times--happens to me all the time.

I heal pretty quickly, no problem there. But I'm 75, have had to take enteric-coated aspirin for years for arthritis (the prescription anti-inflammatory drugs eat my stomach), and am on steroid-based meds for COPD. My skin is thin as cigarette paper and tears at a touch. I get godawful purple bruises from little minor bumps.

I frequently don't know how it happens. Especially if I'm gazing at a good-looking woman. Or Smith revolver. Or something delicious I just cooked.

 

[foxeye]

Its only just begining. LOL I am on thinners and anti coagulants and just a knick from shaving is almost a need for a blood transfusion with the way it will bleed. I have often found myself bleeding and no idea what happened. When I lost theee fingers on my left hand, I had no idea I list them. I never even knew I came that close. I was a smoker and left handed at the time. I tried to get a pack of smokes out of my shirt pocket and had problems doing so. I just happened to look down and seen a lot of blood on the floor of the plant, and thought what happened and to who. It was then I noticed the stubs of my fingers and the pain imediately set in.......so its all together possible to get injured and not know it, even to the point of getting cut open or fingers etc cut off. You most likely bumped into the edge of a display or item like a shopping cart and it cut into you. Shopping carts in this area are dangerous, as lots have the wire baskets busted and rods poking out. Just be carefull

 

[VM]

hope you are all right and good to know that there are still caring folks around to help us.

caring folks at Walmart of all places
This could be the first POSITIVE Walmart thread in the history of the Internet!

Glad you were alright Walkin' Jack!

 

[timn8er]

She's always saying, "WHAT DID YOU DO?" I say "What??" Your _____ is bleeding down your_____!" And I look at it and say "AGH!" With diabetes and stuff the skin on my legs especially is thin as paper and looses feeling and if I knock anything, it bleeds." Then, since I'm taking blood thinners, I bleed like a stuck pig." It takes forever for things to heal over and I'm always knocking the scab off again.

Man, do I know what you're talking about! I'm right there with you, Sir!

 

[tops]

I can remember being young and handling winch lines without gloves. Now everything I rub against or touch breaks the skin and I bleed like a stuck hog. One advantage is I use it as an excuse to not do much. At 71 I figure that young people need the experience and I need the rest. Larry

 

[HalfStack]

I'm there with you guys. I just turned 63 and I have been easily bruised for a few years. A little scratch and I bleed a bucket jeez.

And what's with Wal-Mart? My Wal-Mart is the coolest and I don't mean the prices (which is great) but the people, workers and shoppers alike, are cool. We always have a friendly atmosphere in there.

 

[deralte]

Ditto on bleeding and bruising and ditto on Wal Mart.

 

[rwsmith]

How about those......

That's why I always have three or four Band-Aids in my wallet at all times--happens to me all the time.

How about four of those roll-up bandages that Army medics use?

 

[Judge_Vedd]

^^ google army field dressing- i found a site that sells them for $3.95 a piece. Glad you're ok


Sent from The Dark Side

 

[foxeye]

I felt fine and never took so mucg as an aspirin in my life, that is until after I retired, and the wife pushed me into getting another physical a few years after retirement. So since I was now over 50, the3y wanted to do a colonoscopy, complete blood panel, and a stress test. Big deal, I cold go hours on end without taking a break, never lost a day of work due to any sickness, only accidents, and really never ever been sick. ALl goes well up to the stress test (run on the treadmill) I am into it dong fine as far a sI thought, and the nexdst thing is I am laying on a guerny with all these doctors around me. Turned out I was on the verge of having a heart attack. I do not remember them even pulling me off the treadmill. So after a trip to the Cardiologist and gettinhg two stents put in, it seems every time I turn around I get nailed with something new. Now my diet consists mainly of perscription drugs in numbers so high I can't count that high. Have had 4 more heart caths looking for why I am short of breath now, and neither pulmonary doc or cardiologist can find a reason. They say I am as healthy as can be, On paper, but not in body, but why, they have no clue. Had a pulmonary stress test and it just about killed me. I once again wound up in the trauma room this time, and spent a week in the hospital due to it, and they never found anything with numerous cat scans, mri, this test that test and two more heart catrhs which did both sides of my heart this time. Usually only one side is done during a heart cath. I started to develope tremors, and a little reading lead me to two meds I was taking. I stopped those meds and tremors have just about went away. The docs I am seeing are supposedly the best in this area and at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. All any of them do is change my drugs around, and still do not have a clue whats causing my shortness of breath with hardly any effort on my part to cause it. I guess it all comes to certain folks with age. All my problems started when I was and felt great, and its been downhill ever since. L:Ots of folks say getting old is great, I say it sucks! I am just 63 too and only smoked a couple of years, long ago while serving in Vietnam, and never drank or did drugs, and was always very active. You just never know.

 

[Silver Dollar]

I felt fine and never took so mucg as an aspirin in my life, that is until after I retired, and the wife pushed me into getting another physical a few years after retirement. So since I was now over 50, the3y wanted to do a colonoscopy, complete blood panel, and a stress test. Big deal, I cold go hours on end without taking a break, never lost a day of work due to any sickness, only accidents, and really never ever been sick. ALl goes well up to the stress test (run on the treadmill) I am into it dong fine as far a sI thought, and the nexdst thing is I am laying on a guerny with all these doctors around me. Turned out I was on the verge of having a heart attack. I do not remember them even pulling me off the treadmill. So after a trip to the Cardiologist and gettinhg two stents put in, it seems every time I turn around I get nailed with something new. Now my diet consists mainly of perscription drugs in numbers so high I can't count that high. Have had 4 more heart caths looking for why I am short of breath now, and neither pulmonary doc or cardiologist can find a reason. They say I am as healthy as can be, On paper, but not in body, but why, they have no clue. Had a pulmonary stress test and it just about killed me. I once again wound up in the trauma room this time, and spent a week in the hospital due to it, and they never found anything with numerous cat scans, mri, this test that test and two more heart catrhs which did both sides of my heart this time. Usually only one side is done during a heart cath. I started to develope tremors, and a little reading lead me to two meds I was taking. I stopped those meds and tremors have just about went away. The docs I am seeing are supposedly the best in this area and at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. All any of them do is change my drugs around, and still do not have a clue whats causing my shortness of breath with hardly any effort on my part to cause it. I guess it all comes to certain folks with age. All my problems started when I was and felt great, and its been downhill ever since. L:Ots of folks say getting old is great, I say it sucks! I am just 63 too and only smoked a couple of years, long ago while serving in Vietnam, and never drank or did drugs, and was always very active. You just never know.

Have they checked you for Agent Orange poisoning? One of the symptoms among many others is shortness of breath. I wonder if you had a slight reaction to it.

 

[ordy]

Right there with you guys. Bruises appear out of nowhere and I'm half afraid to shave in the morning. Also suffering from chs (can't hear ****) and css disease. Getting older is not for the faint of heart.

 

[medxam]

Old fragile skin! It gets to all of us!

medxam

 

[bettis1]

Just be a little more careful with your Walkin', Jack.

Bob

 

[kamloops67]

this happens to young guys too. when i was 19-22 i would often wake up with unexplained bruises and bloody wounds usually saturday or sunday mornings, accompanied by a headache...my wife helped those episodes disappear.
ask your wife to keep a closer eye on you