this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2025
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I remember my mom washing her immersion blender. She always left it plugged in and turned it on in the dish water, so the blades get clean. One day, she was trying to wash the cap at the same time and caught her index in the immersion blender. She turned down my advice to go to the ER, she rather had me tape the finger. It was of no use, gauze would just instantly get soaked and started dripping blood. But she still didn't feel the need to go to the ER because "that will heal, I had worse".
Spoiler alert, when she couldn't sleep that night because of throbbing pain, she asked me to take her to the ER. They were pretty mad at her and asked her why she didn't come instantly. 6 stitches and a load of antibiotics.
It took me three reads to realize it says “dish water” and not misspelled dish washer.
I thought it said dish washer until I read this comment. I was imagining the immersion blender plugged in with the dishwasher door closed on the cord. Then I was like how did she get her hand in a running dishwasher?
I read those kind of injuries with stick blenders are pretty common. I always unplug since I learned that.
I might pulse it in water a few times to clean mine, but there's no way I am putting my fingers anywhere near the sharp end while the head is plugged into the motor, let alone while it's plugged into the wall.
jfc even my shitty cheap immersion blender has detachable blades
My shitty cheap immersion blender burnt itself out when I tried to make a smoothie. Since then I've sworn off immersion blenders.
In her defence, I have no idea when I should go to the ER. I am pretty clumsy and do a lot of cooking, so am forever stabbing myself.
I often wonder to myself at what point I would need assistance.
If you apply what is close to a tourniquet and it still bleeds through, that's a pretty strong indicator that you might want to get someone to look at it.
But I shouldn't complain, I'm the same in that sense. I had a scratch wound from a fall (tripped drunk on the stairs when a friend was over) and constantly itched my leg and scratched off the scab. Got a nasty infection. At first it started to hurt in the evening, I went to bed and it was okay the morning. Then it wasn't okay next morning, but manageable. I finally went to the ER when it got so bad that I had to lie on the couch the whole day and would almost black out from pain when getting up to go to the toilet. I've never gotten an official diagnosis, but from the pictures, I strongly lean towards strep infection. 3 weeks of penicillin and a stern lecture from the doc and I was right as rain, albeit the skin on my leg looks a bit different now lol
Oh I've never got close to needing a tourniquet, but it seems like there is a line somewhere in the middle that looks like it's probably ok but should actually be seen by a professional.
If it bleeds longer than 10 minutes, if it hurts periodically or constantly or if something persists without getting better for more than 3 days, go to a doctor. If it's really bad, go earlier (tooth pain for example can get debilitating quickly).
If you are at cancer risk (40+), get periodic check ups.
The best thing you can do for yourself and those around you is take a first aid course. They are usually cheap or free through your local community college or community education programs, you can get a certification, and it will teach you when you need to seek assistance, and when you can handle it yourself. It’ll also teach you what’s worth keeping in a first aid kit, like butterfly sutures, and what isn’t (those pre-made kits are junk).
Everyone should take a first aid course. It should be done every 5 years ideally, if only because you’ll hardly ever use it, and recommendations do change.
So, if you can find somewhere, give everyone you know the gift of lifesaving knowledge! (As in arrange for them all to take the course with you, you all get the info and a nice bonding exercise. Make all the jokes about when it’ll be needed on you because you are a klutz)
Who knows, you or one of your friends/family may save a life someday!
I've done multiple first aid courses over my life. I've learnt CPR, abdominal thrusts, and even did an outdoor first aid course where they taught us how to keep people alive when help was 24 hours away. I've been taught how to dress wounds, but the assumption for all of these was that someone is in imminent need of help. There was nothing (that I remember) about how deep of a cut requires a visit to the emergency room.
Though you raise a good point, the last course I did was 15 years ago, I should probably do a refresher.
I think for cuts there's general rules for location, depth, and length to qualify as an emergency. Deep punctures/stab wounds should always be treated as emergencies, do not remove the object, but stabilize it so it doesn't cause more damage. An amount of blood equivalent to a can of soda is life threatening.
I've stayed current on first aid certifications for about a decade and grew up with a parent in the medical field. I still suck at knowing when something requires an er visit, quite possibly because family, friends, and neighbors would come over and get stitches on our kitchen counter rather than go to the hospital. The best I can say is, if you are questioning whether something requires a hospital visit, then it probably does. Better to be safe than sorry.
Ah, the US. Can't teach wound care, csnt afford stitches.
I'm not in the US, but I'm also not sure when in my life I should have been taught when to seek help.
If every visit to the ER wasn't a potential bankruptcy waiting to happen, you would have been able to learn
Going to the ER is free for me in terms of money, but I have better ways to spend my time.
I'm German. I've had 40 hours of first aid education total in my life, and I work in IT.
One course in school, one as part of driver's education, one for my first job in food delivery, and one while volunteering at a youth center.
I’ve done multiple first aid courses over my life. There was nothing (that I remember) about how deep of a cut requires a visit to the emergency room. Every course started with the assumption that someone was in need of immediate assistance, but comments here imply an emergency room visit is needed for bad cuts even if it's not immediately life threatening.
Good job! I took outdoor emergency care so I could volunteer for ski patrol when I was 16. It was harder than any class I had years later in university.
I'm in Europe, I once was in a pretty bad state and with a high fever, so I called 112 or something like that, because in other country they decide if you should go to hospital immediately and deliver you. Here they questioned me and told me ‘yeah, you should go to ER’, and the conversation was over. I took a taxi there, not sure what would I do if I passed out before getting to the taxi, as I already passed out that evening and it was why I called and didn't just go in the first place.
112 means you're a ghost
In Celsius? You’re cooked!
Edit: 112 is a common emergency services # in the EU, akin to 911, for any Americans wondering
Oh, y'all don't do 999 like the Brits? (I always thought that was a little too easy to go by accident tbh)
But yeah 112f so eleventry-seveen Celsius. (44.5 according to a unit converter)
According to wikipedia, 112 is technically possible but unlikely
40/104 is considered a life threatening emergency
Don't forget that 999 was chosen in the era of rotary phones - it was (iirc) chosen explicitly because it was hard to dial accidentally.
Oh true. Rotary phones were neat.
There are a few countries that use 999 in addition, or for specific services like ambulance. (Ireland, Poland, Guernsey, and a few others IIRC.) 112 is just one of the more common.
I recently had what might have been a heart attack and laid down in bed instead of going to the ER. (I'm pretty sure it wasn't, but maybe.) Everyone to whom I've mentioned it has gotten upset with me. My doctor was especially expressive about it.