Making use of my NHS benefits in the UK.

As a temporary worker in the United Kingdom, I am entitled to NHS (National Health Services), which means I don't have to pay for medical care. And I'm certainly making good use of it -- this is the second time in 4 and a half months that I make a trip to the Accident & Emergency unit!!

After walking home in the snow for around 20 minutes, nature called and I needed to use the loo, as it is called here. So I opened the bathroom door and, because I'm smart and cautious, I put my left hand on the hinges and shut the door with my right hand, thus getting my left index finger caught in the door. The pain was excrutiating and there was blood coming out of my fingernail, which started to become purple. I stood there for a while trying to breathe deeply but blood kept coming out and it started to make me a bit dizzy and my head started buzzing. Still, I had business to take care of in the bathroom, so after getting that out of the way I ran downstairs to take some paracetamol. The pain was still strong and I could not move my finger or my hand at all without wincing. I put a band aid around my bleeding fingernail and went out in the snow again to catch the bus to the local hospital located in the most ghetto and dodgy part of Hackney.

After checking in and seeing the triage nurse, the most fun part of going to the hospital came. Waiting for a doctor to call your name. One of the doctors made an announcement that because of adverse weather conditions -- in other words, a couple of inches of snow -- the A&E was short on staff and we needed to be patient. So I sat there listening in on other people's conversations. A woman who slipped in the ice and injured her wrist was talking about how it took her two hours to get to the hospital and she'd already been waiting for a doctor for an hour. Another woman brought her pregnant friend in because she fell on her back. So I guess a bleeding nail was not all that bad. After 2 hours, a doctor called my name and we went into one of the cubicles. By this time, my nail had stopped bleeding and I had a huge scab. The doc ordered x-rays to make sure I didn't fracture the bone. After getting the x-rays done the doc and one of his colleagues suggested that I could either take painkillers to treat the nail, or they could poke my nail with a needle to get the blood out from under my nail.

I asked if the needle would hurt and they said it wouldn't because nails don't have any nerves. However, because the hematoma was at the base of the needle (where the needle grows) poking a needle in it might not be all that necessary. In the end the doctor decided to do that. A nurse and a med student popped in to watch the action. I should not be scared of needles but I am. I was told it wouldn't hurt but it did. As the English would say, BASTARDS! I was told to keep still, so I did until I screamed for the whole hospital to hear. Another doctor came in and I begged them to not do the needle again.

In the end, they decided it would not work as the hematoma was too close to where the nail grows and the painkillers should do just fine. Now I have a hole in my fingernail. BASTARDS! I was given an anti-inflammatory and paracetamol and I got my fingernail wrapped in dressing. Next time I'm not putting my hand on the hinges before closing a door or walking in front of a motorcycle.