Have you ever had one of those moments where you knew as soon as you did something or said something that it was not good? Of course you have!
When I was working as a nurse in an academic medical facility (Formerly known as a teaching hospital) we had a resident that was going to relieve a subungual hematoma. That is the black spot that shows up when you hit your (finger)nail with a hammer. Blood under the nail. It hurts like all get out. Well, the easiest, and recommended, way to relieve this is to place a hole in the nail directly over the spot. Now, I know what you're thinking, but the nail has no feeling. Where was I, Oh yeah, one way to achieve this hole in the nail is with a portable cautery; a loop of metal that is heated to about 450 degrees. Touch the nail and a hole is burned through the nail almost instantly. So, the resident sits down by the patient and explains what he was about to do. Not surprisingly, the patient showed great concern about the possibility of intense pain involved. The young doctor never batted an eye as he grabbed a bottle off the nearby cabinet. "Here, I'll numb your finger with this Ethel Chloride solution." Well this made the patient feel better, and the doctor sprayed the solution over the entire finger very liberally. Then the doctor took the cautery and heated it up and moved closer to the affected nail. WHOOSH!! a flash of flame erupted from the patients hand for about 1/100th of a second. That means it did not stay hot long enough to actually burn the skin. Well, everyone in the room jumped and screamed! I mean, it was scary for a second. The patient grabbed the bottle of Ethel Chloride and shook it at the doctor and screamed to the top of his lungs, "Dang DOC! It says flammable!"
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