From one ailment to the next

My illness continued well into this past week.  By Sunday evening I was developing a bad cough, and by Tuesday I knew it was time to see a doctor about it.  The doctor who examined me thought I probably had a respiratory infection, and he prescribed a short course of antibiotics.

After a couple of days of medication I was feeling somewhat less sick, but still very weak and low on energy.  On Friday morning I knew I wasn't ready for any hard physical exertion, but with my annual crafts fair coming up a week later, I decided I could at least go down into the shop and start gathering some tools together for the chairmaking demonstration I'll be doing.

The presentation I was planning included some small signs, and to make these signs I set up my tablesaw to cuts some small rectangles from some plywood scraps I had lying around.  A tablesaw is a machine that presents some dangers, and I do not take them lightly.  I think for the most part I have developed sound safety habits in terms of how and where I stand, keeping my center of gravity over my feet, and using accessory sticks to push the workpiece through the blade while keeping my hands and fingers out of danger.

But mistakes happen in the blink of an eye.  I think in this case I got a little distracted at the wrong instant.  I took the pressure off the push-stick before one of the plywood rectangles was entirely clear of the spinning blade, and the blade snagged it and sent it hurtling through the air like a frisbee, right into my chest.  It knocked the wind out of me and left a mark on my right pectoral muscle:

There may well be a cracked rib or two in there.  At the very least, I've got a deep bruise.  And the worst thing about it is that it's now very painful to cough, and I'm still coughing a lot.

If I do in fact have a fracture, then I'm done paddling for a good while.  I'll have a better idea in a week or so what the situation is.  But I didn't have much paddling planned for this week anyway because of the crafts fair.  I just hope my injury won't interfere too badly with my crafts fair duties.

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