French apartment renovations, Day 347: Head wounds and hard work

Too much excitement today! My dad and I were building the staircase for Le Catamaran, and we had the two side planks cut to size and in place. We were lining them up with the laser level when one of them fell and hit my dad on the head. These are heavy pieces of wood, 5 cm thick, 15 cm wide, and almost 3 m long. Luckily the edge of the board just brushed his head, breaking the top layer of skin but not really hitting him full-on.

But it was a head wound, so it bled prolifically for the first 5 minutes. I ran and got him a few washclothes to press on his head. He was pretty cheerful about it, joking to Ivy and Inga: "Look, I have red hair now!" I called the Medecin de Garde (on-call doctors who will come to your house) but they don't do stitches at home. So then I got on the phone with the French equivalent of 911, because you can ask to speak to the on-call doctor.

By that point he had washed his head off and I had a better look at the cut. It was about 2" long but the skin was not separated at all. It was just a really long, deep scratch. We got confirmation from the doctor that if it wasn't "profond" (deep) and if he hadn't fallen or lost consciousness (he hadn't), then we should disinfect and let it heal on its own. 

My dad said, "It's too bad I don't have my first aid kit with me. I have a do-it-yourself staple kit in there. You could just staple me up." He was serious. He totally would do that on himself. 

Head wounds aside, it was a great day. Really busy because my parents leave in just a few days and they're trying to get as much done as possible. My mom finished reupholstering all 6 chair seats and is now working on the chair backs. I sewed 8 decorative pillows for the couch and chairs in Le Catamaran. I also made a pattern for the back cushions and cut the first one out. Inga had a soccer match in the afternoon and did very well, scoring several goals. 

A friend came by to pick up 7 full sheets of insulated drywall, several large scraps, and piles of wood. We're getting ready for the big floor demolition on Tuesday. 

I helped my dad cut the stair treads, using leftover merbau wood flooring. We ripped off the outside tongue and groove and then he rounded over the front edge. We'll put two pieces of flooring together to make an 18 cm wide tread.