I thought today would be boring ...

Boy, was I wrong! I was not looking forward to work this morning. I had 44 tissue samples to grind up for future RNA extraction. It was going to be a very tedious morning. Long story short, I only made it through one sample before I managed to spill the bottle of homogenization buffer - which is 50% phenol - into my lap. I got my pants off ASAP and called Jed (the only other person in the lab this morning) for help. I was under the emergency shower within less than a minute of the spill. Then, since I was wearing a lab coat but no pants and the emergency shower is in the hall, we moved to the shower in the men's room (there isn't one in the women's room on our floor). Sitting in the shower in only my shirt and underwear, I held court as WHOI safety officers, concerned colleagues, and finally the paramedics came to check on me and offer bits of spare clothing. I spent about half an hour in the shower, then got an ambulance ride (sirens and all) to Falmouth Hospital ER, where I spent about two more hours. All they could do was continue to flush the burn site (which is about 6in x 2.5in on my right inner thigh) and make sure I didn't have any inhalation symptoms (I didn't), but that seems to have been enough. I was having visions of large pieces of skin blistering and peeling off, but the redness has already faded a great deal and it's just a bit sensitive when something rubs against it. I feel VERY lucky. But I'm really not looking forward to processing those other 43 samples! I think I'll wait until Monday :}