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Lawful, definitely. She has RULES and you WILL follow them.
Actual femur removal would push her to Evil, but she has it in her to make St. Cuthbert proud.
Even so, there’s not a whole lot you can do with a broken toe. You can take it to the hospital… get it set… but if the skin’s not broken, then there’s nothing to bandage or disinfect. You stay off it and it’s gonna hurt. Your options don’t cover a wide range; go to the hospital or don’t. It is still gonna hurt.
Hey now. My wife happens to love watching videos of horrible/disgusting medical conditions for fun. I’m squicked the heck out by that stuff, but I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t knock it until you try it.
Feels like having a basic First Aid certificate should be on the list of R.A. qualifications, no?
I mean, I would say it’s a good idea for just anyone, but if your job is specifically to be the first person people go to when there’s a problem?
i mean even if she does have First Aid cert, a crushed/broken toe is still pretty firmly “go to the hospital” territory. if Joyce were gushing blood, it’d be another matter, but it seems to pretty much be subcutaneous.
There’s nothing to do with a broken toe, first-aid wise, besides tell them to stay off it and go to a hospital to get it set. Theoretically, Ruth may know how to set a toe herself, but she’s probably not allowed to try by the school anyway as to avoid lawsuits.
Well, this toe isn’t confirmed broken yet, but it is absolutely confirmed to be swelling. Ice it down; that’s the First Aid that should be happening here.
First Aid most often isn’t about providing full medical treatment right on the site; it’s about preventing the injury from growing worse before it can be examined by a professional and treated properly.
Well, yes and no. It looks like it’s red because there’s a ton of blood underneath the skin. If it’s anything like when I broke my toe (on a painting) it’s simply super swollen and filled with blood instead of actually bleeding.
Unfortunately, that’s as graphic as my story gets. The second toe on my right foot got extremely swollen and red/purple. It was fairly unpleasant but I was lucky and kept the toenail. I suspect I’ll be able to predict rain with it someday!
Years ago when I was still practicing taekwondo I was called up in class for a demonstration (the higher ranked kids had the responsibility of being tossed about when new stuff was being taught so we had a better feel for it & could help the younger kids when they needed it). Anyway, I got up, walked to the mat, and caught my big toe under the edge of the mat. I felt the tug, and decided to just pull my foot up (I still don’t know why I did it, other than being young & stupid). There’s a loud crack as the mat slaps back onto the floor, I halfway trip, then continue walking to the teacher. One of the other kids in class calls out to me to look at my foot. I look down & the toe that had been caught has had blood pool up on top of the nail, so much that I couldn’t see the nail at all (split the nail in half from base to tip, in addition to breaking the toe itself). I hadn’t felt anything yet (minor shock?) and I just stared at it for a second before telling the teacher that I was going to clean up my toe.
I definitely wanted to afterwards (once I could stand again) but at the time I was simply trying to walk down the hallway illuminated solely by the kitchen light shining around the corner. I’d forgotten some idiot (not me) had left it propped up in there.
Bones have blood vessels in them so breaking a bone = breaking the blood vessels = bruising and swelling. It’s one of he biggest signs of a break, along with pain.
*stubbed my toes and banged my shins enough to know the signs, never broken one though
According to Google Maps, the IU-Bloomington Health Center is about half a mile from Read. Jacob would probably want to use fireman carry instead of princess carry for that.
Except, it’s not open until 8:00 AM and (based on context) this is maybe 6:00 AM? If she’s not gonna wait around until 8:00, it’s off to the emergency room, nearly 2 miles away. She’d probably get there quicker on Uber than on Jacob.
My dorm had a health advocate (not the RA, but also a student employed by the university who had taken basic training course over the summer) equipped with basic stuff, like bandages, athletic wrap tape and condoms. Possibly some colleges would combine the roles?
It wasn’t common in my experience! That said, Jacob’s logic was “maybe your R.A. has a first aid kit,” which… still makes a sort of sense to me? I used to be in Girl Scouts, and there it was totally reasonable to assume that anyone in any sort of authority position had access to a first aid kit. (Because. Y’know. They were required to.) So I’m not surprised to see that logic applied to other minor authority figures outside a scouting context.
Clarification: This isn’t to say that I assume Jacob was in Scouts (although he certainly could have been!). Just that the whole “minor authority figure = first aid kit” is a thought process that’s familiar enough to me that I don’t find it weird or illogical.
Perhaps there may have been closer first aid kids, but would people automatically know of their location? And would they be accessible at that hour?
As for what it would accomplish… Jacob may not know anything about first aid (so seeing someone with at least some training, even just as an RA) might have made sense. The kit itself may have contained one of those ice packs (that get activated when squeezed or shaken) which may have helped the swelling. If there was any blood it would have bandages. Might also have had something to act as a splint.
Eh, maybe? Your RA is kinda one of your first contacts. MAYBE she knows how to fix something. More likely she can tamp down on your panic a bit and point you in the right direction.
Being able to give basic aid is part of the RAs job. Furthermore, any RA would be trained on what to do for an injury, especially as injuries would need to be documented and reported due to being a potential lawsuit. I mean, heck, Joyce just broke one of her toes while using campus exercise equipment, without proper safety instruction or signs advising of safe practices. Thats a lawyers’ wet dream.
Ruth was right. Her job is phoney and it is baloney.
Yeah, I had first responder training when I was an RA, and of course knew where the building’s first aid kits were. And I kept basic supplies in my room (partly because I needed them so often due to clumsiness, but partly because it was a good thing to have as an RA). Plus, I had the phone numbers of a professional on campus for every purpose, including health and injuries, given to me during training.
So basically, not a bad idea by Jacob, except that Ruth is the RA. And seemingly in general the RA training and oversight at this institution is lacking.
When faced with an injury that neither experience nor training have prepared you to deal with, your best bet is probably to seek advice from those who have more experience and/or training. In a dorm, the RA has probably seen more and more various types of injuries than anyone who has not volunteered in a hospital.
Not related to dorms, but back when I was a cook, I once managed to cut my pinkie to the bone. It didn’t hurt, and it didn’t bleed, and I remember looking at it and thinking, “What the hell do I do now?”
I showed it to my co-worker with just that question, and he teleported back five feet, and the kitchen manager drove me to the urgent care clinic where it got sewed up. I will never forget the look on the doctor’s face when he said, wonderingly, “The joint capsule is intact!”
Anyway, my point is: if you have an injury serious enough to cause severe pain and/or nausea, and if you have a survival instinct, you’re going to err on the side of treating it seriously.
(And if you’ve ever wondered what your finger muscles look like underneath the skin, I have the answer: raw chicken thigh meat.)
At a previous job I managed to cut my thumb pretty deep with a utility knife. Went to the local ER with a co-worker to get it stitched up. I can confirm your observation of finger muscles. Also, the fat is kinda yellow.
A few days later a memo came out about workplace safety and how the company doesn’t want to have to report things to OSHA.
I managed to cut off a piece of my thumb while cooking at home. I was like “well shit”, then I put the loose piece back and a bandaid on. It healed up fine and now I have an oval scar on my thumb.
It’s where you go when you’re not sure what to do. So I think that covers injuries that don’t easily fall into either “stick a plaster on it” or “emergency”.
The whole nail might not fall off. I bashed my thumb once, looked nasty but the nail stayed on. There was just sorta a dent in it (it sorta peeled and the top layer was gone) until it grew out, took about six months until I could finally trim the last of the rough part off.
Mine have never taken anywhere near a year to grow back. Maybe a month until they’re comfortable, and several until they’re almost normal-looking. Source: losing toenails was routine and almost celebrated for the sports teams I played on. If I didn’t lose at least one per season, I wasn’t trying hard enough.
seconding this, because while i (quite happily) have 0 experience with finger- or toenail loss, my sister-in-law loses them like keys and grows them back more or less enough in a month or two.
Does the big toe take longer to grow back than the other toes? I’m just thinking ’cause that’s the toe she bashed and assuming equal rates of growth across the nails the pinky toenail would be replaced much faster than the big toenail.
My dad had his foot stamped on while playing football (soccer) before I was born, and football boots of that era had big fuck-off metal studs, so said incident involved a hospital trip. He still doesn’t have a toenail on that toe.
Unfortunately for Joyce even if it’s broken the best they can probably do at the hospital is tape it in place, give her an ice pack and tell her to take some ibuprofen. On the bright side, she probably won’t need a boot so no one will know she fucked up.
How on earth did they decide to go from the basement to the, what, 4th floor instead of out the first floor to the hospital? I can see finding a phone to make a call with, I guess, but that’s the only explanation I’ve got.
Sometimes freshmen seem to think their RA can do a lot more than they actually can, but Jacob seems pretty reasonable, so I’m not entirely sure either. Maybe they thought Ruth would at least have some resources to help them out? Like a card for a free taxi to the hospital or tell them to go to student health services or something.
Jacob seems so inherently reasonable and calm that when he came up with a really obviously useless idea Joe and Joyce just went with it assuming he was going somewhere with this.
To be fair, I think my University RA could have at least told me where exactly student health services was, or somewhere I could get an ice pack at 5 AM. It’s not like they have an ice pack sitting in their dorm room, given that none of them even seem to have a mini-fridge, and the cafeteria is likely still closed at 5 AM.
The RA isn’t a perfect answer, but it’s still a student whose already been on campus for a year, who at least signed up to be a first-point of contact (Unlike some of the other second year students, who may be less helpful at 5 AM).
Because it’s 1000% not an emergency and going to the hospital is a waste of money? It’s not exactly a kind thing to incur hundreds of dollars of unnecessary charges on your friend when they’re hurt and not thinking straight.
It’s a crushed toe. Rest it, ice it, take Advil. If it’s really painful, alternate with Tylenol. If you can’t walk after taking it easy for a bit, wrap it up to splint it. Maybe go to student health when they have walk-in hours, or find an urgent care, though all they’re likely to do is tell you to do the above. If it’s not substantially improving in a few days, definitely track down an urgent care.
Because the American health care system is a dumpster fire and this isn’t an emergency so it’s unlikely to be worth it? I mean, I’d go to get a splint, but my province covers visits to clinics or emergency rooms.
Iiiiiii have no idea why you would go to an emergency room for a broken toe. Broken FOOT or LEG or something sure, but not a toe. Definitely a family doctor or clinic.
TBH, even then I probably wouldn’t go for anything without obvious deformity or associated wound. If it needs cleaning or reduction, then yes ER, but otherwise all I’m getting is a splint and an ortho referral, and the clinic can do that for way cheaper. And since they can’t even cast it until the swelling goes down anyway, it’s not a huge rush.
(Full Disclosure: as a Type 2 diabetic, I have to be especially wary of injuries to feet. Something minor can still mess us up. That said… )
All depends on the severity of the break. Possible complications of a broken toe include nail injury, compound fracture, infection, deformity, or arthritis.
Seek immediate medical care if you suspect an open fracture of the toe; if there is bleeding; cold, numb, or tingling sensation; if the toe appears deformed or is pointing in the wrong direction; or blue or gray color to the injured area.
If this leads to Joyce getting admitted to a hospital AT ALL for a minor toe injury, I will become seriously concerned about insurance fraud and waste of medical resources in DoA land.
My personal headcanon for this strip is she’s half-asleep until halfway through and went through the motions of helping only for her to realize that this is not anything she has a clue about and bailing into the “mean” joke.
Like that Panel 3 face totally has the look of “wait, what the hell am I doing?” about it.
Yup. *What am I supposed to do with a fudged up toe? Did we cover this in RA training? What would Billie do? OK, fine, just look confident and if in doubt, threaten bloody murder.*
My thought is she wasn’t expecting it too be that bad. Like, I know what to do about a black nail but not huge swelling or possible fractures. The ‘awful bad’ seems like an admission of ‘not something I can deal with’
Yay Cerberus has returned. I can see the half asleep bit, but the “Take this problem to someone else” bit is all Ruth. Unless it’s someone who needs their femurs removed, or there is nobody else who can handle it Ruth does not want to be involved.
So I’m too lazy to get around to ever creating an account for the QC forum apparently, but I imagine there’s a decent cross-section in readership, so I’m gonna say it here:
Ayyy, NB character! I mean I’m not a huge fan of them as a character? But still!
I definitely have worn similar outfits as a NB person who favors business-casual/outfits inspired by Kathryn Hepburn. It’s always nice to see NB representation.
I walked around all day with a broken pinky-toe on Easter once. My mom had seen me “stub” it earlier but had assumed I was being dramatic until my dad told her to check and we discovered my toe was almost totally purple.
It’s way more entertaining to imagine that it is though. Just picturing willis swooning over a muscular black man princess-carrying him through the halls.
Noooo, don’t go to the hospital for a freaking TOE injury! Waste of resources as well as an unnecessarily high bill for Joyce.
Things like this are why urgent cares exist. Or Advil and ice, for that matter, and walk-in hours at student health. Odds are the most they’ll do is immobilize it and tell you to ice it anyways, and to come back if it doesn’t start to get better in a day or so. All of which you can do on your own or via student health for a fraction of the cost of an ER visit.
On the other hand, if it is a complete break, which from this picture it looks like it is, it needs to be set immediately, before the swelling makes that impossible.
Not really, for a toe injury. If it weren’t the big toe, it would hardly be a discussion. For the big toe, if it’s still toe-shaped (no gross deformity), tape it up and move on.
Depends on location. My school did have basic mental health support training for RAs: some of which involved knowing when to inform the school’s counseling center that someone needed help ASAP or might benefit from heading their way. I would imagine CPR, and knowing when to say ‘I’m an RA not a doctor or pre-med major, Scotty’ was part of that. Our health center was …not very good but hospitals were nearish by. It had the bare essentials but for anything serious you’d want to head to a hospital nearby.
Well, in the end, were we expecting anything else from Ruth? I mean, this is IE we’re talking about here. Given how Willis portrays administration’s attitude towards student support, it was unlikely they bothered to give Ruth first aid training or anything!
We have this saying in Poland which, adapted to this situation, would sound like this “In absence of torn out femurs a busted toe is a torn out femur too”
I find myself wondering if we’re witnessing the starting point of gossip reaching Raidah’s ear about Joyce and Jacob’s (entirely imaginary) ongoing romantic relationship? Ruth tells Billie; Billie, being Billie, tells everyone with each retelling getting more exaggerated until it reaches Raidah who, by that point, hears that Joyce was hurt after some kinky game with Jacob went horribly wrong.
So, good luck to you ‘Muricans for the upcoming tax bill (not passing, hopefully). I fully expect to be saying this about every 2-3 months, for the the next 7 1/2 years, but that’s what I get for hoping that some of you get to live, I guess. >_>
ice it. cmon joyce, in all that fantasising about being a full time mum/teacher you never thought to absorb the most rudimentary staples of first aid? KIDS HURT THEMSELVES JOYCE. CMON
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“yup, that’s a fucked-up toe” *checks off bucket list*
Next up ‘see a fucked up ankle’
#3 – Fucked up femur
#4 – fucked up pancreas
At some point Ruth’s gonna realize she wants to become a doctor
to see fucked up things
And then the comic turns into Moon Over June.
You’d think that would happen with the slipshine stuff but here we are
#5 – Fuck up a lemur. Drink can drive you to do bad things.
Nah you misread it, that one says “fuck up femurs”
Fucked up lemur femur.
purple
I mean… yeah? I’m not sure exactly what they were expecting from Ruth, let alone a half-asleep one
People tend to forget that Ruth is still essentially neutral evil
Lawful, definitely. She has RULES and you WILL follow them.
Actual femur removal would push her to Evil, but she has it in her to make St. Cuthbert proud.
In general when you bring your problems to Ruth you expect them to… disappear.
Problems? I think you mean anything
Even so, there’s not a whole lot you can do with a broken toe. You can take it to the hospital… get it set… but if the skin’s not broken, then there’s nothing to bandage or disinfect. You stay off it and it’s gonna hurt. Your options don’t cover a wide range; go to the hospital or don’t. It is still gonna hurt.
Hey now. My wife happens to love watching videos of horrible/disgusting medical conditions for fun. I’m squicked the heck out by that stuff, but I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t knock it until you try it.
Feels like having a basic First Aid certificate should be on the list of R.A. qualifications, no?
I mean, I would say it’s a good idea for just anyone, but if your job is specifically to be the first person people go to when there’s a problem?
i mean even if she does have First Aid cert, a crushed/broken toe is still pretty firmly “go to the hospital” territory. if Joyce were gushing blood, it’d be another matter, but it seems to pretty much be subcutaneous.
There’s nothing to do with a broken toe, first-aid wise, besides tell them to stay off it and go to a hospital to get it set. Theoretically, Ruth may know how to set a toe herself, but she’s probably not allowed to try by the school anyway as to avoid lawsuits.
Well, this toe isn’t confirmed broken yet, but it is absolutely confirmed to be swelling. Ice it down; that’s the First Aid that should be happening here.
First Aid most often isn’t about providing full medical treatment right on the site; it’s about preventing the injury from growing worse before it can be examined by a professional and treated properly.
Ewww. Is there blood? I either can’t tell or don’t want to zoom in at all.
From personal experience, all the bleeding is likely to be subcutaneous. Meaning it will be a huge blood bruise, but no outright bleeding.
Well, yes and no. It looks like it’s red because there’s a ton of blood underneath the skin. If it’s anything like when I broke my toe (on a painting) it’s simply super swollen and filled with blood instead of actually bleeding.
Ok I should have mentioned that mine was a rhetorical question.
I don’t need anyone’s graphic stories, but since we’ve started, let ’em rip!
I’d rather not hear about ripped off toe stories again, thanks.
I don’t want to, particularly, but telling this lot to not do something doesn’t work.
I mean its not a toe but…
One of my coworkers got his finger cut off with a conveyor belt about a week ago. Does that count?
Stupid idiot figured its a good idea to poke at the sensor with his hand cause it didn’t see the item it was supposed to.
Unfortunately, that’s as graphic as my story gets. The second toe on my right foot got extremely swollen and red/purple. It was fairly unpleasant but I was lucky and kept the toenail. I suspect I’ll be able to predict rain with it someday!
Years ago when I was still practicing taekwondo I was called up in class for a demonstration (the higher ranked kids had the responsibility of being tossed about when new stuff was being taught so we had a better feel for it & could help the younger kids when they needed it). Anyway, I got up, walked to the mat, and caught my big toe under the edge of the mat. I felt the tug, and decided to just pull my foot up (I still don’t know why I did it, other than being young & stupid). There’s a loud crack as the mat slaps back onto the floor, I halfway trip, then continue walking to the teacher. One of the other kids in class calls out to me to look at my foot. I look down & the toe that had been caught has had blood pool up on top of the nail, so much that I couldn’t see the nail at all (split the nail in half from base to tip, in addition to breaking the toe itself). I hadn’t felt anything yet (minor shock?) and I just stared at it for a second before telling the teacher that I was going to clean up my toe.
Were you kicking the painting?
I definitely wanted to afterwards (once I could stand again) but at the time I was simply trying to walk down the hallway illuminated solely by the kitchen light shining around the corner. I’d forgotten some idiot (not me) had left it propped up in there.
Darn, I thought you were doing something cool like painting with your foot.
Bones have blood vessels in them so breaking a bone = breaking the blood vessels = bruising and swelling. It’s one of he biggest signs of a break, along with pain.
*stubbed my toes and banged my shins enough to know the signs, never broken one though
Sometimes Leafs fans do win.
If nothing else, we have seen them score
the Maple Leafs are always a backdrop for debilitating pain
This is COMPLETELY UNTRUE.
…..
…. quite often they’re the foreground.
On next week’s episode of Ruthus Welby, Not An MD:
“Sorry, I can’t do anything about that finger you accidentally cut off. I’m not a doctor you know.”
“… but can I keep it anyway?”
Back aboard the Jacob Express then?
According to Google Maps, the IU-Bloomington Health Center is about half a mile from Read. Jacob would probably want to use fireman carry instead of princess carry for that.
Except, it’s not open until 8:00 AM and (based on context) this is maybe 6:00 AM? If she’s not gonna wait around until 8:00, it’s off to the emergency room, nearly 2 miles away. She’d probably get there quicker on Uber than on Jacob.
College is proving to be hazardous to Joyce’s health! What next, a black eye? The med staff will start to get suspicious.
To be fair, about half of the time it is dangerous for the OTHER mother-effers health.
Is that common in dorms? Taking your boo-boos to the RA?
My dorm had a health advocate (not the RA, but also a student employed by the university who had taken basic training course over the summer) equipped with basic stuff, like bandages, athletic wrap tape and condoms. Possibly some colleges would combine the roles?
It wasn’t common in my experience! That said, Jacob’s logic was “maybe your R.A. has a first aid kit,” which… still makes a sort of sense to me? I used to be in Girl Scouts, and there it was totally reasonable to assume that anyone in any sort of authority position had access to a first aid kit. (Because. Y’know. They were required to.) So I’m not surprised to see that logic applied to other minor authority figures outside a scouting context.
Clarification: This isn’t to say that I assume Jacob was in Scouts (although he certainly could have been!). Just that the whole “minor authority figure = first aid kit” is a thought process that’s familiar enough to me that I don’t find it weird or illogical.
But I would think there would be closer first aid kits.
Also, I’m not sure what he expected a first aid kit to accomplish. Bad plan, Jacob.
Perhaps there may have been closer first aid kids, but would people automatically know of their location? And would they be accessible at that hour?
As for what it would accomplish… Jacob may not know anything about first aid (so seeing someone with at least some training, even just as an RA) might have made sense. The kit itself may have contained one of those ice packs (that get activated when squeezed or shaken) which may have helped the swelling. If there was any blood it would have bandages. Might also have had something to act as a splint.
Eh, maybe? Your RA is kinda one of your first contacts. MAYBE she knows how to fix something. More likely she can tamp down on your panic a bit and point you in the right direction.
Being able to give basic aid is part of the RAs job. Furthermore, any RA would be trained on what to do for an injury, especially as injuries would need to be documented and reported due to being a potential lawsuit. I mean, heck, Joyce just broke one of her toes while using campus exercise equipment, without proper safety instruction or signs advising of safe practices. Thats a lawyers’ wet dream.
Ruth was right. Her job is phoney and it is baloney.
Yeah, I had first responder training when I was an RA, and of course knew where the building’s first aid kits were. And I kept basic supplies in my room (partly because I needed them so often due to clumsiness, but partly because it was a good thing to have as an RA). Plus, I had the phone numbers of a professional on campus for every purpose, including health and injuries, given to me during training.
So basically, not a bad idea by Jacob, except that Ruth is the RA. And seemingly in general the RA training and oversight at this institution is lacking.
If nothing else, it wold help reduce the number of stupid things taken to the hospital without it being necessary.
Or in the case of Ruth, it might just be a convenient way of getting rid of the bodies.
When faced with an injury that neither experience nor training have prepared you to deal with, your best bet is probably to seek advice from those who have more experience and/or training. In a dorm, the RA has probably seen more and more various types of injuries than anyone who has not volunteered in a hospital.
Not related to dorms, but back when I was a cook, I once managed to cut my pinkie to the bone. It didn’t hurt, and it didn’t bleed, and I remember looking at it and thinking, “What the hell do I do now?”
I showed it to my co-worker with just that question, and he teleported back five feet, and the kitchen manager drove me to the urgent care clinic where it got sewed up. I will never forget the look on the doctor’s face when he said, wonderingly, “The joint capsule is intact!”
Anyway, my point is: if you have an injury serious enough to cause severe pain and/or nausea, and if you have a survival instinct, you’re going to err on the side of treating it seriously.
(And if you’ve ever wondered what your finger muscles look like underneath the skin, I have the answer: raw chicken thigh meat.)
At a previous job I managed to cut my thumb pretty deep with a utility knife. Went to the local ER with a co-worker to get it stitched up. I can confirm your observation of finger muscles.
Also, the fat is kinda yellow.
A few days later a memo came out about workplace safety and how the company doesn’t want to have to report things to OSHA.
I managed to cut off a piece of my thumb while cooking at home. I was like “well shit”, then I put the loose piece back and a bandaid on. It healed up fine and now I have an oval scar on my thumb.
It’s where you go when you’re not sure what to do. So I think that covers injuries that don’t easily fall into either “stick a plaster on it” or “emergency”.
“Wow, I may be very ill-suited for this job, but it does have it’s upsides.”
Full disclaimer: Autocorrect messed up my possesive with an apostrophe.
Upcoming feature next year: Autoautocorrect! Corrects all the errors that autocorrect makes, and fails to make!
Wouldn’t that be Autocorrectcorrect?
Technically it would be Autoautocorrectcorrect, but marketing got to name it and they didn’t care about accuracy.
*plays Weird Al’s “Like A Surgeon” on the hacked Muzak*
Like a sturgeon, caught for the very first time!
Like a stur ur ur urgeon, got you flopping, on my line!
Thank you for that! It made my morning!
I love that Weird Al’s parodies are so mainstream, at this point, that people parody them. It’s so great.
will this be used by Joyce’s parents as fodder for her to return home?
Kinda anticlimactic after their neighbor threatened her with a gun, but hey, a toe is a toe is a toe.
Hmmm. Joyce DOES seem to have a toe-problem, doesn’t she?
Toe be or not toe be.
Not toe be.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/strength-2/
+1 Internet
Toby, though?
Now THAT is how you fuck up a Toe.
“Ugh I can probably amputate it if it’s annoying you *that* much.” *pulls out knife*
Yeah, that’s a pretty sever injury.
Are… are we doing this?
. . . . .
That pun didn’t make the cut. Yet.
Eh, sharp enough but not quite to the point.
I must be halluxinating.
It lacks a sharper edge
Yeah, these puns are dull. We need to amp(utate) them up.
Not many cut ups here, I agree. But it’s knife to see these hacks sharpen their wits.
yeah, it’s fun, but the puns are kind of machete
If it’s alright with you I’ll take a stab at these puns
go ahead! it was knife of you to ask!
*Pulls out knife, eyes Joe with a calculating look*
Joyce: “NO, HE IS NOT THAT ANNOYING?”
Ruth: “Really? He sure annoys me.”
Joyce: “What do you expect to DO with that phone anyways??”
if the toe nail does fall off, itll take a year to grow back.
I don’t remember if mine took a whole year, but yeah, joyce will have a messed up toe for the rest of this comic at least.
which probably means no running with Dorothy. huh.
Nooooooo, now how will they become shower buddies?
i think the only shower buddies are billie and ruth
Probably also Sierra, Mandy, and Grace.
And we still haven’t heard nearly enough about Becky’s ah, window shopping.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/sample/
The whole nail might not fall off. I bashed my thumb once, looked nasty but the nail stayed on. There was just sorta a dent in it (it sorta peeled and the top layer was gone) until it grew out, took about six months until I could finally trim the last of the rough part off.
Mine have never taken anywhere near a year to grow back. Maybe a month until they’re comfortable, and several until they’re almost normal-looking. Source: losing toenails was routine and almost celebrated for the sports teams I played on. If I didn’t lose at least one per season, I wasn’t trying hard enough.
seconding this, because while i (quite happily) have 0 experience with finger- or toenail loss, my sister-in-law loses them like keys and grows them back more or less enough in a month or two.
Does the big toe take longer to grow back than the other toes? I’m just thinking ’cause that’s the toe she bashed and assuming equal rates of growth across the nails the pinky toenail would be replaced much faster than the big toenail.
Yeah, it takes longer, though mostly for the length, the width doesn’t really factor in.
They can also just never come back.
My dad had his foot stamped on while playing football (soccer) before I was born, and football boots of that era had big fuck-off metal studs, so said incident involved a hospital trip. He still doesn’t have a toenail on that toe.
Okay, Joyce. Now’s the time to barf.
About the alt text: Really, Ruth, at least Jorothy and Jamber were polite enough to change their names for this storyline.
There was also Jierra, off-panel.
Sierras evil, shoewearing sister, obviously.
Nah it’s fine. Her name is Jruth. It’s just that the “J” is silent and invisible >.>
It’s prononounced “Yruth”, so it doesn’t count.
Another great moment in Ruth/people interaction.
Panel five Joyce looks like shes about to say something to Ruth, preferably about how Ruth hasn’t changed and is just a big a bongo as she ever was
I mean anger and pain is a good mix for making you say things you otherwise wouldn’t
Unfortunately for Joyce even if it’s broken the best they can probably do at the hospital is tape it in place, give her an ice pack and tell her to take some ibuprofen. On the bright side, she probably won’t need a boot so no one will know she fucked up.
And a tetanus shot.
Why on earth would she get a tetanus shot for a non-penetrating injury?
It is adequately indicated by her not having had one in N years, and commands a fee.
Lat time I got a tetanus shot it was because my niece was about to have a baby. Go figure.
Is setting the bone a thing with toes, lest it heal all wacky?
Toes are wacky regardless.
I managed to break my pinkie toe once upon a time. They just taped it up and gave me Ibuprofen, as mentioned above.
Of course later, when I started throwing up blood, I stopped taking Ibuprofen regularly.
Nah, not really.
Usually you just tape the broken toe to the toe beside it, and tell the patient to keep weight off it for two weeks.
Hey, everyone, it’s Jruth!
Joyce’s first semester seems to involve a lot more trips to the hospital than mine did.
Aren’t you feeling that you are missing out?
To E.R. is human.
Yup, that’s why I had to start doing volunteer work that involved going to the hospital.
I needed my fix.
Alas, mine was similarly full of hospital visits.
For a very brief moment I thought Ruth was calling Joyce an ‘it’. So, she technically could’ve been more insensitive than she is.
That’s the well known Ruth bedside manner.
She even treats BILLIE with that same bedside ma- *vaudeville hook*
Yowch.
Willis, don’t be ridiculous, we all know her real name is “Jruth”.
Neither did Dorothy’s, alt text.
Dorothy wasn’t in this storyline. She’s been delegated to the role of understudy.
(under the blanket, specifically)
Panel three Joyce is really selling the queasy.
Ruth: moves right past Joyce hanging out with two massive sweaty dudes at 5 in the morning, to “so let’s see this fucked-up toe”
Priorities
Ruth: Damn it it Joyce I’m an RA, not a doctor!
Okay… I don’t understand this strip at all.
How on earth did they decide to go from the basement to the, what, 4th floor instead of out the first floor to the hospital? I can see finding a phone to make a call with, I guess, but that’s the only explanation I’ve got.
Sometimes freshmen seem to think their RA can do a lot more than they actually can, but Jacob seems pretty reasonable, so I’m not entirely sure either. Maybe they thought Ruth would at least have some resources to help them out? Like a card for a free taxi to the hospital or tell them to go to student health services or something.
Jacob seems so inherently reasonable and calm that when he came up with a really obviously useless idea Joe and Joyce just went with it assuming he was going somewhere with this.
To be fair, I think my University RA could have at least told me where exactly student health services was, or somewhere I could get an ice pack at 5 AM. It’s not like they have an ice pack sitting in their dorm room, given that none of them even seem to have a mini-fridge, and the cafeteria is likely still closed at 5 AM.
The RA isn’t a perfect answer, but it’s still a student whose already been on campus for a year, who at least signed up to be a first-point of contact (Unlike some of the other second year students, who may be less helpful at 5 AM).
Because it’s 1000% not an emergency and going to the hospital is a waste of money? It’s not exactly a kind thing to incur hundreds of dollars of unnecessary charges on your friend when they’re hurt and not thinking straight.
It’s a crushed toe. Rest it, ice it, take Advil. If it’s really painful, alternate with Tylenol. If you can’t walk after taking it easy for a bit, wrap it up to splint it. Maybe go to student health when they have walk-in hours, or find an urgent care, though all they’re likely to do is tell you to do the above. If it’s not substantially improving in a few days, definitely track down an urgent care.
Student insurance is crap, too. I pay like $250 if I have to go. That’s a lot in general, but it’s prohibitive for a college student.
For some reason, I completely overwrote my memory of the previous strip with comments speculation on going to the hospital.
Because the American health care system is a dumpster fire and this isn’t an emergency so it’s unlikely to be worth it? I mean, I’d go to get a splint, but my province covers visits to clinics or emergency rooms.
Iiiiiii have no idea why you would go to an emergency room for a broken toe. Broken FOOT or LEG or something sure, but not a toe. Definitely a family doctor or clinic.
TBH, even then I probably wouldn’t go for anything without obvious deformity or associated wound. If it needs cleaning or reduction, then yes ER, but otherwise all I’m getting is a splint and an ortho referral, and the clinic can do that for way cheaper. And since they can’t even cast it until the swelling goes down anyway, it’s not a huge rush.
(Full Disclosure: as a Type 2 diabetic, I have to be especially wary of injuries to feet. Something minor can still mess us up. That said… )
All depends on the severity of the break. Possible complications of a broken toe include nail injury, compound fracture, infection, deformity, or arthritis.
Seek immediate medical care if you suspect an open fracture of the toe; if there is bleeding; cold, numb, or tingling sensation; if the toe appears deformed or is pointing in the wrong direction; or blue or gray color to the injured area.
We thought she was Ruthless. Turns out she’s Ruthful, but Jless.
If this leads to Joyce being admitted to the same hospital as Douchey McStabface I will get seriously aggravated.
If this leads to Joyce getting admitted to a hospital AT ALL for a minor toe injury, I will become seriously concerned about insurance fraud and waste of medical resources in DoA land.
Yeah, this just calls for treatment and home care. Maybe a follow-up visit with an MD after a couple weeks to make sure it’s not getting infected.
Next time on Ruth MD
“Dude that’s nasty”
Because “Dr. Ruth” was already taken.
By Billie!
…I’ll see myself out.
My personal headcanon for this strip is she’s half-asleep until halfway through and went through the motions of helping only for her to realize that this is not anything she has a clue about and bailing into the “mean” joke.
Like that Panel 3 face totally has the look of “wait, what the hell am I doing?” about it.
I don’t know, I’d be morbidly curious about the fucked up toe too
Hi Cerb, good to see you again.
Yup. *What am I supposed to do with a fudged up toe? Did we cover this in RA training? What would Billie do? OK, fine, just look confident and if in doubt, threaten bloody murder.*
What do we do with a fudged up toe,
What do we do with a fudged up toe,
What do we do with a fudged up toe,
Early in the morning.
(Way hay, and up she rises!)
My thought is she wasn’t expecting it too be that bad. Like, I know what to do about a black nail but not huge swelling or possible fractures. The ‘awful bad’ seems like an admission of ‘not something I can deal with’
Yay Cerberus has returned. I can see the half asleep bit, but the “Take this problem to someone else” bit is all Ruth. Unless it’s someone who needs their femurs removed, or there is nobody else who can handle it Ruth does not want to be involved.
So I’m too lazy to get around to ever creating an account for the QC forum apparently, but I imagine there’s a decent cross-section in readership, so I’m gonna say it here:
Ayyy, NB character! I mean I’m not a huge fan of them as a character? But still!
I don’t read QC, but I had to go look at this.
I definitely have worn similar outfits as a NB person who favors business-casual/outfits inspired by Kathryn Hepburn. It’s always nice to see NB representation.
I like TaffyIt’sTilly. Thinking of Hanners’ mom, exactly how likable can.one be and work for her?
I walked around all day with a broken pinky-toe on Easter once. My mom had seen me “stub” it earlier but had assumed I was being dramatic until my dad told her to check and we discovered my toe was almost totally purple.
I swear to god people assuming others are being ‘dramatic’ when they talk about pain is just. my pet peeve at this point
When I broke my leg (aged ten) my mother told me to “Quit the dramatics, stand up, and walk.” I tried.
In my mother’s defense, I was totally that kid. And once she saw that it was definitely broken, she freaked and apologized.
Oh goddd that looks so painful, poor Joyce! >.< And, retroactively, poor you, since this is autobiographical.
I don’t think it’s in that level of detail…
It’s way more entertaining to imagine that it is though. Just picturing willis swooning over a muscular black man princess-carrying him through the halls.
Noooo, don’t go to the hospital for a freaking TOE injury! Waste of resources as well as an unnecessarily high bill for Joyce.
Things like this are why urgent cares exist. Or Advil and ice, for that matter, and walk-in hours at student health. Odds are the most they’ll do is immobilize it and tell you to ice it anyways, and to come back if it doesn’t start to get better in a day or so. All of which you can do on your own or via student health for a fraction of the cost of an ER visit.
On the other hand, if it is a complete break, which from this picture it looks like it is, it needs to be set immediately, before the swelling makes that impossible.
Not really, for a toe injury. If it weren’t the big toe, it would hardly be a discussion. For the big toe, if it’s still toe-shaped (no gross deformity), tape it up and move on.
Ruth’s motivation is odd but to be fair what did you expect she’s a College room R.A not a fucking doctor.
Do RAs even get some first aid as part of their training?
Depends on location. My school did have basic mental health support training for RAs: some of which involved knowing when to inform the school’s counseling center that someone needed help ASAP or might benefit from heading their way. I would imagine CPR, and knowing when to say ‘I’m an RA not a doctor or pre-med major, Scotty’ was part of that. Our health center was …not very good but hospitals were nearish by. It had the bare essentials but for anything serious you’d want to head to a hospital nearby.
Is the toe supposed to look out of joint? Or is that just a trick of the color?
Because if it’s dislocated, I’m sure Ruth would greatly enjoy popping it back into place, provided she knows how.
As mentioned by many others, it’s most likely broken, with bleeding under the skin accounting for the off-color.
Ruth come ooooon
Well, in the end, were we expecting anything else from Ruth? I mean, this is IE we’re talking about here. Given how Willis portrays administration’s attitude towards student support, it was unlikely they bothered to give Ruth first aid training or anything!
I bet she got handed a box of bandages and a tube of first-aid cream during orientation, so she’s been handing them out for everything since then.
It’s ok because Ruth’s being a jerk right now…
It is the revenge of Toe-Dad!
Our heroine fudges him up, now his kin is back to settle the score!
Have no fear, Joyce. Intrepid Joe ALWAYS carries a spare sock for “emergencies.”
Good step up for Ruth. She would have tried to steal a femur or something. At the very least, nonchalant indifference works.
Maybe Ruth could be Doctor Beat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEWn0orWkMs
I mean, she’s used to her team being beat.
Although Joyce really isnt up to toe-tapping atm.
We have this saying in Poland which, adapted to this situation, would sound like this “In absence of torn out femurs a busted toe is a torn out femur too”
So the question is – does Joyce need her toe to live?
(Good expression, by the way!)
Well she needs it for douche-boxing, the big toe being the one boxers pivot on I think…
It’s going to take more than an ice pack.
I find myself wondering if we’re witnessing the starting point of gossip reaching Raidah’s ear about Joyce and Jacob’s (entirely imaginary) ongoing romantic relationship? Ruth tells Billie; Billie, being Billie, tells everyone with each retelling getting more exaggerated until it reaches Raidah who, by that point, hears that Joyce was hurt after some kinky game with Jacob went horribly wrong.
Joyce got a princess carry, but never from the circumstances she expected to
So, good luck to you ‘Muricans for the upcoming tax bill (not passing, hopefully). I fully expect to be saying this about every 2-3 months, for the the next 7 1/2 years, but that’s what I get for hoping that some of you get to live, I guess. >_>
Toedad, no longer the only toe who’s been slammered
“I just didn’t want to miss seeing a fucked-up toe.”
I guess she was busy during the whole Ross storyline…
Pretty much:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/cnn/
…it looks broken
Is it just me or does Joyce look pale??
She’s been pale for three strips now. At least she’s no longer got loopy-lines around her head or a loopy voice-cone leading to her speech bubble.
By Ruth’s expression and the fact that she’s not wearing any pants, I’ve just remembered it’s about 6:00 AM right now.
I am disappointed. I was expecting Jacob to whack her foot on the door frame as he carried her through the door.
holy shit i have the same shirt as her and it’s my favorite shirt!
ice it. cmon joyce, in all that fantasising about being a full time mum/teacher you never thought to absorb the most rudimentary staples of first aid? KIDS HURT THEMSELVES JOYCE. CMON
Okay, who else thought Ruth was going to call everybody in to look at the messed-up foot?