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Melinda Howard was going through cardboard when she got a paper cut

Within a week, the cut became infected, and her hand started to swell

Once her husband saw her hand, he rushed her to urgent care

Melinda Howard was breaking down cardboard boxes for recycling when one of them nicked her hand.

The 63-year-old Mississippi resident tells PEOPLE she didn't think much of it, unfazed by the small paper cut.

“I was cramming a whole bunch of boxes, rolling them up and putting them into garbage bags, and one just caught my hand and gave me a paper cut, and I was like, ‘Oh, for crying out loud!'" she recalls.

Howard went to get a bandage, put antibacterial ointment on it, and covered her cut. Howard notes that her skin is very sensitive because, while living in Colorado, she oft

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