Oops - Updated 6.4.2006 PDF Print E-mail
Written by scott   
Tuesday, 29 November 2005
It is without question that all of us do silly things from time to time.  Fortunately most of those missteps go unnoticed falling carelessly by the wayside with little more than a chuckle or a shaking of the head.  Friday, November 18th 2005 I was not able to sidestep one of the silly moments.  It was about seven o'clock and I had gone out to the shop, not to do any real work, but merely kill some time laying out the final dimensions of the last stair tread. Man, this one stair tread really has taken forever.  After working out what I thought to be the correct shape on my 2 inch thick oak, I decided it would be wise to make a quick template out of scraps just to make sure all my math was correct.  I fired up the table saw and began milling quarter inch thick strips that I intended hot glue together following the shape of the tread.  After cutting the first piece, I realize the dust collector was not taking the dust from the table saw.  I walked around behind the saw and knows the plug was still in the dust shoot.  Here's where I went drastically wrong.  Not seeing the blades spinning or hearing it do to the ear protection, I reached in the pull out the plug - snap!  I pulled my hand out not quite sure what had happened, did a double take, and let out a loud yell.  I ran to the house and wrapped my hand in the towel and yelled for Liz to help.

 

As she was on the phone with 911 I danced around in disbelief that I could've done something so stupid.  Not able to stand still, I went out to shop to turn off the table saw.  On my way back to the house Liz assured me that help was on the way and that was reinforced by the siren of a firetruck rolling towards the house.  We both ran through the house and met the firemen on the front porch.  It must've been a slow night - about a dozen firemen poured onto my front porch and crowded around me. While two of them inspected my hand, another began checking my vitals, and strangely a couple more started asking questions about the era and construction of the house.  Meanwhile, Liz ran around trying to gather up items we might need at the hospital.  I asked her to go unplug the glue gun so we could save these firemen a second trip back to the house tonight.  She also shut off my new siren of the woodshop, the dust collector.

By the time she returned to the front porch I was surprisingly calm.  According to firemen vitals were good, all digits accounted for, and I had a choice to make - call for an ambulance or have Liz drive me to the hospital.  To me the choice was easy - let's drive.  See, being hurt is a lot like being in traffic - sometimes it's just better to be moving.  I was anxious to get to the hospital and learn of the damage done, so waiting for them to call in an ambulance seemed like time wasted since the hospital was merely a mile away.  We hopped into the car and drove to St. Joe's on Thomas and third.
By now it's approaching eight o'clock and we're standing in line in the emergency room.  In front of me is a couple with a child who is in a wheelchair passed out.  As one nurse tried to get them admitted, another started checking my vitals and filling out paperwork.  It probably took us less than half an hour to get through the waiting room and into the trauma section of the ER.  Neither Liz or I liked the nurse whose bedside manner did little to ease my mind or the pain which by now was starting to catch up with me.  Liz stood there telling me everything would be okay as I started to shiver uncontrollably.  I could not get warm.  The nurse brought me a warm blanket which helped for a little bit, but soon I was back to shivering just as bad.  Liz tried to get me another blanket around the time one of the ER doctors stopped by and inspected my handiwork (no pun intended.) He was much better than the nurse, but quite honestly he wasn't there long enough to make much of a difference.  Maybe the one difference he did make is who he called that night.
Finally after about an hour in the ER, the nurse came by with some morphine to ease the pain.  I could feel it wash through me; first hitting my neck, then down my spine, and finally out to my arms and hands.  Immediately after, another nurse wheeled me into an adjacent room for a few x-rays.  When I returned I was met by the doctor who eventually became my hand surgeon.  He looked familiar to me but I couldn't place him.   He asked me several questions and waited impatiently for my responses which by this point were a bit muddled by the morphine.  Curiously he wanted to know if I was using a cut off blade or a rip blade on the table saw - I wasn't sure.
A short while later the nurse wheeled me upstairs where I was prepped for the emergency surgery.  I started feeling a little motion sick from the trip upstairs, so the two doctors or nurses there were helping me with surgery prep told me to lay back and relax because I was looking a little white.
That's it.  That's all I remember before surgery.  My next recollection is waking up in a very quiet recovery room where a nurse asked me a few questions, filled out some paperwork then wheeled me up to where Liz had been joined by my parents.  I was happy to see all of them and we slowly made our way out of the recovery room and to where I would be staying for the next few days.
So let's fast forward a bit because most of the hospital stay was boring and uneventful.  I was released the morning of November 21 and returned back to the house.  Can't quite explain why but everything seemed very small to me at that moment.  The first day I did some serious sleeping, glad to be back on my own turf.  The following days are just about as uneventful as I transition off the pain killers and look for projects that can be accomplished with my clumsy right hand.
November 29 - the day before my second surgery.
The hand is feeling pretty good.  Sure it throbs at times, but that's overshadowed by how much it itches as it heals.  The surgery tomorrow has me a little concerned.  The focus will be to take the articular surface from one of my toes to rebuild a knuckle in my middle finger.  This means the toe next to the big one will have a fused joint, but supposedly this is a very common procedure and will not affect my ability to function.  The part that has me concerned is the length of the recovery period and how immobilized I will be.  It feels like a I've been out of commission for months; hard to believe it hasn't even been two weeks.
That's it for now I'll post another update after surgery to let you know how everything goes.
January 19th - Nothing Special
I'm happy to report that healing is going as planned and most of my effort is going into physical therapy.  Three times a week I let other people bend an pull my fingers, and the waking hours in between I take on their role.  They have me in a CPM machine that keeps my fingers moving in an attempt to break up scar tissue.
In another week, we will be faced with removing the remaining hardware that is in my hand and possibly a procedure to free up the tendons from the scar tissue.   Until then...

 
February 7, 2006

It’s been a while since I’ve updated you on the hand and since I’m currently on a flight to St. Louis, I have plenty of, well, time on my hands.

Healing is going well; bones are on the mend and the skin graft is looking more normal.  The doctor thinks that in a month, we will undergo a procedure called a capsulautomy.  This will be to clear out the scar tissue around the tendons to regain movement I lost.  The doctor seems confident that he will get me down into a fist during surgery, the challenge then is to be able to keep that movement while my body tries to scar it back up.  I’m getting good movement in my ring finger, and the index finger is pretty limber with the exception of the distal joint which still contains pins.  All the hardware should be removed during the next procedure.  I have four pins left all together. 

Feeling is good in all but the inner side of the ring finger which sustained a large cut.  That may never come back according to the doctor, but my money is on regaining most of the feeling over time.  Liz has been massaging it each night with special cream for scars and I think it is really helping to soften things up.  At the very least it’s nice to have some interaction with the hand that feels good, as my physical therapy and stretching has been quite painful.

Each day it looks more like a hand again and I can’t believe how fortunate I have been.  I’m slowly getting back into the things I like to do, although the tablesaw still scares me to death.  I know – I’ll get over it.  I picked up a backpacker magazine in the airport and I getting excited to do a weekend backpack.  Maybe up on the rim or somewhere in the northeast.  Not sure how the toe will hold up, so maybe some ay hikes first will be in order.  That’s all for now.

March 5, 2006

Just a quick update.  Thursday I had another minor surgery on my hand to remove the pins and do what is called manipulation.  Essentially they knock you out then crank down on your hand until they hear cracking - either scar tissue or bone.  The latter is not good.  Fortunately manipulation went well and I was nearly down into a fist; moving joints that had not moved since the accident.  Outlook is good and I will see the doctor tomorrow.  Until then, I have a wrapped hand and must type with one hand and a thumb. Neither one is all that good in this new configuration.   I'll give you another update in a few days when I'm typing better. 

June 4, 2006

Another quick note. Hand is progressing nicely.  As of today, I can force my hand down into a loose fist although I'm not able to under my own power.  Some days it's stiffer than others, but I keep working it down into a fist at least once a day.  I'm back to doing most of the things I did before.  Still not doing things that have big impact like hammering, swinging the golf clubs, or riding the bike, but I'm sure in the comming few months that will change. 

The doctor doesn't see me again until mid August when we start talking joint replacement and capsuloutomy (no idea how to spell that.)  That is the process of freeing up the tendons and tissue in my middle finger so I can extend more.  The joint replacement would be for the knuckle at the base of my middle finger which is only half in tact.  I seem to be gaining more and more movement in that finger, so my goal is for the Dr. to say it's not necessary at this time when we go back.  That would be a nice personal win - save the rubber joints from when I'm old.

Last Updated ( Monday, 04 February 2008 )
 
< Prev   Next >
[ Back ]