Oops, I did it again

[Teho]

Did what you say? Well, I nearly named this thread "Looks like Christmas holiday came early this year", maybe that'll help you guess? In any case, I guess I should warn you that the following isn't very pleasant reading.

Yes, I've hurt myself pretty bad at work again. Funny, considering that it isn't long since last time it happened. Did it better too this time. To make a long story short, my right thumb is now shortened by about the length of the fingernail, and a tablesaw was involved. And same as last time, it was nobody's fault but my own. Yesterday I was splitting some boards on the saw, and was about to remove one of the pieces I'd cut off. It caught on the still spinning blade, and pulled my hand back sharply sending the thumb across the blade. It cut just at the root of the nail and into the bone, so not all the way through. However once I got to the emergency room it was clear that saw blades don't make very clean cuts. They generally make a mess of it to put it mildly. It had ruined the whole area from the middle of the nail and almost down to the joint. So while the fingertip was still largely whole minus the fingernail that had gone, the damaged area itself just didn't have anything left to fix. In the end the doctor cut some of the bone and finger away and simply used the tip to fold it back over the damaged area and stitched it on there, shortening the finger by that much. And that's really all there was to it.

Here is where I feel I have learned something about pain. I thought I knew about pain, but oh was I wrong. There actually wasn't much of it right after the accident, and once at the hospital I got local anaesthetics and a shot of morphine so didn't have a care in the world at that point. It was later in the evening, back at the rented cabin I was staying at. I'd been warned that it was going to ache a lot, due to having damaged the bone. And yes, the thing was aching something fierce, but I'd been given som painkillers to take. The box said 'no more than 4 per day'. At 3am, still awake due to to the finger's infernal throbbing, I was taking the ninth.

But today was even worse. I hadn't been allowed to drive home yesterday due to being on morphine, and the painkillers as well were too strong making it illegal to drive after taking them. So, if I wanted to get home today, that meant no more painkillers today before I get home. And I do not wish that trip on my worst enemy, seriously. The entire final hour the finger felt like it had been dipped in burning napalm. It is by far the worst pain I ever had to sit through. But, at least I'm home again now, and am munching painkillers and antibiotics and am thinking oh well, at least I have a few weeks leave coming.

So, aren't you guys wishing you had my job yet?

[Harrison]

OMG! Was this the same finger you has sown back on last time?

That is pretty bad, although it could have easily been even worse. You could of lost your whole hand or more. I can't imagine how much that must of hurt/is still hurting. I hope it starts to hurt less real soon.

Soon you are going to be charged danger money before being allowed anywhere near a construction site!

And this is seriously going to effect you game playing abilities! And just as all the good games are starting to be released on the PS3 too!

[Teho]

Was this the same finger you has sown back on last time?

No, that was the index finger. Same hand though. Pretty crazy still, isn't it.

That is pretty bad, although it could have easily been even worse.

Definitely. Everyone is pretty much in agreement that once it happened, it actually couldn't have gone much better. As I said earlier, there is no such thing as a clean cut with a saw, if it's more than a scratch then it is always going to be fairly bad. So it went pretty well in the end when all things are considered.

And this is seriously going to effect you game playing abilities!

Well that is one of our greatest fears isn't it. Having a hand so damaged you can't operate a controller properly anymore. But once this has healed, I think there's plenty of thumb left so it shouldn't be a problem. But these first few weeks it seems there won't be too much gaming for me, I guess you're right about that.

[Demon Cleaner]

So, aren't you guys wishing you had my job yet?

Hearing from you every 3-4 month, I think I'll keep mine, worst thing that could happen, is falling off the chair.

But this one was already a pain to read, I can only imagine the pain you had, and still have, but still, it's quite imaginable.

I hope the painkillers will do their job and you'll get better soon. As Harrison mentioned, this is a very bad injury if you plan to play some games.

But as Asami (Audition) already said: "Words can create lies, but pain can be trusted." Ah, that's sooo true.

[Harrison]

At least it was your right thumb, so you can still use the directional controls fine and could use your fingers for the buttons in most games. So your "prolonged" Christmas shouldn't go completely to waste.

Get well soon mate. And don't do it again!!! Seen the Pot Noodle advert?

[Sharingan]

Dude, you ought to audition for the next Hostel or (pardon the pun) Saw movie. Just reading your story made me feel the pain. Maybe you should consider wearing steel gloves at work?

Get better soon.

[Submeg]

Damn man....Seriously, I was wincing for you...that sounds absolutely terrible. I think maybe a change of job would be the best solution?

[Teho]

And there is the end-result. Funny how nice it looks allready after less than three months. Amazing how quickly it's been healing, even considering that it didn't heal so well to begin with.

If you remember in the original post, the doctor who first treated it used the still whole underside of the fingertip to fold over the wound on top and stitching it there, hoping it'd grow nicely there. Well it didn't. That entire part just went black, and when my doctor removed the stitches a couple of weeks later the entire part that had been folded back was just dead. So there was nothing for it but to have another operation and fix things. This time they took the time to prepare better, taking some x-rays of it first so they could decide exactly what to do this time around. Those also revealed several small bone-fragments still in there that you really can't fault them for not seeing during the original emergency procedure.

Anyway, they ended up cutting away everything that hadn't healed, stitching what they could together and left it to heal with an open wound at the end of it. And removed those fragments they found. They discussed transplanting a small patch of skin to cover the wound, but decided in the end it was unnecessary. And this time it did heal properly, and healed fast too. The stitches were removed in early december, and by mid-december the remaining wound was so small I no longer needed to bandage it. And by Christmas it looked like it does now.

But while the actual wound has healed, there are still a lot of damaged nerves in there. I don't really notice it normally any more, but touching the end is still painful and the tip can be aching sometimes. This is what is just going to take time. Eventually those severed nerves will harden and stop being painful, but there's no real telling how long as that differs a lot from case to case. I've been back at work since newyear's, but not working full capacity. Not been out doing any real work, but have been at the office instead helping out there. Which mostly has translated to doing the boring stuff nobody else wants to do, like sorting the archives and such.

Fortunately that's over now, I'll be fully back to work proper starting next week. Hopefully this won't be a problem, and really I don't think it will be as for the most part I use my hand normally now without having to mind the thumb that much.

So, all's well in the end. This time. Next time it'll be the entire hand, or an arm or something. Maybe I really should quit this job..

[v85rawdeal]

I actually just felt physically queasy when I read that.

Give me over-the-top schlock horror and gore anyday, rather than the real thing!

[Sharingan]

That's a good chunk of thumb gone!

Glad it's healing well though. It's funny, in the past I probably would've felt queasy reading and seeing this, but after having had surgery myself recently, things like blood and gore don't really affect me much anymore.