Posted by Tim Holloway on Wednesday, November 17, 2004 at 10:17PM :
In Reply to: Tim posted by Paul (in NY) on Wednesday, November 17, 2004 at 9:45PM :
Hi Paul,
Picture someone smacking you with a ruler. (Catholic school?) That was what it felt like to me. I immediiately grabbed my made a fist with the hurt hand and squeezed it with the good hand. I wasnt sure if the board had kicked up and hit me or if the blade had gotten me. It just smarted. Then I opened up my hand and then I knew the blade had gotten me. The surgeon shortened my left middle finger by 1/2", took off the ring finger at the first joint by the knuckle and fused the joint in my pinky. Shock is a wonderful thing. The pain came later. The finger nail was gone on the midle finger, and the end looked like hamburger. They wrapped it in gauze. Then twice a day I had to rip off the gauze which had crusted right into the hamburger. They called it debridement. I called it mideval torture. They said it would remove all of the dead tissue. It felt like it was going to remove the whole finger. However, the nailbed healed and grew an almost normal nail so I guess the pain was worth it. That was 9 years ago and I am getting chills writing about the debridement. The ring finger stump healed in about a week. The fused joint took six weeks. I hope this wasnt more info than you were looking for. If it creeps anyone out enough to be a bit more careful next time it was worth it. I know I am alot more careful than I used to be.
Tim
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