How'd it go today?

Laid here a 5 am. Wide awake waiting for pain killers to kick in and sleep to come along.

2nd night in hospital after a small accident with a circular saw on Monday afternoon. Doing a bit of diy with Haakon and whilst moving the wood, a lapse in concentration and I hit my fingers.

Pretty messy to be fair. Lots of stitches, nerve damage and severed or partially severed tendons. Had a 5 hour operation yesterday to repair it. But I reckon it will be a difficult time getting back to it.

Meds were pretty good though, I either had a dream /hallucination of a surgeon riding a scooter into my room about midnight to update me... or he did drive into the room on a scooter. Can’t remember what he said though.

Hopefully he will ride his scooter back this way later today.

I’m a bit pissed off tbh. It was pretty messy cut tbh. Got some pictures if anyone is interested. Also did my terminator impression with the doctors holding the skin back and the tendons moving as I tried to move the fingers.

20 plus stitches the first night to try and stop the bleeding after they cleaned it out. No idea how many during the op. I like to keep a count and was on 63 before this little fuckup!

🤪
 
A close friend, a maritime carpenter, did the same. I went to his shop, he was gone. but a trail of blood at the shop led me to believe he was at the hospital, and there I found him with both his hands a bowl of disinfectant. He asked me, "how did you know I was here, Jer?" I told him, Garth, I just followed the blood. Then he said, "look at what I did." and pulled his hands out of the bowl. Terrible injury. Again, I wish you a speedy and full recovery.
 
Pulling here for things to work out okay. Hate to hear about things like this. We've all done it at one time or another I'm sure. And we all kick ourselves in the butt for it too. You're now two days closer to getting back to good... Hang in there.
 
A quick update this morning from the surgeon.


I had removed a lot of nerves, some bone and tendon. They managed to reattach some tendons and partially repair others. Some nerves they have reattached but will take time to grow back, so electric shocks in my hands for 6 months or more. Where the bone was removed there is a risk for the tendons to fuse with it. So I have to keep them moving but with not enough force to risk snapping them. Getting a special cast fitted this arvo. With strings glued to my fingers to pull them down so as not to risk more damage by closing fist.

Basically 3-6 months slow rehab then lucky if I can clench my fist again, let alone climb. So a bit gutting really. I guess it depends how the physio goes.

He also opened the news this morning by saying it was much worse than they first thought. I asked how many stitches... ‘50-100-150, I don’t know I lost count’.

Ffs! Not best news I’ve ever had. Looking at at least 6 months off work, then, who knows.
 
Last edited:
Rich,
I’m sorry to hear this. Chainsaws and the woodworking saws double the potential exposure to such injuries. I’m hoping your recovery progresses well and it turns out that it isn’t as bad as it looks right now. Still, 3 to 6 months is a long time to be out of work.
Please let us know if you need some assistance.
 
Damn dude! That sounds awful. Here's to a speedy and full recovery.

Around 30 years ago, I crushed the bones in my left hand while loading logs onto the truck. Surgery to repair nerve damage, install pins, cast for several months. Doc said 50% use would be optimistic. I regained 100% range of motion and full use with no loss of nerves. Stay positive! The human body is an amazing machine.
 
Thanks. I will post a pic of it but thumb nail only. In case some are queezy.
 

Attachments

  • 1D055C13-A5B7-43AF-8A18-48C339B540BF.jpeg
    1D055C13-A5B7-43AF-8A18-48C339B540BF.jpeg
    1.1 MB · Views: 10
  • D0CBA072-E8EF-47F8-9F24-27EF1DF7AA83.jpeg
    D0CBA072-E8EF-47F8-9F24-27EF1DF7AA83.jpeg
    1.2 MB · Views: 10
  • CCA1C719-5FDD-4F1C-9D7D-1DB0E2764732.jpeg
    CCA1C719-5FDD-4F1C-9D7D-1DB0E2764732.jpeg
    1.6 MB · Views: 9
I'm so sorry Rich. If we can help, plz let us know. I know it's absolutely no consolation but even with missing fingers the body adapts to doing stuff. My son was born without the 3 middle fingers of his left hand, but watching him play and do stuff you can't even tell. I've also known and worked with many guys with missing/ damaged fingers, doesn't slow them down or limit them either. So try to be hopeful, i know it's hard but you would be amazed at how the body can bounce back or adapt to something like this.
 
plenty of time for rehab. Reckon I will finally sit the ETW exam. Piss of shit that it is, but sadly it is what they recognise as an arborist here. That will open up possibilities for tree reports and picus testing etc.

then there is the language. Might as well get more up on that. I have a decent understanding of written. But and it’s a big BUT, I have terrible tinnitus. Which basically means when they speak it sounds like a noise that starts and stops when they need to breath.
 
As someone who speaks Norwegian, I can say that is a pretty good description.

Nah, I just said that to cheer you up.
It is a beautiful, melodic language, at least to my ears.

Back when I had a furniture making workshop, I was always, if not shit scared, then at least über carefull of the circular and band saw.
Used to amuse every one, because I've spent my life juggling chain saws.

No comparison!

Doing the ETW is a good idea.
Getting it was a pain in the ass for me, as I've told here, but having it is fine.
 
I almost lost a finger(or two) to a bandsaw. The angle going in is what saved them. Only had to have a tendon sewn up, and bone fragments removed.
 
Good Luck with the hand! Hoping for a full recovery.

Darn! Boss forgot the fence posts & chicken wire he wanted me to install today.:thumbup: I already put in a couple hours in the drizzling rain and was ready to call it a short day anyway :)

Sweety got new shoes & rims today.

2021-04-28 12.25.57.jpg 2021-04-28 12.25.37.jpg

Think I'd like to turn the side trim black also...
 
Back
Top